Hot answers tagged fast-days
19
The Mishna Brura OC 549 sk 3 says to continue fasting if you accidentally ate.
In OC 568 sk 3 he says you can still say Aneinu at Mincha if it is a public fast day (as opposed to a personal one).
In OC 568 sk 8 he says that you do not need to fast again on a different day for accidental eating on the public fasts as well as any personal fast that has a ...
13
The Gemara in Megilla 6a says Rebbi Yehuda Hanasi went to the bath house on 17 Tammuz.
The Shulchan Aruch OC 550:2 rules that bathing is permitted on the 'minor' fasts and is only forbidden on Tisha B'av and Yom Kippur.
The Mishna Brura there (sk 6) says that a meticulous person ("baal nefesh") should be stringent on all the 5 afflictions of tisha b'av ...
13
The Nitei Gavriel Pesach 2 Chapter 43:9 brings in the name of the Shevet Halevi that since a convert is as if he is newly born there is a question whether he is still considered a Bechor. Therefore the Nitei Gavriel concludes that it is best that he should either make a Siyum or be part of a Seudas Mitzva.
11
You end your fast when it becomes dark, independent of how long you have been already fasting.
Source: Igrot Moshe OC 3:96
See also Shevet HaLevi 8:261:2 who argues and says to stop based on you original location's times. It's not clear if he would hold this lechumra as well.
11
Per Mishna Berura Orach Chaim 567:3:11 if a person is bothered by the lack of brushing their teeth or the smell/taste in their mouth, they are permitted to rinse their mouth on public fasts, however one should tip their head forward in order that it should not reach their throat.
11
Considering Monica's point about year distributions, here's a refinement of Gershon's data (using the frequency table on Remy Landau's Hebrew Calendar page, here):
Tzom Gedaliah falls on Monday or Thursday in the year types גכה, זחא, זשג, גכז, זחג, זשה. This is 40.08% of all years.
Asarah B'Teves can't occur on Monday, but it can be on Thursday, only in ...
10
Perhaps because each of the dates commemorate multiple things.
Five Tragedies happened on the 17th of Tammuz:
Moshe broke the Tablets
The Tamid offering was interrupted
A Sefer Torah was burned
An idol was placed in the Beit Hamikdash
The walls of Jerusalem were breached during the second temple
The 9th of Av has always been a day of tragedy, and many ...
10
Please see "The Segal Guide to Fasting For Yom Kippur (from a Medical Perspective)," written by a physician. The very first point he deals with is the thirst issue you raised.
Hope you have a successful and meaningful fast this year!
9
Moshe Rabbeinu broke the luchos when he came down from Har Sinai and saw the eigel
The karbon tamid was no longer brought in the first Bais Hamikdosh.
The destruction of the second Bais Hamikdosh started.
Apostumos burnt the Torah
A tzelem was placed in the heichal
Source: Mishna Ta'anis 4:6
8
From a personal perspective, I have found that the easiest fasts I have had, came when Yom Kippur was on a Monday, and Sunday morning I did a 3-4 hour run (training for a fall marathon).
My theory is that knowing how dumb an idea it is to do a 3-4 hour run, mere hours before a 25 hour fast, I try to compensate by drinking the rest of the day, every 10-20 ...
8
Alshich (to 5:5-8) says that indeed she didn't eat at the first feast. Among many other things, this explains why the first one is just described as "the party which Esther made" (5:5), while to the second one Achashverosh and Haman came "to drink with Queen Esther" (7:1).
8
Yom HaShoah falls on the 27th of Nissan. It is forbbiden to fast during the month of Nissan (Shulchan Aruch OC 429:2). I've never met anyone who fasts on that day, and I would question anyone who does.
7
R' Moshe Feinstein zt"l explains (Igros Moshe, vol. 8, Yoreh De'ah 57:11) that the statement in the kinah is referring to tragedies affecting all of the Jewish people. The Crusaders wanted a wholly Christian world, with no Jews ר"ל (and indeed, they attacked and killed the Jews in Jerusalem as well as in Europe); Hitler's ימ"ש aim was similar. Such ...
7
When it comes to Yom Kippur, the halachah is that even chewing on something non-nutritional is prohibited. The example given is aromatic wood (Rema to Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 612:6), and Mishnah Berurah (ibid. :18) explains that one does feel a sensation of flavor from doing so. So that would seem to cover your examples of a stick or sugar-free gum; I ...
7
As always, CYLOR, but I'll copy what the Shulchan Aruch says (as far as I see in 554:5): "Pregnant and nursing women fast on the ninth of Av as they complete the fast on Yom Kipur. On the three other fasts [the seventeenth of Tamuz, the fast of G'dalya, and the tenth of Teves —msh210], they are exempt from fasting. Nonetheless, it is appropriate that they do ...
6
The Aruch Hashulchan relates that this date marked the "beginning of the end" of Jewish history. With the incarceration of Yirmiyahu and besieging of Y'rushalayim, the state of national exile took hold with full force.
The Avudraham holds that (either since this was such a serious and long-impacting occurrence or) since it is referred to in Y'chezk'el as ...
6
In Hilchos Tannis the Magen Avraham and Sefer Eliyahu Rabbah (Orach Chaim 580) says that it is the practice of ceartin people to fast on Erev Shabbos Parshas Chukas. The fast is in Memorial for the 24 wagon loads of handwritten Seforim ordered burnt by King Louis in Paris,France in 1242. It was said by Rabbi Hillel Ben Rabbenu Eliezer of Verona, a ...
6
The Debriciner, Rav Moshe Stern in Shaalos U'Teshuvos Be’er Moshe 3:77 says it is permissible. The reasoning is that the Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 550:2 says that bathing is permitted on the three fasts (Tzom Gedalia, Asara B’Teves, and Shiva Asar B’Tammuz). Although the Acharonim argue on the Michaber and our minhag is to be Machmir, the Pri Megadim says ...
6
I used the data from hebcal.com/hebcal and the linux command line to see how many times the various fasts actually fell on Monday or Thursday.
First, I downloaded the Event Lists for the years 5514 through 5572. I started from 5514 because, according to the website, results for year 1752 C.E. and before may not be accurate. "Hebcal does not take into ...
6
About the second part of the question: Yalkut Shimoni (to Esther 4:16) says that he limited the fast to those "found in Shushan" because they were the ones who had eaten at Achashverosh's feast. The Jews in the rest of the empire weren't guilty of that.
[That they too were in danger is attributed by R. Shimon bar Yochai (Megillah 12a) to their having bowed ...
6
There is a big machlokes about whether a fast day can be on Friday (with the exception of the 4 Fasts for the Temple which are divrei kabalah and thus remained fixed).
This machlokes is expressed most clearly in the context of Taanis Esther when Purim falls on Sunday. The Meiri writes that one side says the fast should be on Friday (based on a gemara in ...
6
Because of the safek discussed by the Shevet HaLevi, Rav Elyashiv shlit"a recommends "that these bechorim participate in a seudas mitzvah." (http://torah.org/advanced/weekly-halacha/5758/pesach.html; Harav Y.S. Elyashiv - Seder ha-Aruch, vol. 3, pg. 44).
6
Rav Moshe Feinstein (Igrot Moshe OC 1:168) holds that in general one can have a wedding on the night of 17 Tammuz when necessary, but says in that same teshuva that for sure when the fast is Nidche that you can't have a wedding Saturday night. (I assume all other restrictions follow.)
6
The Mishnah Brurah (549:1) explains that the main point of a fast is to do teshuvah, and not the fast itself: By Ninveh, concerning G-d undoing the decree to destroy them, it says "And G-d saw their actions," not "And G-d saw their fast." The fast is merely a preparation for the teshuvah. He continues, quoting the Chayei Adam, that those people who spend the ...
5
This is not a theoretical question. In Australia , Brazil, South Africa, etc. Asara bTeveis is a long summer fast day.
Rav Scheinberg pasken'ed : ok to make an early Shabos and break fast before sundown
Rav Henkin (posek of Ezras Torah Luach) evidently paskens that is not ok.
When my relatives lived in Melboune Australia they did not know of anyone using ...
5
It seems to depend on who you hold by.
Shulhan Arukh O"H 249:4
אם קבל עליו להתענות בע"ש, (יט) צריך להתענות עד צאת הכוכבים, * (כ) <ב> אם לא שפירש בשעת קבלת התענית עד שישלים הצבור תפלתן. הגה: * (כא) <ג> וי"א דלא ישלים, אלא מיד ח שיוצאים מבית הכנסת, יאכל (טור ומרדכי ס"פ בכל מערבין בשם הר"מ והגהות מיימוני פ' א' מהלכות תענית). לכן (כב) בתענית יחיד לא ישלים, ...
5
Some say the Jews fasted the day they fought, or the day before it. (So on Purim, more or less.)
Some say that the holiday commemorates "divrei hatzomos v'zaakasam", the matter of their fasts and cries; so we fast the day before Purim to commemorate that in the Purim story, Esther and the Jewish people all fasted and prayed before she approached the king. ...
5
To avoid the possibility of a sickness, I wanted to stay away from paper or other non-food substances. I peeled an onion, cut off the ends, and cut it in half through the middle (not through the ends.) I then sliced it VERY thinly and broke it up with my fingers into little sliver-slices. I put the slices on a large square castiron skillet, just by ...
5
I heard from Rabbi Strasser from Boro Park that it isn't necessary to actually hear the siyum. The person who did the siyum celebrates by throwing a party and invites people to join him. All those that partake in the party are exempt from fasting.
In fact, some people mistakenly believe that hearing the siyum is all that's required, and subsequently go home ...
5
No. From the Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 670:1:
ב כ״ה בכסליו מתחילין ח׳ ימי חנוכה ואסורים בהספד ותענית
Translated:
The eight days of Chanukah begin on the 25th of Kislev, and eulogies and fasts are prohibited on these days.
However, the Aruch Hashulchan states in Orach Chaim 670:6 that a fast because of a bad dream (a "Taanis Chalom" / "תענית ...
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