| Isru Chag | |
|---|---|
| Official name | Hebrew:אסרו חג |
| 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 omittachanun fromshacharit andmincha[citation needed], and some partake of extra food and drink. |
| Begins | The night immediately following theThree 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 theThree Pilgrimage Festivals inJudaism:Passover,Shavuot andSukkot.
The phrase originates from the verse inPsalms 118:27, which states, "Bind thefestival offering with cords to the corners of the altar." According to theTalmud:
With regard to anyone who establishes an addition [issur] to the Festival on the day after the Festival by eating and drinking, the verse ascribes him credit as though he built an altar and sacrificed an offering upon it, as it is stated: “Add [isru] to the Festival with fattened animals [ba’avotim] until the horns of the altar.”[1]
In aresponsum to a community that had inquired as to the rationale behind the observance of Isru Chag,Yosef Hayyim (1832–1909) citedIsaac Luria (1534–1572), the founder ofLurianic 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]
Adding a degree of festivity to the day as a practice has further been codified inAshkenazic communities, asMoses Isserles (1520–1572) has stated in his glosses on theShulchan Aruch in the sectionOrach 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."
Yisrael Meir Kagan (1838–1933) ruled that theminhag (custom) is to generally forbidfasting on Isru Chag, except in instances when as a result of great distress the communitysynagogue decrees it.[3]
Almost all communities omittachanun (additional prayers of supplication) on Isru Chag.[4] However, communities that follow the rulings ofMaimonides (1135–1204), such as theDor Daim (a movement founded in 19th century Yemen), maintain that the only days on which Tachanun is to be omitted areShabbat,Jewish holidays,Rosh HaShanah,Rosh Chodesh,Hanukkah,Purim, and themincha on the eve of any Shabbat and holiday.[5]
