Monday and Thursday
MONDAY AND THURSDAY
MONDAY AND THURSDAY (in Heb. Sheni va-Ḥamishi, "the second and fifth [day of the week]"), those days on which the liturgy of the morning service includes additional penitential and supplicatory prayers (among them the long *Taḥanun). On these days, in ancient times, villagers came to town for marketing and attending law courts. Pious Jews also fast on Monday, Thursday, and again on the Monday following the first Sabbath of the new month after *Passover and *Sukkot. These three days are known as "Behab" (see *Fast Days, and *Shovavim Tat). Some ultra-pietists make voluntary fasts every week on these days. The morning service on Mondays and Thursdays also includes a reading from the Pentateuch. Three persons are called up to the reading, but only the first part of the weekly portion of the following Sabbath is covered in the reading (see *Torah, Reading of).
bibliography:
Elbogen, Gottesdienst, 76–77, 155–7, 207–25; Eisenstein, Dinim, 428.