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CONTINUATION OF MY COMMENTS FROM LAST WEEK

04/15/2021 04:35:45 PM

Apr15

We pointed out that there is an old rabbinic midrash that noticed  how certain holidays fall on the respective days of Passover. By pairing up the first 6 letters of the Hebrew alphabet with the last 6 letters (in reverse order) the midrash noticed that day 1 = this coming Tisha b'av; day 2 = shavuot; 3= Rosh haShanah; 4= Simchat Torah; 5 =  Yom Kippur; 6= the previous Purim.

Of course, something was missing from that midrash. There was no holiday to pair with the 7th last letter of the alphabet, namely the `ayin

Well, finally, after '48, it was noticed that the 5th of Iyyar, Yom haAtsma`ut, which begins with the letter  `ayin in Hebrew, will always fall on the same day of the week as the 7th day of Passover! And, indeed, if you look at your calendar, you will see that the 5th of iyyar this year is on Shabbat.

However, you might ask, how come we are celebrating on Thursday? The answer is that the chief rabbinate decreed, that when the 5th of iyyar falls on a Shabbat, the celebrations should be moved up to Wednesday, in order to avoid violations of the Sabbath.  And Yom Ha-zikkaron is always on the day before the day that will be celebrated as Independence Day.

I wish everyone a happy Yom HaAtsma`ut; may we soon witness a complete redemption!

Shabbat shalom

Fri, March 29 2024 19 Adar II 5784