The Nine Days

[A] (halacha 601)

It is stated in the Mishnah in Maseches Taanis¹ and so it is ruled in the Shulchan Aruch²: 'When Av enters, we decrease in joy'.

Question: Does serving Hashem with joy apply during the Nine Days?

Answer: The kabbalist Rabbi Chaim HaKohen, disciple of the Racha"v, wrote in his work Tur Bareket³: 'And this matter does not pertain to the service of the Holy One, blessed be He, for it is stated, "Because you did not serve Hashem with joy," since the essence of the service is joy; rather, it is physical joy that is withheld'.

And likewise we find in the writings of the disciples of the Baal Shem Tov, as the Maggid of Kozhnitz wrote in his work Avodas Yisrael⁴: 'And behold, this parsha is always read between the straits .. even though it is the time appointed to be sad and to sigh over the destruction of the House of Hashem, nevertheless one must strengthen oneself and purify one's heart and serve Hashem with Torah and tefillah in joy, particularly during the recitation of songs and praises .. and the main point is to strengthen and fortify one's heart in these times so as not to fall into the snare of slackening from serving Hashem, Heaven forbid; and even on Tisha B'Av, which is darkness to the eye's sight, although one ought to weep with a bitter soul over all that has befallen us on that day, nevertheless one should gladden the heart of the King with the future joy in which Menachem will be born and He will speedily redeem us, and Hashem will rejoice in His works and the kingship will be His as in days of old'.

And in the Meor VaShemesh⁵ he wrote: 'For so I heard⁶ the explanation of the Mishnah "When Av enters, we decrease in joy" — meaning we decrease sorrow and worries by means of joy, that is, with joy. Through the joy that a person has, he decreases the exile of the Shechinah'.

And the holy Rebbe, author of the Minchas Elazar⁷, wrote: 'When Av enters we decrease in joy, and he specifies in what we decrease, so that we should not think, Heaven forbid .. to be in utter sadness, black melancholy, may the Merciful One save us; and in truth this is not the way of the disciples of our master the Baal Shem Tov, of blessed memory, and those who came after them (for one must also then truly be brokenhearted and weep over the exile and the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, but not be utterly saddened as one despairing, Heaven forbid, of the redemption, as is known in the holy works), and joy is an obligation from the Torah, "and because you did not serve Hashem your God with joy" etc.; therefore certainly it is forbidden to be utterly saddened to the extreme. Therefore he stated only that in certain matters we decrease in joy when Av enters, in order to decrease, so that in other matters one should strengthen himself in joy and in trust in his faithful heart in Hashem, awaiting the salvation of the redemption'.

The Rebbe, in the sicha of Shabbos Parshas Mishpatim 5716⁸, explained: 'We see that with regard to practice, the matter of "When Av enters, we decrease in joy" is limited. We do not decrease in all matters. There are matters of joy even in Av .. The explanation of this in simple terms: since joy must exist always, even in the month of Av, for there is always the command of "serve Hashem with joy." Therefore, when there is added also "we increase in joy," this is without limit. Whereas the "we decrease" is limited, since even then there must be certain matters of joy, and particularly on account of the command of "serve Hashem with joy" .. even in the times of which it is said "we decrease," even then one must be in joy, to a known measure, since "a dwelling place for Him, blessed be He," must necessarily be made always, at every single moment, for "this is the whole of man," "I was (not) created (except) to serve my Maker," and accordingly the obligation rests upon one to be always, at every moment, in joy. And as for the fact that sometimes the order of service must be in the second line, the line opposite to joy, this too is understood according to what is explained in the maamar regarding the order of making the dwelling place for Him, blessed be He, by way of the analogy of the manner of making a dwelling for a flesh-and-blood king: first of all it is necessary to clean the place of all filth etc., and afterward to beautify it with fine vessels so that it should be fit for the king's dwelling. And so it is also in the spiritual service: first it is necessary to remove the filth etc., and this is accomplished through the line of bitterness. And this is the service of the month of Av, "we decrease in joy," in order to remove the matters of "and because of our sins we were exiled from our land." But this is only a preparation for the dwelling, whereas the dwelling itself is made through joy. And as for what is said in the Gemara regarding "When Adar enters, we increase in joy," the precise wording "just as," which implies that the matter of "When Adar enters we increase" is drawn from the matter of "When Av enters we decrease," is understood according to what is explained in Chassidus, that the superiority of light comes specifically out of the darkness. And accordingly it is understood that the matter which arouses and reveals in Adar the limitlessness of joy, "until he does not know," comes specifically from the darkness, which is the matter of the service of "subjugation of the other side" through bitterness, and then the joy is the very greatest, without limit'.

In the sicha of Shabbos Parshas Matos-Masei 5713⁹ the Rebbe explained: 'And furthermore, also with regard to the month of Av itself it says only "we decrease in joy," that is, to decrease in joy relative to the joy of the month of Adar, and likewise relative to the joy of the coming of Mashiach, when "our mouths will be filled with laughter," but the matter of joy must exist also in the month of Av .. and when there is joy, behold joy breaks through the fence, and the definition that exists regarding the coming of Mashiach — that he can come only in "a generation that is entirely meritorious" or the opposite, Heaven forbid — will be nullified, and likewise the definition of "When Av enters, we decrease in joy" will be nullified, and these days of mourning will be transformed into days of joy'.

And in the sicha of the fifteenth of Tammuz 5747¹⁰ the Rebbe aroused: 'to increase in the matter of joy in its plain sense, with regard to the gatherings of the Jewish people .. and these words apply also with regard to the Three Weeks .. to utilize every possible occasion and circumstance to add and increase in the matter of joy, such as: a bris milah, a pidyon haben, and likewise in other such matters, in a manner permitted according to the Shulchan Aruch'.

And in the sicha of Shabbos Parshas Pinchas 5751¹¹: 'And among the reasons for this — since in these days one searches for all the permitted ways in which one can add in good and joyful matters, and through this to reveal the inner good in the descent associated with these days, beginning with "the precepts of Hashem are upright, gladdening the heart"'.

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¹ כו, ב ↩

² או"ח תקנא ס"א ↩

³ סי' תקנ"א ס"ק ב ↩

⁴ פר' מסעי ↩

⁵ פר' וישב ↩

⁶ השם משמואל פרשת ויגש שנה תרעג כתב: 'ונראה עפ"י מאמר הרבי מלובלין זצללה"ה משנכנס אב ממעטין בשמחה, היינו ממעטין את כחות החיצונים השולטין אז ע"י השמחה, עכת"ד' ↩

⁷ בשער יששכר מאמר חודש אדר הראשון אות ב ↩

⁸ תו"מ חט"ז עמ' 97-104, וראה גם לקוטי שיחות ח"א עמ' 194 ↩

⁹ תו"מ ח"ט עמ' 93-99 ↩

¹⁰ תו"מ ח"ד ע' 57 ואילך ↩

¹¹ תו"מ ח"ד ע' 64 ↩

[B] (halacha 602)

Question: On Shabbos Chazon does one wear the Shabbos garments as usual?

Answer: We find a minhag among the sages of Ashkenaz that on Shabbos Chazon they would remain (at least partly) in their weekday garments, as Sefer HaRokeach wrote¹: 'And on the Shabbos of Chazon Yeshayahu they did not change their garb except for the tunic alone which they wore. But Rav Yosef and the rest of the people in the minyan changed [their garments] partially'.

And so wrote the Mordechai²: 'And likewise on the Shabbos of Chazon Yeshayahu they do not change their garments except for the tunic alone [gloss: and the meaning of "tunic" is a cloak and not an undershirt, and so explained Rabbeinu David Kimchi; and what is written "tunic of the cloak," sometimes he calls both of them as one, the end]'.

And Sefer HaParnas³ wrote: 'When Rosh Chodesh Av falls on the eve of Shabbos, they were accustomed here in Rothenburg to bathe in the bathhouse on that day in honor of Shabbos, and likewise on Shabbos they change their garments; and on the day of Friday, the eighth of Av .. and they do not change their garments on that Shabbos except for the tunic alone'.

And likewise we find in the books of the minhogim of Ashkenaz, as written in Sefer HaMinhagim of the Mahara Klausner⁴: 'Our teachers were somewhat accustomed to alter the Shabbos garments on Shabbos Chazon Yeshayahu, and they do not change all the garments on Shabbos Chazon Yeshayahu as on other Shabbasos, in order to show some signs of mourning, Maimoni. [One time Rosh Chodesh Av fell on Friday; on the Shabbos following it I saw that the Mahara dressed in Shabbos clothing.]

And in the Minhogim of the Maharil, Hilchos Tisha B'Av, it is brought: 'The Mahari Segal did not alter any garments on the Shabbos of Chazon Yeshayahu. Even the tallis designated for him for Shabbos he did not wrap himself in, but rather the weekday one .. and they asked before him how one observes mourning on Shabbos by not altering garments, and he answered that mourning is not recognizable in this, for one who sees says, "He has no Shabbos garments"'.

If so, we have seen that there were those who were accustomed not to wear all the Shabbos garb in order 'to show some mourning'⁵.

And so the Rema ruled in halacha⁶: 'Even on the Shabbos of Chazon one does not change to wear Shabbos garments, except for the tunic alone'⁷.

However, there were those who took issue with this minhag, as the Radbaz wrote⁸: 'And all the regions of Israel of whom we have heard report did not practice this minhag, and they did well, for I hold that it is against the law, for we have established from the words of tradition "honor it with clean garb," since one has [other garments] to change into, one changes; and behold, if Tisha B'Av falls on Shabbos, one does not withhold anything from it, even matters that are private, and even marital relations, and so all the geonim of the world agreed; and all the more so, with an a fortiori within an a fortiori, the Shabbos of Chazon Yeshayahu. And one who is accustomed on other Shabbasos to wear clean garb, and on this Shabbos wears weekday garments in public, is found to be practicing mourning on Shabbos, and is found to be more stringent on this Shabbos than [in the case of] new mourning .. and if the sages of Ashkenaz have a received tradition in the interpretation of the wording of the Or Zarua as they were accustomed, we will not be concerned about this minhag, since it is against the honor of Shabbos and makes the holy into the profane'.

And likewise we find among the poskim of Ashkenaz who took issue with this minhag, as the Yaavetz wrote⁹: 'There is much room to question the minhag of the Ashkenazim, that they do not change out of weekday garments on Shabbos Chazon. But the practice of my master, my father, my teacher, the chassid, of blessed memory, was not to alter anything in it at all, even when Tisha B'Av falls on it, and so we practice after him, for behold they said that one sets upon his table on it even like the feast of Shlomo; and if for his table thus, then for the honor of his Maker in the place of His honor (that is to say, in the synagogue, where His Shechinah dwells) all the more so. And we have learned [the matter of] changing garments from the Torah'.

And in explaining the change of the minhogim, the Aruch HaShulchan wrote¹⁰: 'And know that with us, for two or three generations, they do not practice according to this minhag on Shabbos Chazon, but rather wear all the Shabbos garments, and the great ones of the generation who were then instituted thus, saying that this falls under showing mourning on Shabbos in public, and therefore even on a Shabbos on which Tisha B'Av falls and is deferred we wear Shabbos garments for this reason. Therefore in our days it has almost been forgotten, the matter of not wearing Shabbos garments on Shabbos Chazon, and this matter is puzzling to me, for did our predecessors not know this, and nevertheless they practiced thus even though it is not so according to the law? And how shall we nullify their minhag? Therefore it appears to me, in my humble opinion, that this depends on the manner of dress: for among the predecessors, the Shabbos and weekday attire were equal in their form and appearance, except that the difference was between expensive merchandise and plain merchandise, and the difference was not so recognizable, for behold the poor also go out on Shabbos in plain merchandise; therefore they instituted to wear weekday garments. This is not so for several generations earlier, when on Shabbos the garments had an entirely different appearance, for both poor and rich, just as on weekdays they would wear a hat of klafin and on Shabbos a shtreimel, and likewise the other garments — it was recognizable to all that this is a weekday garment, such as kitai, and this is a Shabbos garment, such as silk for the rich and plain silk for the poor; and therefore the great ones instituted not to practice this minhag, because the difference is very recognizable and it is like mourning on Shabbos. Therefore I say that in our time, in which, by the decree of the government, we have already changed the appearance of the garments, and Shabbos and weekday have one appearance, except that the difference is between cheap and expensive, it is certainly correct to uphold the minhag of the predecessors'.

And in practice the minhag was accepted both in the communities of the chassidim and in the communities of the Lithuanians to wear Shabbos garments in honor of Shabbos Chazon, as they testified that so the Alter Rebbe practiced, and so the Gra practiced, as the Divrei Nechemiah wrote¹¹ (who discussed at length the ruling of the Rema, but wrote): 'However, in practice there is not so much difference in all this, for behold, even on Shabbos Chazon, regarding which the minhag to be stringent is explicit in the Rema, nevertheless Rabbi Yaakov Emden already testified in his siddur concerning his father the Gaon, the Chacham Tzvi, of blessed memory, that even when Tisha B'Av fell on Shabbos he did not alter anything from other Shabbasos; and exactly likewise it was testified concerning my master, my father's father, our master, of blessed memory¹², and so too the Gra, of blessed memory, as written in the book Chayei Adam¹³'.

And so is the minhag of Chabad in practice, as written in Sefer HaMinhagim¹⁴: 'On Shabbos Chazon as well one wears Shabbos garments'.

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¹ הל' ת"ב סי' שיא ↩

² תענית רמז תרלה, ואודות ההערב מהו הכותונת ראה גם בדברי הרדב"ז דלהלן ↩

³ סי' רעא ↩

⁴ סי' קלג אות ח ↩

⁵ וראה משנ"ב סי' תקנא ס"ק מד: 'ומה"ט נהגו איסור בבגדי שבת ללבשן בשבת חזון דאע"פ שלבשן מכבר כמה שבתות עדיין גיהוצן ניכר והוי כחדשים' ↩

⁶ שו"ע או"ח סי' תקנא ס"א בהג"ה ↩

⁷ וראה מג"א סי' תקנט ס"ק י ↩

⁸ שו"ת ח"ב סי' תרצג ↩

⁹ סידור בית יעקב שער שלכת, שער סור אשנב א אות י. וראה שו"ת חת"ס ח"א או"ח סי' קנח ↩

¹⁰ או"ח סי' תקנא סי"א ↩

¹¹ שו"ת יו"ד סי' כז ↩

¹² ובספר המנהגים בהערה ציין שכ"כ בלוח כולל חב"ד ↩

¹³ וראה משנ"ב סי' תקנא ס"ק ו. וספר המנהגים שם בהערה ↩

¹⁴ עמ' 46. וראה ג"כ תו"מ חמ"ד ע' 172 ↩

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