THE THREE WEEKS

July 13-August 3, 2006

Schedule of Events for the Nine Days at Beth Sholom Congregation and Talmud Torah

Beginning with Rosh Chodesh Av, Beth Sholom will be presenting a number of programs and will have daily experiences and opportunities to help us all grow and affect change in this difficult times.

Descriptions of programs follow below.

1. Tuesday July 25th - Ongoing - Recitation of Tehillim and Prayers
2. Thursday July 27th - Tehillim and Briefing with Congressman Robert Wexler
3. Friday July 28th - Women's Tehillim Group
4. Shabbat Chazon 
5. Monday July 31st - Following Mincha/Maariv - Reflections on a Sabbatical - Rabbi & Aviva Tessler
6. Tuesday August 1st - 9:30AM - 11:00AM Mimaamakim Keraticha HaShem - A class for women with a scholar from the Women's Advanced Talmud Program at YU.
7. Wednesday Evening - Tisha B'Av - Maariv & Eicha at Beth Sholom
8. Thursday Morning - Two Minyanim & Kinnot
9. Thursday Afternoon - The Sylvia Ely-Jacobs Memorial Community Tisha B'Av Program - Israel on Fire    

1) Three times a day as part of our prayer experiences at Beth Sholom we have been and will continue to recite Tehillim, Psalms, as a way of expressing our hopes and voicing our anguish. If you can please join us for minyan and tehillim. If you can't make it please set aside some time on a daily basis for reflection and prayer and recitation of tehillim. You can have a packet of English/Hebrew Tehillim sent to you by emailing a blank email to prayer@artscroll.com

2) On Thursday evening July 27th (around the time of Mincha/Maariv - time to be announced pending the Congressman's schedule)  we will be hosting Congressman Robert Wexler, a member of our synagogue who is the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Relations committee. He will have just returned from a trip to Israel and will brief us on the situation there and the reactions of the U.S. government.

3) Friday Morning 8:00AM - 9:00AM - Ellen Werner is organizing a group of women to assemble and daven. Please contact Ellen at  ellenwerner@comcast.net. Evening phone is 301 656 2557 For more details   4) On Shabbat Chazon - Our Rabbis will focus on the Nine Days, and the beginning of the end of Moshe's life as we read the first parasha in Devarim   5) On Monday July 31st following Mincha/Maariv Rabbi Joel & Aviva Tessler will be presenting Reflections on a Sabbatical. The Tesslers will present their experiences and show a slideshow. Refreshments will be available.

6) On Tuesday August 1st from 9:30 to 11:00am Beth Sholom has the honor of hosting Malka Adatto, a fellow at the Stern Graduate Program in Advanced Talmudic Studies. She will be addressing women on the topic of - Mimaamakim Keraticha Hashem -- From the Depths I call to God: Prayer, learning and fasting: does God have a preference? This is part of an ongoing series during the 9 Days - Jewish Approaches to Life's Joys and Sorrows presented by Yeshiva University in the DC area. Please contact Rabbi Rackover for more learning opportunities in this series or to RSVP for babysitting.

7) On Wednesday evening - leil Tisha B'Av - Beth Sholom will have a moving prayer service and reading of Megillat Eicha.

8) On Thursday morning we will have two Shacharit services - the second will include Kinnot with explanations by members of the Beth Sholom community.
9)The Sylvia Ely-Jacobs Memorial Community Tisha B'Av Program - ISRAEL on FIRE TISHA B'AV PROGRAM: August 3rd, Tisha B'Av afternoon at Beth Sholom
ISRAEL ON FIRE: a communal learning experience
Program begins at 6:00pm Mincha: A Guided Experience
Executive Briefing: Ron Dermer, Minister for Economic Affairs, Embassy of Israel Learning: Life with a Temple - Life without a Temple: Who cares?
Experience: Living in a bomb shelter. Maariv and Break Fast.
 
Check out the OU website - http://www.ou.org/index.php/nine_days/#schedule and see where Beth Sholom is participating in the 24 hour a day learning.  

The Three Weeks

Traditionally, the weeks between the fast of the Seventeenth of Tamuz  -Thursday, July 13, 2006 - and Tisha B’Av  Thursday, August 3rd - constitute a period of mourning on the Jewish calendar.  All celebrations are forbidden.  One is not permitted to cut hair or wear new clothing for the first time, and even the Shahecheyanu blessing of thanksgiving is outlawed.

Why do we mourn?  Historically, these days commemorate the period during which the City of Jerusalem was broken into and destroyed.  On Tisha B’Av every Jew is expected to put himself in the place of his ancestors who saw the Temple and Jerusalem in flame and ruin.  It is a day to be spent in prayer, fasting and lamentation.

On each of the three Shabbatot preceding Tisha B’Av, chapters from the Prophets foretelling tragedy and destruction are read in the synagogue after the Torah reading.

The following is a summary of some of the practices observed during these days.

THE ENTIRE THREE WEEKS – July 13 – August 3, 2006

THE NINE DAYS – Beginning the first of Av until Tisha B’av – July 26 – August 3, 2006

FROM RABBI RACKOVER:

Kavana – Intention

Imagine yourself on the run. Imagine that your life has been completely disrupted. Imagine an oppressive nation raining fire upon your home. Imagine running with only the clothing on your back, no food, no water…

Imagine that it is the year 70. Imagine that it is the year 2006…….

Jewish people have been under siege too many times to count. We are today undertaking another period of solidarity, not only with the Jews of 1st century Judea but also with those of 21st century Galilee.

These Three Weeks will be fraught with distraction and despair. The Rabbis long ago asked that we mourn. We mourn the loss of our center. Our national focus. Today we ask that you take a little piece of your life and set it aside for difficulty and discomfort. Feel different because nothing is the same.

These Three Weeks scream out for consideration and observance for the 12 we have lost in recent weeks. The three still missing and the scores of injured. Nothing is normal. Nothing is the same.

Halakhot – Customs

The three week period from the 17th of Tammuz (July 13, 2006) until the 9th of Av (August 3rd, 2006) is a time of intense focus and mourning.

The 17th of Tammuz was a day which, throughout Jewish history, was filled with horrible tragedy. The Mishna in Massechet Ta’anit teaches that the following five calamities took place on the 17th of Tammuz:

• Moshe came down the mountain, saw the golden calf and broke the tablets
• The daily sacrifices were stopped in the days before the destruction of the First Temple, c.516 BCE
• The walls of Jerusalem were breached in the days before the destruction of the Second Temple 70 CE
• A Roman Governor burned a Sefer Torah in the times of the Second Temple
• An idol was placed in the Sanctuary of the Second Temple

The 17th of Tammuz can also be seen as the first of 80 days that culminate at Yom Kippur when the Nation is pardoned for the sins of the golden calf. So though we are beginning a three week period of mourning it is also the beginning of an extended period of intense reflection and personal exploration.

During the Three Weeks mourning is reflected in very specific practices and abstinences.

• No haircuts are taken (men women and children)
• Weddings are not performed
• Dancing and playing musical instruments are prohibited
• New clothes are not worn, nor do we consume ‘new fruits or vegetables’ i.e. ones that you have not consumed in one growing season. All this to avoid reciting the beracha – She-hechayanu
• Britot (circumcisions) are not changed in any way.

Following Rosh Hodesh Av, the 26th of July an even more intense period of mourning begins. During the Nine Days which culminate on Tisha B’Av we have more stringent practices:

• Planting and building for beautification are not undertaken
• New clothes are not purchased (an exception is made for clothing purchases and building in the case of extreme financial loss or for the sake of a bride and groom or any other mitzvah such as building a school or synagogue.)
• Clothing is not laundered outer garments are not changed. Undershirts and other clothing that are directly in contact with the skin may be laundered in the case where you have run out of said clothing. This leniency should not be taken for those who did not plan ahead.
• If you are a person whose clothing becomes soiled on a daily or regular basis, you may prepare clothing to change into by wearing each garment for a short while in the days leading up to Rosh Hodesh – this helps elevate ones consciousness on a daily basis during the Nine Days, it is certainly abnormal for us to wear ‘dirty’ clothes…imagine being a refugee from the burning city of Jerusalem!
• Laundering for infants is permitted – careful planning can keep this to a minimum
• During the Nine Days we are prohibited from consuming meat, poultry and wine. This includes food that is meat flavored, i.e. soup, but contains no meat. One may eat meat on Shabbat and if one is ill (though this is no longer perceived as a curative practice.)
• One should alter their bathing practices. It was the custom not to bathe at all, this included swimming or washing the entire body in cold water. In modern times people have more sensitive constitutions. It is recommended that you avoid washing your entire body and that when you do shower you wash in cold water and only one section at a time. One may bathe on Erev Shabbat in warm water and even shampoo, provided that this was their normal custom.
• All the above refers to bathing for pleasure. If one is a laborer or has a medical condition they may wash in their normal way.
• Men do not shave

As in all cases of Jewish law if you have a question you should direct it to the rabbinic staff at Beth Sholom, this is especially true it you are sick, pregnant or nursing. If you are of Sephardic descent the customs are slightly different, again please consult one of the Rabbis at Beth Sholom.

If it has not been your practice in the past to observe these life changes please consider choosing one or many and acting on them this year.

Have a meaningful experience.

For sources and further exploration please consult – The Book of Our Heritage by Eliyahu KiTov

TISHA B’AV – 5766- Thursday, August 3, 2006

It is customary to eat the final meal before the fast, the Se’udah HaMafseket, by oneself on the ground.  This meal traditionally consists of hard-boiled eggs dipped in ashes and a piece of bread.

Bathing, anointing, cohabitation, wearing shoes containing leather or suede, learning Torah (other than specified appropriate tracts), and greeting others are prohibited.

Sitting on a high chair, and working are allowed after 1:15 PM.  Tallit and T’fillin are worn at Mincha.

Normally the resumption of eating meat, drinking wine, shaving, haircuts and laundry are prohibited until noon of the 10th of Av.  Since the 10th of Av falls out on Erev Shabbat, all the above mentioned can take place immediately after the fast.

SCHEDULE FOR TISHA B’AV

POTOMAC & BLAIR FACILITIES

Wednesday evening, August 2, 2006                                  

Mincha                      6:00 & 8:05 PM                                                            

Fast begins                         8:19 PM

Followed by Maariv & Eicha

Thursday, August 3, 2006                                                            

Shacharit & Kinot -                5:45 AM – Potomac & Blair

Late Shacharit – Potomac     8:30 AM with special explanation of Kinot

Mincha                                  6:00 PM with Tallit & T’fillin

Potomac – Annual Community Learning Program – 6:00 – 9:00 PM

Fast ends & Maariv               9:02 PM