Pre-Tisha B'Av notes

I intend to republish these notes, copied from previous posts, annually, adding new notes as I learn more.

In 2013, Tisha B'Av begins this coming Monday, July 15, at sundown. I strongly advise those healthy enough to fast for 25 hours to:

1. start eliminating coffee, tea, and chocolate as soon as possible--if you're going to have a caffeine withdrawal headache, you'll want to have it before the fast;
2. avoid salty food all day Monday, especially at your pre-fast meal, since salty (and, for some people, very sweet) food may make you thirsty.
3. drink plenty of water all day Monday--we have one friend who drinks a cup of water every half hour before a fast day--and;
4. eat your pre-fast meal on Monday early enough before sundown to get to Minchah/Afternoon Service at synagogue, if possible, or to pray Minchah at home.

Those with access to the Internet on Tisha B'Av may want to register for the Orthodox Union's Tisha B'Av webcast.

Notes, as promised:

Tuesday, August 9, 2011/Tisha B'Av update: It's a good thing that they announced at our local synagogue that we'd be having a Mincha (Afternoon) Service just before the beginning of Tisha B'Av, because I'd completely forgotten--again!--that one is supposed to eat one's final pre-fast meal (seudat hamafseket?) before davvenning/praying Minchah and almost davvenned Minchah at the office, as usual! So I'm adding this note to my pre-Nine-Days prep. post as a reminder for next year and future years.

Another note: Weird as it may seem, we do say the Birkot HaTorah and all of P'sukei D'Zimrah, etc., but, on the other hand, we don't say Avinu Malkeinu or Tachanun, at Shacharit/Morning Service on Tisha B'Av. See the Tisha B'Av Minchah notes that I added to the linked post, too.

Um, never mind--I'm copying and pasting those Tisha B'Av Minchah notes here, so that I don't miss them:

Good thing I just checked Minchah in our OU/Koren-Lookstein/Soloveitchik Kinnot--I see that the Shir shel Yom/Psalm of the Day gets moved from the end of Shacharit to the beginning of Minchah/Afternoon Service, after one puts on tallit and tefillin (which are also moved to Minchah). And don't forget the following changes in the Amidah prayer of Minchah: 

• add the Nachem paragraph to the V'liY'rushalayim brachah/blessing in the Amidah at Minchah, and say the Tisha B'Av version of the chatimah (closing) of that brachah.
• add Aneinu to the Sh'ma Koleinu brachah.

[Sat., July 13, 2013, 10:52 PM note:  The best way to avoid errors seems to be to davven (pray) using a Kinnot (dirges) book, if possible.]

I see that Rabbi Gil Student mentions checking the back (or front) of one's Kinnot book for the laws of Tisha B'Av. The OU/Koren-Lookstein/Soloveitchik Kinnot has a nice round-up of laws regarding not only Tisha B'Av, but also the Three Weeks in general, the Nine Days in particular, and the day before Tisha B'Av specifically.


Learning on Tisha B’Av (TUESDAY, JULY 20, 2010)
The rabbis established limits to what Biblical and/or Rabbinic texts we're allowed to study on Tisha B'Av, lest we derive too much pleasure from our studies. (You can read about those limits, and other information about Tisha B'Av, here.) Me, I spent some time cracking my teeth trying to learn Psalm 137, Al Naharot Bavel--By the Waters of Babylon, which seemed an appropriately mournful thing to study. You can find it here, though, in the Hebrew, most of the punctuation is in the wrong place.

Copied from an e-mail for the benefit of those within easy commuting distance of Manhattan's Upper West Side:

Tisha B'Av at Mechon Hadar

Tuesday, July 16th

Shaharit and Kinnot: 9:00 am

Classes : 11:30 am

Minhah: 1:30 pm

All classes and davening will be held at 

190 Amsterdam Avenue (at 69th Street)

Piety and Protest: Exploring Psalm 44

Rabbi Shai Held

"Awake, why sleepest Thou, O Lord?!"  With these thunderous words, the Psalmist expresses extreme anger and disappointment at God's ostensible abandonment of Israel.  How could God utterly abandon a people God had once gloriously saved?  In this session, we'll do a very close and careful theological reading of the psalm and some of its parallels, and ask what role lament and protest have in biblical theology-and in ours.

Comfort by Comparison: Poetic Strategies for Consoling Mourners
Dena Weiss

Nihum Aveilim, comforting mourners, is one of the most challenging inter-personal mitzvot that we are regularly called on to perform. In this shiur we will explore the loss of Jerusalem and the attempt to console her as the paradigm for understanding human loss. By appealing to both Halakhah and Aggadah we will try to synthesize a wise and sensitive approach to comforting Jerusalem and those who mourn with her.  

 

Kehilat Hadar will be having Eicha reading the night of Tisha B'Av at8:45pm.  More information can be found here.  

Have an easy and meaningful fast.