A weekly feature of Torah Tidbits to help clarify practical and conceptual aspects of the Jewish Calendar, thereby better fulfilling the mitzva of HaChodesh HaZeh Lachem... In last week's issue, we presented some Megila / Kiddush L'vana clash-situations. Here's one more. Cloudy every night until Leil Purim. Cloudy at the beginning of the evening and after Maariv, the congregation begins to read the Megila. Halfway through the reading, someone notices that the clouds have dispersed and the sky has cleared and the almost full moon is shining brightly for the first time this month. With the end of KL approaching shortly and no time to wait until after Megila reading, the congregation stops the reading, goes outside for Kiddush L'vana, and then goes back into shul to finish Megila. The above situation does not often occur in Eretz Yisrael, where it is unlikely that the moon would be obscured every single night during the KL timeframe. But there are places elsewhere where it happens. There is a different reason that the above situation cannot occur this year, and that is that Thursday night, Megila night for us all, is NOT the last opportunity for KL. This month it works out that the NIGUD (opposition of the Sun and the Moon) is 2:41am on Leil Shabbat. And because there will be further opportunity for KL after Megila reading and even on the following night, it seems that we would not be allowed to interrupt Megila reading for KL. Even the idea that there can be a situation when we would stop in the middle of Megila reading to say Kiddush L'vana, says something about the importance of KL. Even if the situation never arises in practice, the statement made is that KL is important as our monthly reception for the Sh'china, so to speak. [The Parshat Tzav Homepage]
|
