RABBI WEIN ON SHABBAT AND TISHA B’AV

It is an established fact that Shabbat trumps almost every other commandment, custom and practice in Jewish life and law. Allowing circumcision on Shabbat is the exception and not the rule. Whether confronting the fast days or feast days, Shabbat takes precedence. It rules, by rabbinic decree, over shofar and lulav as well as over the mournful commemorations of personal and national grief, loss and tragedy. It seems fair to say that Shabbat is the linchpin of all Jewish observances and of Judaism itself.