Early Shabbos

Go to a zemanim website* and look up the time for “Plag” or “Plag HaMincha.” This week it’s 6:54 in NYC. Plag is the earliest time for making an early Shabbos.

*Here’s the OU’s: http://www.ou.org/holidays/calendar/

mommamia22:- Shabbos candles as well as Chanukah candles on Friday, can be lit any time from Plag haMincha thru sunset.

Maybe mommamia22 is confusing him/herself, with the Halocho, that Kiddush can be made any time from Plag haMincha until the last 1/2 hour before Nitefall, and of-course any time after nitefall.

mommamia –

I’m not sure why they would say that. But if you’re asking me it’s okay to light any time from plag until shkia, and you can also make kiddush anytime after plag. The only thing that shouldn’t be done is to daven Mincha and Ma’ariv both between plag and shkia. And it’s okay to daven Ma’ariv after the meal too.

the best way to figure out what time you could make early shabbos is find out in all the local shuls what time is the earliest minyan and go to it

The only thing that shouldn’t be done is to daven Mincha and Ma’ariv both between plag and shkia:- …….. However, if this is going to pause problems, 2 options:-

1) If praying with a Minyan, there are Kulos for “Tartei dSasra” in light of “Tircha dTzibur” which you or/& your local Rabbi may decide to rely upon;

2) There is also an option of calculating daytime seasonal hours, based on:- from daybreak [A.K.A. Alos haShachar] thru nitefall [A.K.A. Tzeis haKochavim] which may cause Plag haMincha to be at a more convenient time, with your busy schedule. BTW in some very Northern countries at the height of winter, this later Plag haMincha could come out after Shkiah, if day is extremely short, and “Bein haShemoshos” is very protracted; Needless to say, in such a situation, one must utilize Plag haMincha based on day from sunrise thru sunset.

Yitay should have said “should not”, not “cannot”. Even in a Tzibbur, it’s only okay B’dieved. Tirchah D’tzibburah makes it a Sha’as Had’chak which is Kib’dieved.

I did say should not. Heh heh. QED.

Popa: I never thought of it that way. what my calculation does is to take the # of hours, convert it to minutes and the divide by 12 or in other words hours x 60/12 or hours x 5. Thanks for the hint.

i think early shabbos should allow for early havadalah.

also, why is it that shabbos is starting so late now . it should be the latest during the 8 summer weeks so that people have more time to get upstate on fridays

I think that the general daas of husbands davening kabalas Shabbos early is not to be mikabel Shabbos for their wife so the wife can light as late as she wants (up to shkia)

When there is only one shul in the town and that shul is being mekabel Shabbos early then it might be more problematic. But in Brooklyn where there are 42 shuls on every block each starting a different time it shouldn’t be an issue.

Queens TBT Kollel Boker

Dvar Halacha

By: R’ Chananya Berman

Question:

If my husband makes “early Shabbos” when does Shabbos start for me (the wife)?

Discussion:

If a husband accepts early Shabbos it does not obligate his wife (or children) to accept Shabbos as well. However, if the husband accepts Shabbos for the mitzvah of tosefes Shabbos (adding on to Shabbos), and not just for convenience, then it has the status of a custom to which his family would be subject. In such a case his family would have to stop all melacha when he accepts Shabbos (Iggros Moshe O.C. 3:38). There is an opinion that even in this situation his family would not be bound by his personal acceptance of Shabbos (Aruch Hashulchan O.C. 263:22).

A community with one Shul:

In a city that has one shul only, when that shul accepts Shabbos the whole city is “pulled along” and must also accept Shabbos (Chayei Adam 5:9). The reason for this is based on the concept of Minhag Hamakom. This holds true for the women of the community as well. Therefore, they must be careful to light candles and stop doing any melacha before this time.

If there is more than one shul in a community then by definition neither one is “minhag Hamakom”. Therefore, the individual is not bound by the community even if one shul is the majority (M.B. 263:51).

Camps and Bungalow Colonies:

Camps and colonies generally have one minyan and therefore are considered like a city with one shul. Once they accept Shabbos everyone in that colony or camp would be required to accept Shabbos as well (Sefer 39 Melachos Vol. 1 note 749). Some poskim say that since the community is doing it for convenience the individual is not dragged after the majority and can accept Shabbos later. However, one still should not do any open melacha such as drive through the colony or camp (Iggros Moshe ibid.).

For all practical questions please ask your Rav.

mommamia –

Yes, you are correct. The reason we don’t use the 18 minutes is because one opinion in the rishonim is that there is an understanding that by lighting the candles* you accepted Shabbos upon yourself, and therefore you aren’t allowed to do melacha. There are rishonim who disagree with this and the truth is that the letter-of-the-law follows the lenient rishonim, but there is a well-established custom to be concerned for the other opinion, which is why, as you correctly noted, we will only rely on it in extenuating circumstances.

*I am simply going with the assumption that you light at 18 minutes. If you haven’t lit yet you can do melacha until shkia; I’m not sure why R.T implied otherwise.

One should not light candles, or do any other melacha, once it is two minutes to shkia (due to the obligation of tosefes shabbos, which, according to Rav Moshe Feinstein zatzal as well as other leading poskim, requires that one start Shabbos [at least] two minutes before shkia.

In a case of extreme and dire need, one may continue to do melacha until one second prior to sunset, since there are opinions that there is no specific amount of time that needs to be added to fulfill the mitzvah of tosefes shabbos. See Orchos Rabbeinu vol. 1, p. 105, that in a case of need, one can light Shabbos candles until sunset. If one is relying on this (perhaps in the winter months), extreme care must be taken to finish lighting and to drop the match from one’s hand at least one second prior to shkia. If a woman does not have enough time to light her customary number of candles prior to shkia, she should light as many of them as she can (or just one, if necessary) and drop the match from her hand at least one second prior to shkia. Rabbi D. Ribiat decries those women who cannot stand the thought of missing candle-lighting, and sometimes they light even after sunset, which is a safek issur kores.

Bottom line: One should make every effort to light candles 18 (preferably 20) minutes before shkia. This shows the proper respect to the Shabbos Queen.

If a woman is preparing for immersion, and she needs the extra time, according to Rabbi B. Forst shlit”a in his sefer on the laws of niddah, she should complete all melachos and light by no later than 5 minutes prior to shkia.

Who says you can light a second before shkiah? The actual shkiah can vary from posted times because of atmospheric conditions, so you need to give a couple of minutes as a buffer to make sure.

In a case of extreme and dire need, the person isn’t concerned about theory.

Meanwhile, the 75 year old popa is still proud of the 5th grade popa for outsmarting the whole world.

I don’t know if those kehillos would fall back on it b’sha’as had’chak to do melachah.