Tefila Trivia Answers

Meant to get this in before Yom Tov, but better late than never. Here are the solutions to the Tefila Trivia questions I posted before Rosh Hashanah:

1) Parshas Read on Non-Shabbosim: Two parshas are tied, with exactly 80% read on days other than their regular Shabbosim:

• Yisro, which has 75 verses, the first 12 of which are read on the previous Monday/Thursday and the last 48 read on the first day of Shavuos, for a total of 60 out of 75.
• Acharey Mos, which has 80 verses, 64 of which are read on Yom Kippur morning and afternoon.

The other parshas read more than 50% not on their regular Shabbosim are:

• Bo, with 106 verses, the first 11 of which are read on the previous Mo/Th and the last 67 read as Parshas Hachodesh and on two different days of Pesach.
• Bishalach, with 116 verses, the first 63 of which are read on the 7th day of Pesach and the last 9 read on Purim.
• Naso, with 176 verses, the first 17 of which are read on the previous Mo/Th and the last 89 (and possibly a few extra according to some customs) read on Chanukah.

2) Shortest Maariv:

First, maariv on Shabbos and Yom Tov is shorter than on weekdays since the amidah is much shorter, and the "Baruch Hashem liolam..." addition is omitted.

Second, maariv on Yom Tov is shorter than on Shabbos since "vayichulu" and "magen avos" are added on Shabbos.

So the question becomes which particular Yom Tov has the shortest maariv. It turns out that all but one Yom Tov has at least one extra item added to maariv:

• The first night of Pesach (and second night outside Israel) has hallel
• The second night and last two nights of Pesach have sefiras haomer
• Rosh Hashanah, Sukkos, and Shmini Atzeres have "Lidovid Hashem Ori..." (and of course Rosh Hashanah amidah is longer than the others as well)
  
• Simchas Torah has Hakafos

So it turns out the shortest Yom Tov maariv, and thus the shortest maariv of the year, is Shavous night, when nothing extra is added. Ironically, that's the very night on which many return to shul after dinner to learn all night!

3) Number of "klops": This is mostly math, but you have to know what is said when, and there's also a bit of a trick!

So: The "Ashamnu" confessional has 24 "klops", since it has one word/phrase for each of the first 21 letters of the aleph-bais and three words for the last letter.

The "Al Chait" confessional has 44 "klops", since it has 44 lines in a double aleph-bais acrostic.

From mincha erev Yom Kippur through neilah:

• Ashamnu is said 11 times: Once in the silent amidah of mincha erev Yom Kippur, and twice each - in the silent amidah and chazzan's repetition (and maariv's equivalent thereof) - in the five services of Yom Kippur: maariv, shacharis, musaf, mincha, and neilah.
• Al Chait is said 9 times: Once in mincha erev Yom Kippur, and twice each in maariv, shacharis, musaf, and mincha as above; it is not said in neilah.

So between Ashamnu and Al Chait there are 11 * 24 + 9 * 44 or 660 klops.

BUT... Since we are including mincha erev Yom Kippur there are also two more in their usual place in the "selach lanu" bracha! So the right answer is 662 in all. And the chazzan for mincha would do these two again in his repetition, so he would have 664.

With all that, may our sins be well and truly knocked out for this year!!