Rabbis' Voice Articles

 

I have friends who can tell you how typical it is for Purim to fall on a Sunday, or for Passover to begin on a Friday night. The mathematical details of the Jewish calendar have always eluded me, though. 

While I cannot tell you the frequency of Purim falling on a Friday, I can offer disquisitions on the effect of a holiday falling on a particular day of the week (or “early” or “late” in the season) with regard to how it is observed in the synagogue context. 

 

One year, I remember Hoshanah Rabbah (the seventh day of Sukkot) falling on a Sunday. It involves seven perambulations around the sanctuary with lulavs and etrogs, and striking the floor with fresh willow branches five times. We made it a big Sunday School event. 

 

This year, Simchat Torah last year fell on Sunday, so rather than have a major celebration late on Saturday night, after Shabbat ended, we had the focus be on Sunday morning. In previous years we’ve had big crowds for the evening and small crowds for the morning (say a Tuesday morning). But last year, we had small group Saturday night and a big group on Sunday. 

 

We usually have our major Purim celebration the evening of Purim (erev Purim), and then have a quick shacharit and megillah reading the next morning, usually a weekday, starting at 6:30 or 7am. 

 

This year, however, Purim begins Saturday night, and is “late,” after we will have already changed our clocks to “spring ahead.” Thus, Purim will begin on the late side on Saturday night, too late for families with small kids. 

 

So, we’re flip-flopping! Saturday night we’ll have a quick-ish evening service, megillah reading and havdalah (followed by a Brotherhood-sponsored l’chaim). Sunday morning will look a bit like a Saturday morning, with a service in the sanctuary and a kids’ activity in the chapel. But it won’t be Shabbat, so the kids’ activity will involve things like cutting, pasting, and writing, which we don’t usually do on Shabbat. 

 

Instead of having our Purim spiel in the evening, we’ll have it in the morning, interspersed with the megillah reading, along with a costume parade for kids. Everything will conclude with a Purim Seudah, or meal, one of the four mitzvot of Purim. It may feel a bit like Kiddush, with similar timing, but I hope it’ll have at least a couple of things we couldn’t have on Shabbat.

Join us for a wonderful Purim day at Kol Rinah!