- Public fast days, and
- Between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.
Where: Amida 3rd paragraph
Error: Said ha'el ha'kadosh instead of ha'melech ha'kadosh on days between/including Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur
Situation Already Finished Paragraph
What to Do You must stop saying the amida and start the amida from the beginning.
What To Do You may say Baruch ha'mavdil bein kodesh l'chol and do melacha, and then
- Continue to eat your meal, or
- Say birkat ha'mazon INCLUDING ya'aleh v'yavo and ha'rachaman hu yanchileinu yom she'kulo tov.
- Chatanu... and ... fashanu... in slach lanu,
- First line of Avinu malkeinu (except on Rosh Hashana),
- Ve'al cheit and ve'al chataim in the al cheit for Yom Kippur, and
-
Ashamnu on
- Rosh Hashana,
- 10 Days of Repentance,
- Fast days, and
- Selichot.
- Bowing just from the waist (with and without taking steps), and
- Bowing with the knees, plus two variations on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur (hands and knees on floor).
- Modim;
- Modim in reader's repetition of amida;
- Bar'chu;
- Lecha Dodi; and
- Alenu.
B. Waist-Bowing/Take Steps, for:
- Amida, and
- Kaddish.
- Bow down from waist with your legs straight.
- Take three steps backward (left foot, right foot, left foot),
-
Then:
- Bow from your waist to the left and say, oseh shalom bi'mromav,
- Bow from your waist to the right and say, hu ya'aseh shalom alenu, and
- Bow from your waist to the front and say, ve'al kol yisrael v'imru amen.
- Beginning of amida's first blessing,
- End of amida's first blessing, and
- Next-to-last amida blessing: ha'tov shimcha.
- Bend knees (at baruch),
- Bow forward (at ata), and
- Straighten up (before God's name).
A. Knee-Bowing to Floor--Hands and Knees Only
- Kneel (with your back straight up) (at “hayu kor'im”), and
- Bow down with hands and knees on floor (at “u'mishtachavim u'modim”), but
-
You are not required to touch your forehead to ground.
Note You should still bow from your waist (but not to the floor) on Rosh Hashana--even if you are praying alone and even if there is no Torah present.
bowed down on Yom Kippur.)
- Kneel (with your back straight up) (at “hayu kor'im”),
- Bow down with hands and knees on floor (at “u'mishtachavim u'modim”),
- Touch forehead to floor (at v'noflim al pneihem).
NOTE It is customary today to cover any floor, not only if it is bare stone.
Situation You are bowing down (modim for Yom Kippur; also for Rosh Hashana if you bow down this far) on a bare stone floor (concrete, terrazzo, and other stone-like materials).
What To Do You may not touch your forehead or knees (if covered by pants legs or skirt) to the floor. You may cover the floor with some separation such as cloth, paper, or even a talit at the place where your forehead (or knees) will touch.
Reason You might wipe off any dirt from the floor on your pant knees or skirt, which is prohibited on Yom Kippur. There is no need to use a paper towel or other separation for knees if they are bare (for example, due to wearing shorts or a short skirt).
Note There is no problem with brushing dirt off your hands, so you can touch the bare stone floor with your bare hands during the bowing.
- First day of Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot
- Seventh day of Passover
- Shmini Atzeret (8th day of Sukkot)
- Both days of Rosh Hashana.
- MUST take medicine whenever there is any question of a life-threatening disease or condition.
-
MAY take medicine for a condition that affects the entire body (fever, weakness, etc.). Consult a rabbi if possible.Exception You may not smear substances on skin UNLESS the fever is life-threatening, in which case even smearing is permitted.
- MAY use some medicines if only part of your body is affected by a non-life-threatening disease--consult a rabbi.
- Candle-lighting for Chanuka (see Chanuka: Candles: Who Should Light )
- Candle-lighting for Shabbat, Jewish festivals, Rosh Hashana, and Yom Kippur.
- Havdala (say or hear) after Shabbat, Jewish festivals, Rosh Hashana, and Yom Kippur.
- Kiddush (say or hear) on the first night (or first two nights outside Eretz Yisrael) of every Jewish festival, and also the next morning.
-
Passover (all commandments, including eating matza at the Passover seder).
Note Because she must eat matza, she must therefore say birkat ha'mazon afterward (so if a woman omits ya'ale v'yavo in birkat ha'mazon at the seder, she must repeat birkat ha'mazon!).
- Megila on Purim.
- Shabbat (For why women must keep time-dependent, positive commandments on Shabbat, see Introduction to Shabbat )
-
Shofar on Rosh Hashana.
Note Jewish women universally accepted upon themselves to hear shofar on Rosh Hashana, but they only need to hear 30 blasts.
- Hearing the reading of Parashat Zachor.
- At night,
- On Tish'a B'Av,
- In a house of mourning, and
- Yom Kippur.
- Shabbat,
- Jewish festivals,
- Rosh Hashana, and
- Rosh Chodesh.
- Isru chag (the day after each of the Jewish festivals),
- Entire month of Nisan.
- All of Chanuka, Purim, Shushan Purim, Tu B'Shvat, Rosh Chodesh, and from Rosh Chodesh Sivan until the day after Shavuot.
-
Tishrei from shacharit before Yom Kippur until after Simchat Torah (Shmini Atzeret in Eretz Yisrael). Resume saying tachanun:
- Second day of Cheshvan, or
- Day after isru chag of Simchat Torah (this is the more prevalent custom among Ashkenazim). Each person should follow his or her family or community custom.
- Mohel,
- Sandak, or
- Father of a boy having his circumcision.
- Three pilgrimage festivals (shalosh regalim):
- Passover,
- Shavuot, and
- Sukkot (including Shimini Atzeret).
- High Holidays:
- The Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashana—“Yom Teru'a” in the Torah), and the
- Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).
Duration
Jewish holidays that were originally one day are now observed as follows:
- Rosh Hashana--2 days.
- Yom Kippur--1 day.
- Shavuot--1 day in Eretz Yisrael or 2 days elsewhere.
- Passover has festival days at the beginning and end of the holiday and intermediary days of lesser holiness, which are called chol ha'moed. In Eretz Yisrael, Passover lasts for 7 days in total and the first and last days are festival days. Outside of Eretz Yisrael, Passover lasts 8 days and has two festival days at the beginning and two at the end.
- Sukkot has festival days at the beginning and at the end and intermediary days of lesser holiness, which are called chol ha'moed. In Eretz Yisrael, Sukkot lasts for 8 days and the first and last days are festival days (the last day is Shimini Atzeret). Outside of Eretz Yisrael, Sukkot lasts for 9 days and the first two days and last days are festival days (the 8th day is Shimini Atzeret and the 9th day is Simchat Torah).
Character
Each holiday contributes its own character to Jewish life (Passover--the theme of freedom; Yom Kippur brings atonement, etc.).
Celebrating
How to celebrate these holidays is detailed in our Oral Law and halacha books. Jewish festivals as practiced today are similar in holiness to Shabbat. As with Shabbat, the Jewish festival has candle lighting, kiddush at two meals, and havdala. We eat our best food and wear our best clothing on Jewish festivals (we eat our next-best food and wear our next-best clothing on Shabbat!).
The main idea behind eating meals on Jewish festivals is joy (simcha), so you should drink wine and eat meat (only if you enjoy wine and meat). There is no third meal on Jewish festivals since people used to eat two meals each day (adding a third meal on Shabbat was for enjoyment/oneg).
Melachot
Any activities or actions permitted on Shabbat are also permitted on the Jewish festivals. Actions that are forbidden on Shabbat are generally also forbidden on Jewish festivals, but there are some leniencies (only if the actions are needed for that festival day).
Examples
- Lighting from an existing flame,
- Cooking and baking for the Jewish festival day, and
- Carrying outside the eruv (hotza'a--transferring objects between domains).
Grama
Grama (indirectly causing an action) is permitted on Jewish festivals (but not on Shabbat). For example, you may advance or delay a timer that will make a light go on or off in the future (the timer must already be plugged in and operating from before sunset of the festival day).
Note For an action to be considered indirect based on time, there must be at least 2.5 seconds after the first action is done before the resulting action begins to happen.
Psik Reisha Dla Neicha Lei
Psik reisha dla neicha lei is forbidden on Jewish festivals, just as it is on Shabbat.
D'oraita Restrictions
D'oraita restrictions apply world-wide to:
- First and seventh days of Passover,
- First and eighth days of Sukkot,
- First day of Shavuot,
- Yom Kippur,
- First day of Rosh Hashana.
Women
In general, women are not required to perform the positive, time-dependent commandments. Women and girls are not required to eat any Jewish festival meals except the Passover seder meal (but they are not allowed to fast on those days).
Note Since these showbreads were not changed on Rosh Hashana and Jewish festivals, we may use round challot for those holidays (unless they fall on Shabbat or the holiday is Passover!).
- Retzei on the first two meals of Shabbat.
- Ya'aleh v'yavo on the first two meals of any Jewish festival day (women only repeat if they forgot it at the Passover seder).
- Rosh Hashana (during the daytime) or
- Rosh Chodesh.
- Mashiv ha'ruach
- Ha'el ha'kadosh
- Tein bracha/Tein tal u'matar l'vracha
- Ya'ale v'yavo (except Rosh Chodesh night).
- Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and Ten Days of Repentance changes (except ha'melech ha'kadosh)
- Al ha'nisim
- Aneinu
- Ya'ale v'yavo (if Rosh Chodesh night).
Note If you omitted part of the amida that would normally require you to repeat the amida, you do not need to repeat the amida if you intend (have kavana/concentrate from the beginning of the reader's repetition until the end of the repetition) to have your amida covered by the reader's repetition.