Search results for: ""halachah""

Preparing for Jewish Festivals
Here are some suggestions (they are NOT halachot!) of what to prepare in advance of Jewish festivals. Add or delete to suit your needs!
  
Candle Lighting
  • Check candle lighting time
  • Set the candles in their holders (and have matches nearby)
 
Set the Table
Set the table, including the challa and its cover
 
Kitchen Preparation
  • Sharpen knives
  • Tear paper towels
  • Refrigerator: Turn off or unscrew lights; disconnect any LEDs or fans
  • Turn on blech, stove, oven, etc., for whatever you will need
  • Set up hot water urn
  • Turn off stove, oven, if needed
 
Food Preparation
  • Thaw frozen meat, fish, and other food that might take hours to defrost before being cooked
  • Cook whatever can be cooked ahead of time
  • Squeeze lemons; do any other boreir-type preparations
  • Chill wine
  • Open bottles and cans that will be needed on the Jewish festival
 
Cleaning
  • Make beds
  • Sweep or vacuum
  • Dump garbage
 
Clothing
  • Do laundry
  • Empty pockets of muktza
  • For men, set out Jewish festival talit
 
Muktza
Check that nothing you will need is beneath a muktza item
 
Personal Care
  • Cut hair and nails, if needed
  • For men, shave or trim beard and mustache, if needed
  • Tear dental floss
  • Tear toilet paper or put out tissues in bathrooms
  • Open any new boxes of tissues
 
Electronics
  • Set heat or air conditioning
  • Turn on or off lights, or set timers for them
  • If desired, turn off or disconnect:
  • Alarms 
  • Cellphones and phones
  • Computers
  • Microwave detectors
  • Other electronics
Timing of Mincha
Mincha may be said from ½ hour after halachic midday until sunset.  
Tish'a B'Av: What To Do after 12 Noon
After halachic midday on Tish'a B'Av, you may do any activities except the five activities forbidden on Tish'a B'Av (washing, anointing, eating/drinking, marital intercourse, wearing leather shoes) or the Nine Days.  But you may not greet anyone, or reply to someone else's greeting to you, including saying “hello,” “good morning,” “how are you,” etc., until after dark.
Eating before Shabbat Midday
Don't fast on Shabbat (except Yom Kippur!) past halachic midday:     
  • If you will not finish shacharit before halachic midday, you should eat or drink earlier in the day, even before you begin shacharit—water can be sufficient for this purpose.
  • If you will finish shacharit but not musaf by halachic midday:
  • Finish shacharit,
  • Make kiddush,
  • Eat some mezonot, and then
  • Return to say musaf.
Asking Multiple Rabbis for Psak
You may not normally ask multiple rabbis for halachic decisions about different questions, but if you do not have a primary rabbi, you may do so.
Melave Malka Shir HaMa'alot until Midnight
Say shir ha'ma'alot until midnight (halachic chatzot) if you eat a meal with bread after Shabbat is over, but only if the meal is eaten as a melave malka.

Tum'a: Squeeze Bottle as Washing Cup
You may wash your hands for any halachic purpose using a squeeze bottle.
 
Earliest Mincha before Shabbat
The earliest mincha before Shabbat is one-half hour after halachic midday, as with all mincha prayers.
Tish'a B'Av: What To Do until 12 Noon
Activities for Tish'a B'Av until halachic midday:
  • Thinking: Until halachic midday, you should do things and think about things that will keep you in bad spirits or will make you sad.
  • Sitting: You may not sit on any kind of seat that is higher than 12 inches (30 cm) above the floor or ground until after halachic midday.
 
Mincha Ketana
Mincha ketana is the preferred time period for saying mincha: from 2 1/2 halachic hours before sunset until sunset.  
Mincha Gedola
Mincha gedola is the earliest time that you may say mincha: from 1/2 halachic hour after halachic midday until 2 ½ halachic hours before sunset.
 
Birkat HaMazon Once Shabbat Ends: Migdol or Magdil
When saying birkat ha'mazon after Shabbat until halachic midnight (chatzot), say migdol, not magdil.
Note This also applies to birkat ha'mazon after Jewish festivals or Rosh Chodesh--all days when we say musaf.
Latest time To Say Shema
Shema may be said anytime during the day.  But to fulfill the halachic requirement of saying shema in the morning, shema must be said by the end of the first quarter of the daylight hours, known as the “third hour” of the day.  To derive this time, divide the time from sunrise to sunset by 4 and add that to the time for sunrise.
Eating before Jewish Festival Midday
As on Shabbat, don't fast on Jewish festivals (except Yom Kippur!) past halachic midday.
  • If you will not finish shacharit before halachic midday, you should eat or drink earlier in the day, even before you begin shacharit—water can be sufficient for this purpose.
  • If you will finish shacharit, but not musaf, by halachic midday:
    • Finish shacharit,
    • Make kiddush,
    • Eat some mezonot, and then
    • Return to say musaf.
Appetite for Shabbat Dinner
Do not eat a full meal (any bread or a lot of mezonot) after halachic midday on Friday.
Reason In order to have a special appetite for Shabbat dinner.
Note You may eat other food after halachic midday on Friday.