Isru Chag - Wikipedia

Day after the three major jewish holidays

Isru Chag
Official name	Hebrew: אסרו חגEnglish translation: 'Bind the Festival'
Type	Jewish
Significance	Follows each of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It serves to bridge the respective holidays for the rest of the year.
Observances	Minor: Most omit tachanun from shacharit and mincha[citation needed], and some partake of extra food and drink.
Begins	The night immediately following the Three Pilgrimage Festivals
Ends	At nightfall of the day following the Three Pilgrimage Festivals

Isru Chag (Hebrew: אסרו חג, lit. 'Bind [the] Festival') refers to the day after each of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals in Judaism: Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot.

The phrase originates from the verse in Psalms 118:27, which states, “Bind the festival offering with cords to the corners of the altar.” This verse, according to the sages of the Talmud, should homiletically be understood to mean, “Whosoever makes an addition to the Festival by eating and drinking is regarded by Scripture as though he had built an altar and offered thereon a sacrifice.”[1]

In a responsum to a community that had inquired as to the rationale behind the observance of Isru Chag, Rabbi Yosef Hayyim (1832–1909), known as the Ben Ish Chai, cited Isaac Luria (1534–1572), the founder of Lurianic Kabbalah, to the effect that Jews connect the day after the holiday to the holiday itself due to the remaining “light” of the holiday – in other words, so that the sanctity of the holiday will be extended.[2]

Rabbinic authorities cite observances

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Adding a degree of festivity to the day as a practice has further been codified in Ashkenazic communities, as Moses Isserles (1520–1572) has stated in his glosses on the Shulchan Aruch in the section Orach Chayim:

And we have the custom to eat and drink a little more on the day after the holiday – and that is the day known as "bind the festival."

— Orach Chaim 429:2

Yisrael Meir Kagan (1838–1933) ruled that the minhag (custom) is to generally forbid fasting on Isru Chag, except in instances when as a result of great distress the community synagogue decrees it.[3]

Almost all communities omit tachanun (additional prayers of supplication) on Isru Chag.[4] However, communities that follow the rulings of Maimonides (1135–1204), such as the Dor Daim (a movement founded in 19th century Yemen), maintain that the only days on which Tachanun is to be omitted are Shabbat, Jewish holidays, Rosh HaShanah, Rosh Chodesh, Hanukkah, Purim, and the mincha on the eve of any Shabbat and holiday.[5]

See also

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• Chol HaMoed, the intermediate days of Passover and Sukkot.
• Mimouna, a traditional North African Jewish celebration held the day after Passover.
• Pesach Sheni, is exactly one month after 14 Nisan.
• Purim Katan is when during a Jewish leap year Purim is celebrated during Adar II so that the 14th of Adar I is then called Purim Katan.
• Shushan Purim falls on Adar 15, the day Jews in Jerusalem celebrate Purim.
• Yom Kippur Katan is a practice observed by some Jews on the day preceding each Rosh Chodesh or New Moon Day.
• "Yom tov sheni shel galuyot" refers to the observance of an extra day of Jewish holidays outside of the land of Israel.

References

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1. ^ Babylonian Talmud Sukkah 45b Archived 2009-03-26 at the Wayback Machine
2. ^ Shu”t Torah Lishmah: Orach Chaim, Question 140
3. ^ Mishna Berurah Orach Chaim 429:14
4. ^ אנציקלופדיה יהודית: אסרו חג
5. ^ Mishne Torah Hilchot Tefillah 5:15

External links

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• What is Isru Chag? Archived 2006-11-26 at the Wayback Machine
• "Holiday Wrapping"
• Isru Chag
• The Morning After Archived 2006-11-28 at the Wayback Machine
• Understanding Isru Chag and Yemei Tashlumin

v t e Jewish and Israeli holidays and observances
Jewishholidays andobservances	Shabbat Shabbat Special Shabbat High Holy Days Rosh Hashanah Ten Days of Repentance Yom Kippur Three PilgrimageFestivals Passover Fast of the Firstborn Pesach Sheni Shavuot Sukkot Hoshana Rabbah Shemini Atzeret Simchat Torah Yom tov sheni shel galuyot Chol HaMoed Isru chag Rosh Chodesh Fast of Gedalia Hanukkah Tenth of Tevet Tu BiShvat Fast of Esther Purim Purim Katan Counting of the Omer Lag BaOmer 17th of Tammuz The Three Weeks The Nine Days Tisha B'Av Tu B'Av Rosh Hashanah LeMa'sar Behemah
Israeli publicholidays	Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day) Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day) Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day) Yom HaAliyah (Aliyah Day) Ben-Gurion Day Herzl Day Jabotinsky Day Rabin Day
Israeli ethnicholidays	Mimouna Seharane Sigd Day to Mark the Departure and Expulsion of Jews from the Arab Countries and Iran
Hebrew months	Nisan Iyar Sivan Tammuz Av Elul Tishrei Cheshvan Kislev Tevet Shevat Adar and Adar Sheni
Jewish and Israeli holidays 2000–2050

v t e Passover
Seder	Afikoman The Exodus Ha Lachma Anya Ma Nishtana "Outstretched Arm" Ten Plagues White House Passover Seder Plate Beitzah Charoset Karpas Maror and Chazeret Zeroah
Haggadah	Songs Adir Hu Chad Gadya Dayenu Echad Mi Yodea L'Shana Haba'ah Vehi Sheamda Illustrations Amsterdam Haggadah Birds' Head Haggadah Maxwell House Haggadah Sarajevo Haggadah Szyk Haggadah Washington Haggadah
Foods	Matzah Dishes Chremslach Matzah ball Matzah brei Matzo lasagna Matzah meal Matzah pizza Matzoquiles Companies Streit's Manischewitz René Neymann Yehuda Matzos Rakusen's Osem Main courses Brisket Lamb Potato kugel Desserts Egg kichel Flourless chocolate cake Hadji bada Macaroon Marunchinos Meringue
Religious	Observances Bedikat Chametz Fast of the Firstborn Eve of Passover on Shabbat Passover sacrifice Chol HaMoed Mimouna Isru Chag Pesach Sheni Laws/customs Chametz Challah from Shmurah Matzah Kitniyot Gebrochts Prayers Song of Songs Torah readings Prayer for dew

v t e Sukkot  (סֻכּוֹת)
Rituals	Sukkah Four species Lulav Etrog Hadass Aravah Simchat Beit HaShoeivah S'chach
Related days	Chol HaMoed Hoshana Rabbah Shemini Atzeret Simchat Torah Isru Chag