Sunday, July 29, 2012

Summer Plans

Now that Tish'a B'av is behind us, it's hard not to look ahead to the rapidly approaching months of Elul and Tishrei just around the corner.

I have always found this to be the most difficult time of year in terms of raw preparation and review of halachot for these chagim. There are so many chagim in such close proximity to one another and so many halachot to review, that I usually end up with a late start, an even later attempt to make up for lost time and and not much to really show for it in the end.

That's why this year I've decided to try and be a little more organized and methodical. After (quickly) crunching a few numbers this is what I've come up with:

89 = Simanim contained in Shulchan Aruch O.C. Hilchot Rosh Hashana, Yom HaKippurim, Sukka and Lulav.

166 = Single side pages of the standard edition Mishna Berura contained in the aforementioned halachot.

62 = Days until Sukkot.

2.68 = Approximate number of single-side pages in the Mishna Berura that one would need to cover per day in order to review the aforementioned halachot before the beginning of Sukkot.

Keep in mind that the last several simanim of hilchot Sukka/Lulav pertain to chol hamoed, Hoshana Rabba and Shmini Atzeret so it is not critical to finish those before Sukkot Starts. If you recalculate the daily pace without these simanim included, it comes out to approximately 2.5 pages per day.

With a pace of 2.5 sides of a page per day you would to cover hilchot Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur in approximately 25 days (around the first week in Elul) with the rest of the time for Sukkot prep whose halachot are much longer in Shulchan Aruch. 


Hopefully this pace/schedule will prove to be more productive this time around.