The Uniqueness of the Year תשפ"א-5871

The uniqueness of the year תשפ"א

By Rabbi Shea Lindner

This coming year תשפ"א is a very unusual occurrence. There is a total of 14 various ways of how the yearly Jewish calendar can be set. 7 of them are regular years and 7 of them are leap years - 14 in total.

Each of these 14 ways has a 3 letter code. By knowing this code, one can figure out the entire year; exactly what day of the week each Yom Tov will fall out, when Rosh Chodesh will be, whether it's a leap year or not, which Parsha will it be each week, etc, etc.

The code for this coming year is זח"א. Suffice to say that it is arguably the rarest of all 14 methods. The last time this occurred was 20 years ago and the time before that was 44 years ago.

Below are some of the rare phenomena which we will be witnessing this coming year:

#1

תפילת ותודיענו 5 פעמים בשנה אחת

This year we will be making Kiddush & Havdala together, a total of 5 times throughout the year:

1 - ליל שני של ראש השנה

2 - ליל שני של סוכות

3 - ליל שמחת תורה

4 - ליל סדר ראשון של פסח

5 - ליל אחרון של פסח

#2

אין שבת חול המועד כלל

This is good news for the children: No Shabbos Chol Hamoed this year - not Succos nor Pesach. This means more time to go to the zoo, the bumping cars, or the merry-go-round...

#3

שבת מקץ אינו שבת חנוכה

This year is the rare occurance of Chanuka starting on a Friday - which means that שבת פרשת מקץ is not Chanuka anymore - which causes the reading of the weekly Parsha Haftorah, which is almost never read, since the Haftorah of שבת חנוכה almost always supersedes it. But this year is an exception. If you ever wondered why a Hoftorah for Miketz is printed in our Chumashim since it's never said anyway - the answer is it's printed there for this year. Remember the wisdom of שלמה המלך ordering to cut the baby in half in order to determine who the real mother is? That's the story of הפטורת מקץ which we haven't gotten to read for 20 years...

#4

עשרה בטבת שחל בערב שבת

The only fast which can occur on a Friday is Asarah B'Teves. This fast cannot be pushed off for a later date as other fasts are, since the Pasuk refers to עשרה בטבת as עצם היום הזה which Chazal interpret as meaning that this fast must be on the 10th day of Teves no matter what day of the week it falls out. This causes the rare occurance of fasting until after Kiddush. This is when everyone will be making an early Shabbos - in middle of the winter...

#5

שבת זכור שחל בפרשת תרומה

In a regular year - not a leap year, שבת פרשת תצוה is always שבת זכור - except for this year when it will be פרשת תרומה instead. While this has no practical ramifications, it is nevertheless an extremely rare occurance.

#6

פורים שחל בערב שבת

If Purim every year is not hectic enough, we will now have the rare occurance of Purim on a Friday - and yes - it is still before the clock is moved - so you better be ready to light Shabbos candles at 5:00 - by hook or by crook... Better start the day at the crack of dawn, in order to pack into this short Friday the reading of the Megilla, sending Mishloach Manos, eating a Seudas Purim, manage to get a bit drunk as well, plus running around to all the teachers and family... If your head is starting to spin already - you have an option - buy a ticket to ארץ ישראל... If you're in ארץ ישראל - then it's a different story - as we will now explain:

#7

פורים המשולש

If you ever planned to go to Eretz Yisroel for Purim - this is the year to go. Why? Because since Purim in ירושלים is always a day later then by us - namely on the day we call שושן פורים - therefore when Purim is by us on Friday - then by them it's on Shabbos - which results in the phenomenon of פורים המשולש litteraly meaning "The Triple Purim". What this means is as follows:

Just like we have now Rosh Hashana falling on Shabbos, as well as Succos on Shabbos, where the Shofar is not blown and the Lulav is not shaken - as the Gemara explains the reasoning - the same reasoning applies when Purim falls on Shabbos as well - the Megilla is not read. What happens is - Purim instead of being 1 day - ends up being 3 days instead! How so? - This is how it works:

The 6 Mitzvos of Purim are divided into 3 days:

Friday is קריאת המגילה and מתנות לאביונים, Shabbos על הניסים is said and ויבא עמלק is read, and Sunday is סעודת פורים and משלוח מנות is sent. Yerushalayim is clearly the place to be this year!...

#8

ערב פסח שחל להיות בשבת

But the Yom Tov which has the most Halachic ramifications is the phenomenon of Erev Pesach occuring now on Shabbos. Here are some aspects of Pesach which will now be different than every year:

בדיקת חמץ

Cannot be the night before Pesach as usual since it's Shabbos, so it must be on Thursday night instead.

שריפת חמץ

Can obviously not be on the day of Erev Peasch, and must instead be on Friday morning. But no כל חמירא is said, and no Chametz is nullified. Why? Because while every year, there is of course no Chametz to be had after the burning, this year however, not only is Chametz permitted afterwards - but one is actually obligated to eat Chametz afterwards. Why? Because on Shabbos one must eat both at night and day some Challa. One cannot substitute Challa for Matza, as it is forbidden to eat Matza on Erev Pesach. But how the Challa is eaten is a bit complicated...

בוקר שבת ערב פסח

Everyone must daven Shachris on Shabbos at the crack of dawn, in order to be finnished eating Challa before סוף זמן אכילת חמץ at 10:00 in the morning. Any Chametz left over afterwards must quickly be flushed down the toilet before סוף זמן ביטול חמץ at 11:00 as burning is not possible on Shabbos and only then is כל חמירא said. Anyone who wishes to eat סעודה שלישית afterwards, cannot eat not Challa nor Matza, and must eat other foods instead.

סדר ליל פסח מוצאי שבת

On Shabbos it is forbidden to do any preperations for the Seder whatsoever, until the זמן מוצאי שבת - besides taking a good nap...

תכלה שנה וקללותיה!

תחל שנה וברכותיה!