Guide to the Jewish Year and On Waking

אָב

Israeli: ' marks a reduced vowel that Israeli speech drops (b'rachah); when the vowel is pronounced it is written e (lefanecha). - separates syllables that would otherwise run together.

How to read the transliterations

308 At Minḥa both tallit and tefillin are donned.

309 Prior to Minḥa, the Daily Psalm, Mourner's Kaddish, אֵין כֵּאלֹהֵינוּ and the Rabbis, Kaddish (pages 191-207) are recited. Minḥa then opens with Ashrei and Half Kaddish (page 223). The Torah is chanted: page 1166. Three men are summoned; the third recites the Haftara: page 1166. Once the Torah has been restored to the Ark, the Shaliaḥ Tzibbur recites Half Kaddish.

310 In the silent recitation of the Amida, the congregation inserts נַחֵם (page 237) within the fourteenth blessing (בּוֹנֵה יְרוּשָׁלָיִם) and עֲנֵנוּ (page 239) within the sixteenth blessing (שׁוֹמֵעַ תְּפִלָּה) (save when one is not fasting). In the Repetition of the Amida, the Shaliaḥ Tzibbur recites עֲנֵנוּ amid the seventh (גּוֹאֵל יִשְׂרָאֵל) and eighth (רוֹפֵא חוֹלֵי עַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל) blessings, נַחֵם within the fourteenth blessing, and the paragraph relating to Birkat Kohanim [שו״ע ורמ״א או״ח, תקנו:א]. Minḥa concludes with Full Kaddish and Aleinu.

311 Following Ma'ariv, Kiddush Levana is recited (page 331). When Tisha B'Av starts on Motza'ei Shabbat, Havdala is recited on Sunday night, preferably over a cup of wine or grape juice; spices and a flame receive no blessing.

312 Although the fast is ended after nightfall, custom is to maintain the remaining mourning practices until midday of the 10th of Av. Yet if the 10th of Av falls on Friday, bathing and other Shabbat preparations are permitted before midday [רמ״א או״ח, תקנח:א].

שַׁבַּת נַחֲמוּ

Shabbat Naḥamu (Shabbat after Tisha B'Av)

313 So called from the opening word of the Haftara, נַחֲמוּ. First among the seven Shabbatot (שבע דנחמתא) spanning Tisha B'Av and Rosh HaShana, when a Haftara from Isaiah is read, bearing words of consolation.

טוּ בְּאָב

Tu B'Av (15th of Av)

314 As the Mishna (Ta'anit 4:8) records, on the 15th of Av, Jerusalem’s young women would don borrowed white dresses and dance together in the vineyards. Young men would come forth to regard them, and the women would press the men not to be taken by looks, but to seek women of worthy lineage.

315 Taḥanun is left out at Shaḥarit and Minḥa. Should it fall on Shabbat, אָב הָרַחֲמִים is left out at Shaḥarit, and צִדְקָתֶךָ at Minḥa.

תְּפִלָּה יוֹמִית

PRAYER EACH DAY

בְּהַשְׁכָּמָה

UPON AWAKENING

316 Custom is to recite מוֹדֶה אָנִי at once upon waking, even before washing hands [משנ״ב או״ח, א:ח].

בִּרְכַּת אֲשֶׁר יָצַר; אֱלֹהַי נְשָׁמָה

Laws concerning Washing Hands; Birkat Asher Yatzar; Elohai Neshamah

317 Upon rising, washing hands is obligatory [שבת, קח:]. Some maintain that four amot (around six feet) should not be walked before washing hands [משנ״ב או״ח, א:ב] (בשם הזוהר).

318 Some authorities hold a distinct duty to wash hands before prayer [ערוה״ש או״ח, ד:ה]. One who washes and recites the blessing of עַל נְטִילַת יָדָיִם after waking, does not repeat the blessing when washing before prayer [רמ״א או״ח, ו:ב].

319 A cup is preferred for washing the hands, yet a cup is not required [שו״ע ורמ״א, או״ח: ד, ו]. Practice is to pour water from the vessel onto the right hand, then the left, three times in all [משנ״ב, שם: י]. Where water cannot be had, one may clean one's hands using any fitting substance; in that event, the blessing is altered to עַל נְקִיּוּת יָדָיִם [שו״ע או״ח, ד:כב].

320 The blessing of עַל נְטִילַת יָדָיִם may be recited before drying one's hands or afterward [משנ״ב, ד:ב].

321 Several reasons have been given for washing hands upon waking. The Gemara states that, during the night, hands are wrapped in an "evil vapor," רוח רעה, which washing one's hands dispels [שבת, קח:]. Moreover, a worry remains that, in sleep, one's hands may have contacted an unclean part of