[Avodah] The "Unknown Days" of the Jewish Calendar

[Zev Sero]

> This coming week, an unsuspecting person wishing to catch a /minyan/, 
> who walks into a random /shul /in many places around the world, might be 
> in for a surprise. After the /Shemoneh/ /Esrei/ prayer on Sunday there 
> will be no /Tachanun/. On Monday there will be /Selichos/; and on 
> Thursday there again won’t be /Tachanun/! Why would this be? No 
> /Tachanun/ generally signifies that it is a festive day;[1] 
> <https://ohr.edu/5146#_edn1> yet, no other observances are readily 
> noticeable. As for the reciting of /Selichos/ on Monday, they are 
> usually reserved for a fast day; yet no one seems to be fasting! What is 
> going on?

I repeat my objections to this article from last year, when you also 
linked to it.

Come on.  Neither Pesach Sheni nor Lag Be'omer can possibly be described 
as "unknown days".   It's just not true. Anyone who has never heard of 
these days has never heard of tachanun either, and wouldn't notice 
whether it's being said or not.  The author himself later notes that 
even in chu"l there is the tradition of an outing on Lag Ba'omer, though 
he strangely refers to it dismissively, saying there are no observances 
"unless one counts" this one.  That's a bit like saying Chanukah has no 
observances unless one counts the menorah, etc. If the author wants to 
write about these days, let him write about them; there's no need to 
pretend they're "unknown" as an excuse.

I also take issue with the author's characterisation of Behab as "Days 
of Tefilah" on which, by the way, some people also fast.  On the 
contrary, they are voluntary fast days, which nowadays have mostly 
fallen into desuetude.  As fast days, those observing them say selichos 
and read Vayechal.  Those who are not observing them don't.

I suppose that if one who is not observing them davens in a minyan that 
is, it would make sense to selichos with them. If there are minyanim 
where there are not ten fasting, so they don't read Vayhechal, but they 
still say selichos, I assume the idea is that it's "officially" a 
fasters' minyan, but it just so happens that lately there have not been 
enough fasters so they had to cancel the Vayechal, but they still 
continue the previous practice of saying selichos, like a shul that's 
officially Nusach Ashkenaz even if everyone who currently attends davens 
Sfard.

I will not be so foolish as to claim there are no communities where it 
has lately become the "established custom" not to fast but still to say 
Selichos; there are so many different customs that it's foolish to 
insist that *anything* doesn't exist. So I will merely say that I have 
never heard of such a thing.  But even if such communities exist, it is 
seriously backwards to characterise the days as the author does.  The 
selichos is always secondary to and a consequence of the fast, not vice 
versa.


-- 
Zev Sero            A prosperous and healthy 5779 to all
zev at sero.name       Seek Jerusalem's peace; may all who love you prosper