Today is Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of the Hebrew month and the festival of the New Moon. Jews celebrate by having festive meals, dancing (well, those people who generally celebrate things by dancing also celebrate this by dancing), and by saying additional prayers.
And if — you know, hypothetically — you forgot to say those additional prayers for Rosh Chodesh*?
Well, you’re in luck. According to Rabbi Meir** in the Talmud, you can pray the Musaf Amidah up until the seventh hour of the day. According to everyone else, you can keep on praying until the sun goes down. Of course, it’s better to get it out of the way earlier, or else you might turn into one of those people who (again, hypothetically) sees the sun setting in the window, the solar system calling an end to another business day, and frantically jumps off the couch while yelling “Hold on! I have to pray the morning prayers!”
I’m just saying.
* – Hypothetically, of course. Because no one who works for MJL would ever forget that it’s Rosh Chodesh….even if they were coordinating a crazy wild open mic night and their baby, over the past few days, has started deciding that 3 a.m. is a great time to wake up and hit the after-hours clubs.
** – Yes, it’s pretty weird that we have an article on Beruriah but not her husband. Go figure.
