Rabbi Blog

Dear QJC Family,

First, I want to thank everyone for a successful and meaningful Yamim Noraim season. With all of the adjustments we had to made, and with the acknowledgment that the circumstances were fall from ideal, I believe we all rose to the occasion. The positivity people have expressed in light of the different experience we had has been heartwarming and demonstrates the best of our community.

This coming week, I will not be giving shiurim and will not be in shul on Shabbos. I look forward to resuming our learning next week. Please also be in touch with any ideas of what we can do in shul or virtually to maintain our sense of community.

I want to take a moment to address the topic of tachanun for the remainder of Tishrei. As I am explaining below, I believe it is appropriate for to say tachanun starting tomorrow, whether davening in shul or at home, even though normally the custom in our community is to wait until after Rosh Chodesh.

According to Shulchan Aruch, we do not say tachanun between Yom Kippur and Sukkot. It does not mention a practice to refrain from saying tachanun through Rosh Chodesh, and this practice of omitting tachanun between Sukkot and Rosh Chodesh does not seem to be found in commentaries, either. Aruch Ha-Shulchan, among a couple of other sefarim, mentions it and dismisses it. Of course, it has become a widespread custom to wait until Rosh Chodesh to resume. Under ordinary circumstances, communal customs are greatly significant.

However, in times like these, I believe an exception has to be made to the custom. tachanun means supplication - defined as "the action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly." As Rav Eliezer Melamed shlit”a explains in his work Peninei Halakha:

So too, we in our prayers, after having prayed while sitting and standing, are left with a feeling that we have not yet expressed everything, that we have not yet broken down the barriers completely, so we prostrate ourselves in submission to the Master of the Universe (see Tur 131).
Nefillat Apayim possesses a special power and is the most effective prayer in times of trouble.
Nefillat Apayim is so powerful because it expresses one’s complete surrender towards the Creator until a person reaches total sacrifice of his soul.

If now is not a moment in which we need to try every avenue of tefillah, that we have desperate pleas to share, and that we need to show our submission to Hashem, when is? We see an increasing number of cases of a dangerous virus in our own neighborhoods. Our shul is in a zone near a so-called “hot spot,” resulting in special regulations. Furthermore, some of our brothers and sisters are involved in chilul Hashem in both defying the law and, separately, acting in ways that are dangerous to the public. While cases are declining in Eretz Yisrael, which just experienced the worst of its crisis, their battle is not yet over, and we must have them on our minds during tefillah.

Back in Nissan, I was saying tachanun and Avinu Malkeinu every day (except for during Pesach itself), when it is a universal custom to generally not to. I was influenced by my rosh yeshiva, Rav Mosheh Lichtenstein shlit”a, who wrote to the yeshiva’s rabbinic alumni group:

Although there is a compelling halakhic case for this, that is not the main reason. The real reason is that there is a compelling religious and emotional need to do so. If in times like this we don't cry out to the Kadosh Barukh Hu, then when should we do so? Masekhet Taanis and its underlying religious perspective of crying to the KBH in times of need is not only an intellectual text to give shiurim about, but a religious reality that should inform our sentiments… This response requires the inclusion of tefilot whose essence is crying out to the KBH and not just routine tefilot. Two of the most prominent tefilot that answer this need are Avinu Malkeinu and Tachnun and therefore it is important to continue saying them now.

At this moment, I am not advocating the inclusion of Avinu Malkeinu. It is worth differentiating between the acute crisis of March and April, versus what we have right now, which does not seem to be as strong. However, we are at a crossroads and do not know where this is going. Perhaps this will not be as bad, but absent any certainty, we have a lot to daven for. And halachically, if this approach was appropriate during Nissan, I see no issue in taking this approach in Tishrei, when halacha seems to support this approach to begin with.

Our mantra for the last few weeks wast. May our continued efforts in tefillah, even after Yamim Noraim, be successful to alleviate the severity of the pandemic, and may all of our communities continue to be safe, healthy, and resilient.

Beyedidut,

Judah Kerbel
Rabbi, Queens Jewish Center