And Some Calendar Anomalies
October, 2021
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, was formalized under the Bush administration. Its mission is self-explanatory.
Leading into our current yom tov season, when the blunder in Afghanistan began to unfold, SIGAR published a one-hundred-and-forty page document titled ‘What We Need to Learn: Lessons from Twenty Years of Afghanistan Reconstruction’.
It is an intense and eye-opening read, and opens with these introductory remarks:
“‘What We Need to Learn: Lessons from Twenty Years of Afghanistan Reconstruction’ is the 11th lessons learned report issued by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction…”
What an amazing quote, their 11th ‘Lessons Learned’ Report?!
I told my kehilla that this is the perfect introduction to the yom tov season, as depending on our age, this will be our own ‘Xth Lessons Learned Report’.
I was not referring only to the yimei hadin and our need to always assess our standing, but the yimei simcha of sukkos as well.
Things change, causing many changes and reevaluations, be it in theatre of battle, or even. lahavdil, our actual calendar.
In this column I will demonstrate the many unique qualities of this coming year.
A member commented to me that we ‘never’ have Sukkos in September. This is a misconception. Sukkos occurring at all in September happens about fifty percent of years. To have it fall like this completely in this month actually happens about thirty percent of years (34.4% to be exact).
Many have suggested that this year is unique in that it is both a Shemitta year and a leap year. This is an understamble concern, as we would be extending a difficult year for farmers. Indeed Rashi makes this same point when the gemara teaches us that we may not create a shemitta during a leap year (Sanhedrin 12).
So how come we see this phenomenon somewhat regularly? We last saw this type of leap/shemitta year in 2008, and we will iyH see it again in 2043. Rav Heber of Baltimore, in his sefer Shaarei Zemanim (siman 9) explains (see also shu’t Seridei Eish 1:39) that rule of not extended a shemitta year by adding an extra adar is when the desire to do so is due to communal concerns – such as giving time to fix roads before the annual Pesach pilgrimage. However, for the other reason leap years are mandated, we can and must do so, even during shemitta. The Torah teaches us that Pesach must be in the spring. One of the goals of a leap year is to keep each yom tov in its proper season. This concern trumps the Shemitta concern.
We see this concern this year beginning to creep up now –as elul zman began mid-August. In order to fix this
Growing time-gap, a leap year is now critical.
But this year has been a unique calendar yom tov season too, especially for a rav.
Whenever there is a year when erev Pesach will be falling out on Shabbos, that year’s Rosh Hashana will be falling out on a Tuesday, and Sukkos Monday night. This happened only twelve times in the 20th century, and will happen twelve times in the 21’st (2199 being its last). So don’t fret just because this year’s chol hamoed schedule is not made for long trips; it happens rarely.
Leading into this yom tov season, this came to mind as I read the pizmon ‘im avoneinu’ and all ofthe ‘seventh day’ selichos – as they to are only recited about twelve times a century!
It being an earlier yom tov season also allowed for Shabbos shuva to fall on September 11th, the 20th anniversary of that fateful day, thereby creating an opening to give over a derasha that seaks directly to our vulnerability and the fleeting nature of hai almah.
A member approached me after the derasha with an amazing thought. I had mentioned the question regarding the term ‘ashamnu m’kol am-we are more guilty than any nation’. How could this be? I asked. Not ‘than some nations’, but ‘all’?!
Many answers have been proposed. Rav Levi Yitzchok suggested that perhaps our translation of this phrase is askew. Instead of translating it ‘worse than all nations’, this phrase can also be read as follows: “ashamnu? M’kol am! –are we guilty? If so this is due to the influence of and pressures from the other nations’.
Rav Sorotzkin suggests this phrase should be perhaps rendered as a question, “Are we worse, more guilty, than the other nations?’
This balabuss however had a different approach. Klal yisroel is given this gift of elul, selichos, teffilos Rosh Hashana, aseres yimei teshuva, the ninth of tishrei, Yom Kippur, Sukkos, Hoshanah Rabbah and Shemini Atzeres. All of these days are designed to allow us space to revaluate our relationship with Hashem and with each other. But with this gift comes responsibility. If we waste these days, if we retreat and disregard the influence of these days than we become culpable; maybe even more so than all other nations.
Perhaps this is why we chose the pizmon ‘im avoneinu’ to be said only during this type of year. Precisely because we have an extra day of selichos, an extra day to become close to Hashem, our responsibility is that much greater, and so we beseech Him over-and-over again in this pizmon, “Do not rebuke us in Your anger…’
Interestingly, this is not the earliest that Sukkos could fall out. In 1994 the yom tov season began two days earlier (September 5th). This will happen again in 2089 and 2146. After that, the next time this will happen again for another….seventy-five thousand years!
Because of the early nature this year –and the days on which the yom tovim fall –rabbanim had but a day-and-a- half to prepare Shabbos shuva, and shuls such as ours that sell daled minnim had to begin this work early in the summer.
As it relates to Sukkos, this year is anomalous for a different reason –its anomaly is that its normal! What do I mean?
Each day of Sukkos we have hoshanos. Every reader is familiar with the chart in each siddur explaining how each day’s hoshanos may change depending on which days Sukkos falls out.
The Machatitz Hashekel states (siman 662:4) “The reason for this order I have not found, save for in the words of the Levush…”.
He goes on to give us the reasons for some of this ordering:
The day before Hoshana Rabbah should always be Adon Hamoshia. This is because it references rain, and rain on Sukkos is a siman kelela, so we save it to the end.
The first day of chol hamoed should always be E’Erach Shuey. This is because it references our prayer and fasting, i.e. Yom Kippur. While we should really begin yom tov with its recital –as the Rokeach and others indeed argue – however due its acting as a formal prayer and because the first day of chol hamoed is the same day of the week Yom Kippur falls, we save it for then. And, of curse, the first day of Sukkos is always to be Lmaan Amituch.
However, there is a hiccup. On the Shabbos of Sukkos the hoshanah is always to be Oim Netzorah.
This means that if Shabbos is on the first day –when Lmaan Amituch should be said – or on the first day of chol hamoed –when E’Erach Shuey should be said – Oim Netzorah would push them to another day.
Because of this, each year the standard order needs to be modified every year….accet this year!
This is the one calendar year Sukkos (out of four options) where all the hashonos stay in place! This can only happen when Shabbos does not take place on the day Yom Kippur fell (thereby moving E’Erach Shuey) or if Shabbos falls out the day before erev Hoshana Rabbah (thereby totally removing the hoshana for rain), or if Shabbos is the first day of Sukkos (thereby pushing aside the typical first hoshanos of L’maan Amituch).
In the midst of this anomalous year, and after all the strangeness, horror, and tragedy of the past twenty months, it is nce to have something stay unchanged.
May the only change to come next be the arrival of moshiach tzikainu!
Good yom tov!
Shul Chronicles 
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