Let's say someone gets married and during that person's Sheva Brachos week there is a Fast day that was supposed to be on Shabbos but was pushed off to Sunday. They are within Sheva Brachos on that Sunday. Does their personal Holiday trump the pushed-off fast day, or does the fast day win out? Does it make a difference which fast day it is? (Of course CYLOR)
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Except for Y.K. and Tisha B' Av the sheva brachos could take place at night before the fast and the night when the fast ends. No day is missed.– user1292Jul 6, 2012 at 5:54
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2@mochinrechavim: There's no requirement AFAIK to have a festive meal each day. The question here is whether the bridegroom and bride must fast (i.e., skip all food, not just festive meals).– msh210 ♦Jul 6, 2012 at 6:07
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1@msh210 Right on. Plus even if we establish that they don't need to fast, it's hard to imagine permitting 10 men to join them to create a "sheva brachot meal".– Double AA ♦Jul 6, 2012 at 11:57
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@msh210, if that's what was being asked, it was not made clear. I've tried to clean it up a bit.– Seth JJul 6, 2012 at 19:09
3 Answers
The Aruch HaShulchan writes in OH 559:9 that although from the letter of the law, when Tisha b'Av is pushed off from Shabbos, people involved in a bris can daven mincha and then break the fast during the day, that "we never heard of anyone doing such a thing" and that not only for Tisha b'Av, but on any fast that is pushed off, we don't make any meal during the day for any simcha, not a bris nor a pidyon haben, and thus is the minhag and one should not change it.
Although see R. Ovadia in Yechave Daas 3:37 who addresses precisely the question of newlyweds during sheva brachos and concludes leniently that they need not complete the fast.
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+1 for R Ovadia. The Aruch HaShulchan doesn't mention Sheva Brachot, and furthermore, his reasoning is that their meals (in Europe) were always at night anyway. I, for one, have attended multiple Sheva Brachot meals (one even this week) where the meal was not after dark. Finally, there is a difference between hosting a seudat mitzva (as in the case of milah and PhB) and not fasting on a personal day of happiness. Even if the AH forbids festive meals, he still may allow the bride and groom to eat something small.– Double AA ♦Jul 6, 2012 at 12:11
The only Biur Halacha to OC 549 strongly implies that the bride and groom do not need to complete the fast when it is pushed off, but they do when it is not pushed off. He implies that all 4 of the Churban-related fasts are the same in this regard. (Rav Ovadia Yosef makes a parallel diyuk to what I am making in Yehavveh Da'at 3:37).
While the Magen Avraham (OC 559 sk 11) rules that the bride and groom only break the fast on the first of the seven days, the Mishna Berurah questions this conclusion in Shaar HaTziyun 559 sk 34.
This Mishna Berurah is relied upon lemaaseh for the fast this year by Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz in this recorded shiur.
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The Biur Halacha quotes the Ritva that a Choson does need to fast on the 4 fasts and that this is not a contradiction with the din in 559 that the family of the bris end the fast early, since in the bris case the fast is pushed off. If the fast weren't pushed off, then the bris case would need to finish the fast also. But he doesn't say explicitly whether the bride/groom need to complete their fast in a case where the fast is pushed off. Jul 6, 2012 at 6:01
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@Curiouser You're right he doesn't say it explicitly, but how else do you understand him? If we say he must fast on the 4 fasts, and this is not contradicted by the rule from 559 that one needn't fast because of Nidche, doesn't that imply that on a Nidche he doesn't need to fast? Why else would we thought there would have been a contradiction?– Double AA ♦Jul 6, 2012 at 12:01
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@ DoubleAA I would have assumed that a bris is more important than the sheva brachos. Therefore, the fact that on a bris one can eat in a case of nidcheh proves nothing about sheva brachos, whereas if one can't eat for a bris, then it is a kal v'chomer for sheva brachos. And thus it would answer your question on the Aruch HaShulchan also. My assumption is based on the fact that it is the bris case which is discussed and also what I have heard from other people. Jul 6, 2012 at 16:08
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@ DoubleAA At the very least, I encourage you to edit your answer to reflect that you are inferring your conclusion but that it is not written in the Biur Halacha. Jul 6, 2012 at 19:21
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@Curiouser I have updated my post. I don't see why you think a bris is more chamur than sheva brachot. I would have guessed the opposite and Rav Ovadia brings a number of teshuvot that explicitly say like me. Do you have any indication your way?– Double AA ♦Jul 8, 2012 at 20:40
Nitai Gabriel - hichois nesuim - volume 2 - 79.2 says
options that needs to fast and opinions that can stop fasting after midday and for practice a weak man can act as the lenient opinion
Ps It is funny as @doubledd said in comment above but it is possible that the bride will still need to fast