Tuesday, February 21, 2017

tisha bav - Why not recite Havdalah without wine on Saturday Night Tishah BeAv?


When Tishah BeAv falls on Shabbat and the fast is postponed to the next day, or when Tishah BeAv falls on Sunday, the problem arises how to deal with the requirement of making havdalah over a cup of wine (or another drink). The positions generally discussed are: (1) to perform havdalah immediately after Shabbat but to give the wine to a minor; (2) to omit havdalah; (3) to perform havdalah the following night. The actual halachah has been determined by the Sages according to opinion (3).


I expected a fourth opinion to be part of this discussion, which is reciting the havdalah formula immediately after Shabbat but without a cup of wine (or another drink). According to this option only the blessing over the flame would be recited, followed by the havdalah formula (the blessings over wine and flagrances being omitted). In my opinion the reason for this fourth possibility lies in the fact that the havdalah formula doesn’t itself mention a cup of wine or in any way refer to it. Thus there seems to be no inherent necessity to recite this formula exclusively over a filled cup. So why can it not be recited “dry”?




No comments:

Post a Comment

periodic trends - Comparing radii in lithium, beryllium, magnesium, aluminium and sodium ions

Apparently the of last four, $\ce{Mg^2+}$ is closest in radius to $\ce{Li+}$. Is this true, and if so, why would a whole larger shell ($\ce{...