![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Jewish geekery
0. Should you wear a tallit for mincha of a minor fast day? If so, why? (Easier than the rest of the questions; I'm just not sure of the answer. I don't think I've ever been to shul for such a mincha.)
1. Should you wear a tallit when leading mincha or ma'ariv on an ordinary weekday/Shabbat? Why or why not? And is the answer/reasoning different for mincha than for ma'ariv?
2. If the answer to question 1 is "yes", and you are wearing a tallit when leading mincha or ma'ariv, should you say the bracha before putting on the tallit? Why or why not? Does the answer change if you did not daven shacharit and did not previously wear a tallit that day?
3. I've heard of an answer to question 2 that involves deliberately wearing someone else's tallit. So speaking more generally, should you say a bracha before putting on someone else's tallit (such as if it's shacharit and you don't have your tallit around)? What about putting on a communal tallit belonging to a shul you're a member of? What about putting on a communal tallit belonging to a shul you're not a member of? Why or why not?
4. If you are wearing a tallit at mincha or ma'ariv not because of leading services, but rather because the torah is being read (Shabbat afternoon or simchat torah) and you have a custom of wearing a tallit for certain torah honors, should you say the bracha before putting on the tallit? Why or why not? Does the answer change if you did not daven shacharit and did not previously wear a tallit that day?
5. Should you say the bracha when putting on your tallit for kol nidre? Yom Kippur shacharit? Yom Kippur mincha? Why or why not?
6. If everyone has a neshama yeterah for Shabbat, why can't you make a minyan with 5 people?
1. Should you wear a tallit when leading mincha or ma'ariv on an ordinary weekday/Shabbat? Why or why not? And is the answer/reasoning different for mincha than for ma'ariv?
2. If the answer to question 1 is "yes", and you are wearing a tallit when leading mincha or ma'ariv, should you say the bracha before putting on the tallit? Why or why not? Does the answer change if you did not daven shacharit and did not previously wear a tallit that day?
3. I've heard of an answer to question 2 that involves deliberately wearing someone else's tallit. So speaking more generally, should you say a bracha before putting on someone else's tallit (such as if it's shacharit and you don't have your tallit around)? What about putting on a communal tallit belonging to a shul you're a member of? What about putting on a communal tallit belonging to a shul you're not a member of? Why or why not?
4. If you are wearing a tallit at mincha or ma'ariv not because of leading services, but rather because the torah is being read (Shabbat afternoon or simchat torah) and you have a custom of wearing a tallit for certain torah honors, should you say the bracha before putting on the tallit? Why or why not? Does the answer change if you did not daven shacharit and did not previously wear a tallit that day?
5. Should you say the bracha when putting on your tallit for kol nidre? Yom Kippur shacharit? Yom Kippur mincha? Why or why not?
6. If everyone has a neshama yeterah for Shabbat, why can't you make a minyan with 5 people?
no subject
no subject
There's already a JewFAQ, though! http://www.jewfaq.org/.
And, since I'm taking a sick day and already a bit bored...why not:
tallit: Ritual prayer shawl. Normally only worn at morning services, but the point of this post is to question the "non-normally" in this respect. Also, some would say that it should only be worn by men, but I say hogwash.
mincha: Afternoon prayer service, of the 3 that happen every day.
minor fast day: No water from sun up to sun down. There are about 4 of them per year. (Depends on how you count.)
ma'ariv: Evening prayer service.
Shabbat: Jewish weekly holy day, from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown.
Bracha: Blessing. Often refers to a blessing said to signify a particular act, such as eating, lighting ritual candles, or putting on a tallit.
daven: Pray. (I'm pretty sure this word is Yiddish, not Hebrew.)
Shacharit: Morning prayer service.
Shul: Synagogue. (I'm pretty sure this word is Yiddish, not Hebrew.)
Torah: Handwritten ritual scroll containing the first 5 books of the Jewish bible (Christian Old Testament) in Hebrew.
Simchat Torah: Jewish holiday celebrating the end and beginning of the annual cycle of public readings from the torah. It's the only time of year when the torah is publicly read at evening services. (It was celebrated this weekend.)
Torah honor: One of several different roles assigned to members of a congregation as part of the public torah reading. (Removing the torah from the place where its kept, saying blessings over a portion of the public reading, wrapping the torah back up when the reading is over, etc.)
Kol Nidre: The name often used to refer to the evening (ma'ariv) service on the Yom Kippur holiday, though technically this is synecdoche. One wears a tallit for all of Yom Kippur, which makes Kol Nidre the only evening service of the year when lots of people at services are wearing one.
neshama yeterah: "Extra soul". Tradition teaches that everyone has one every shabbat. I'm pretty sure that this bit of (some would say hokey) spirituality doesn't actually affect any Jewish ritual, though. (Question 6 is a bit of a joke.)
Minyan: Quorum for Jewish prayer. Requires 10 adult Jews. (Some would say only males count; I say hogwash.)
no subject
no subject
By the by -- you might want to tell your cousin to pull his money out of Party before they block him from doing so, if he hasn't already. I don't -think- they're blocking Americans from withdrawing money yet. If he still wants to play, FullTilt and Stars are sticking around.
no subject
He'll probably appreciate knowing which sites are sticking around, though. Thanks!
no subject
0. Should you wear a tallit for mincha of a minor fast day? If so, why? (Easier than the rest of the questions; I'm just not sure of the answer. I don't think I've ever been to shul for such a mincha.)
If it is your minhag to do so, yes, or if you are sheliach tzibbur (presumably visiting a shul) and it is the minhag of the tzibbur to do so. I believe that in general Ashkenazim do not do so (they also put on tefillin at shacharit) but that Sephardim, Mizrachim and Temanim put on both tallis and tefillin at mincha but not at shacharit.
1. Should you wear a tallit when leading mincha or ma'ariv on an ordinary weekday/Shabbat? Why or why not? And is the answer/reasoning different for mincha than for ma'ariv?
At mincha, as above if it is your minhag to do so, yes, or if you are sheliach tzibbur (presumably visiting a shul) and it is the minhag of the tzibbur to do so.
Ma`ariv is a different animal, since we do not put on tallit at night in general (I think this is because of uritem oto -- you can't see your tzitzit at night (or couldn't, back in the days of little post-sunset light) so there's no mitzvah then). However, there is a doubt, since it still is a four-cornered garment and still needs tzitzit. More on this in the next question/answer
3. I've heard of an answer to question 2 that involves deliberately wearing someone else's tallit. So speaking more generally, should you say a bracha before putting on someone else's tallit (such as if it's shacharit and you don't have your tallit around)? What about putting on a communal tallit belonging to a shul you're a member of? What about putting on a communal tallit belonging to a shul you're not a member of? Why or why not?
The way we get around the no tallit berakha after sunset on Yom Kippur is actually putting the tallit on before sunset, and saying the berakha then.
Unfortunately, I can't find a copy of mishna/gemara/shulkhan aruch/something else with an appropriate reference, but I believe that one does not say a berakha on a tallit unless one owns it. Therefore, on a normal weekday for ma`ariv, one can get around the doubt of berakha or no berakha by using someone else's tallit.
4. If you are wearing a tallit at mincha or ma'ariv not because of leading services, but rather because the torah is being read (Shabbat afternoon or simchat torah) and you have a custom of wearing a tallit for certain torah honors, should you say the bracha before putting on the tallit? Why or why not? Does the answer change if you did not daven shacharit and did not previously wear a tallit that day.
If you put on *your* tallit during the day for whatever reason, you should say a berakha. If you wear a 4 cornered garment, you must affix strings (or have them previously affixed) and say a berakha on the mitzvah.
If you put on someone else's tallit, I think it's no berakha. I'll try to look this up.
The communal tallit is a harder question. Sifka derabbanan lechumrah, so I think a communal tallit during the day gets a berakha.
5. Should you say the bracha when putting on your tallit for kol nidre? Yom Kippur shacharit? Yom Kippur mincha? Why or why not?
Yes, yes and yes. With regards to kol nidre, see my response to 3.
6. If everyone has a neshama yeterah for Shabbat, why can't you make a minyan with 5 people?
Because we don't count a minyan by number of neshamos. If so, everyone would agree that women count.
no subject
1. Mincha - probably, since there's no particular reason *not* to wear it at this time of day. (We generally keep tallitot on for musaf, so why not mincha?) Ma'ariv - there is a reason not to wear it at night, as already mentioned in this thread. (Yom Kippur is a special case, to give special status to this service.) So the only reason the sha"tz wears one in some communities is to set the sha"tz apart from the rest of the community. And that's davka why I don't wear a tallit when I'm leading maariv -- I think the sha"tz should be part of the kahal, and not set off from everyone else.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2006-10-17 02:07 pm (UTC)(link)2-4. I'm not positive about the rules about putting on and taking off a talit multiple times in a day or about using someone else's talit. But you definetly should say a bracha the first time you put on your own talit each day.
5. We start Kol Nidre before sunset to get around the issue of putting on a talit at night. Shacharit is no different than any other Shacharit. I've heard that if when you take off the talit after musaph you have the intention of just taking a break and putting in back on soon you don't need to say the bracha again for mincha(like when you go to the bathroom during shacharit).
no subject
I think I've been doing things wrong this whole time!
no subject
Well, with this logic, why shouldn't everyone wear it for mincha every day, not just the leader?
And any insight into the other questions?
no subject
At first that made sense to me...but then it seems like you're saying Kabbalat Shabbat is more important than ma'ariv. That can't possibly be true. Are you saying that in a shul where there are two separate sha"tzes for Friday night services, and the ma'ariv sha"tz often shows up late (halfway through K"Sh, say, and after sunset), then the K"Sh sha"tz should wear a tallit and the ma'ariv sha"tz shouldn't? I see the logic, but it doesn't feel right to me.
Also, who are you? Thanks for the insight.
Kol Nidrei
Re: Kol Nidrei
no subject
Conversely, if the tallit slipped off of you completely and totally fell on the floor while you were wearing it, then you say a new bracha when you put it on again, even ten seconds later. Because at the moment of its falling off you weren't planning on 'taking it off' just to put it back on again.
Did that make sense?
no subject
(Anonymous) 2006-10-17 08:32 pm (UTC)(link)In terms of who I am, I prefer to remain anonymous to the general blog reader, but lets just say I'm a computer literate person from HS who remembers the origin of the name Desh. If you need another hint let me know, I'll IM you tonight.
no subject
no subject
"Soon"? Is the gap between musaf and mincha on an ordinary Shabbat "soon"? (Let's assume I stay at shul until the end of musaf, and at the time I take my tallit off I already know I'm going to be leading mincha that day and wearing my tallit for it.) And I guess the same question applies for the time on Yom Kippur between ma'ariv and shacharit, an 11-hour gap during which I happen to be sleeping?
no subject
no subject
b) On Yom Kippur I would expect that you *do* say the tallit bracha in the morning, as you do every morning, regardless of if you had worn one the previous evening.
c) Additional info from the artScroller Rebbe:
Notes on Donning the Tallis on Erev Yom Kippur
Since the Scriptural commandment of tzitzis applies only during the day, the blessing over the tallis may not be recited unless it is donned during the daytime. Therefore, on Yom Kippur Eve, the tallis should be put on before sunset, or at latest during twilight. If one has not been able to do so before then, he should don his tallis without a blessing (see Orach Chaim 18:1).
no subject
no subject