Communal fast days

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When does the fast start?

  1. If one went to sleep at night and wakes up before Olot HaShachar one may not eat. However, if one stipulated before going to sleep that one didn’t begin the fast and one would eat before Olot HaShachar, one may eat before Olot, yet the Zohar is strict under any circumstance. [1]

Washing oneself and swimming

  1. A Baal Nefesh should be strict not to wash oneself in hot water or anoint oneself, however it’s permitted to wash with cold water or wash one’s hands, feet, and face with hot water. [2]
    1. If Asara BeTevet falls out on Friday, one shouldn’t be strict and rather should wash oneself because of Kavod Shabbat. [3]
  2. One shouldn’t go swimming in a pool or ocean on a fast day. [4]

Washing one’s mouth and brushing one’s teeth

  1. It’s improper to wash out one’s mouth on a communal fast day. [5] # Similarly, it’s improper to brush one’s teeth on a communal fast day unless one is in pain (and if one does so, one should make sure not to have more than a reviyit in one’s mouth at one time and to be careful not to swallow any water). [6]
  2. One may swallow salvia that accumulates in one’s mouth. [7] Some say that if it’s easy one should be strict and spit it out. [8] While others say that the minhag is to be lenient altogether. [9]

If one made a Bracha by accident

  1. If one made a Bracha by accident and then realized that it was a fast day, one should eat a very small amount just enough that one can taste it and continue on fasting. [10]

Smoking

  1. It’s permissible to smoke on a fast day except on Tisha BeAv (disregarding whether it’s permissible to smoke because of the health issue). [11]

Tasting food before Shabbat

  1. It’s a mitzvah to taste the Shabbat food before Shabbat to know if tastes right. However, on Friday of Shabbat Chazon, one shouldn’t taste the food. [12]
  2. If Asara BeTevet falls out to be on Friday one may taste the food if one spits it out and doesn’t swallow. [13]

Making a Shechiyanu

  1. It’s permitted to make a Shechiyanu on a fast day. [14]

Taking a haircut

  1. There’s a dispute whether one may take a haircut on a fast day and it’s preferable not to. [15]

Getting a hundred Brachot

  1. Some Sephardim had the minhag to wear tefillin on fast days at Mincha so as to complete 100 Brachot, however the widespread minhag isn’t so. [16]

Giving Tzedaka

  1. It’s customary to give Tzedaka at mincha on a fast day, the value of the amount of food one would have eaten that day. [17]

References

  1. ↑ S”A 564:1, Yalkut Yosef (Kitzur S”A 550:3), Sh”t Yabea Omer 5:22(5), Piskei Teshuvot 564:1
  2. ↑ Mishna Brurah 550:6 and Shaar HaTzion 550:8
  3. ↑ Mishna Brurah 550:6
  4. ↑ Piskei Teshuvot 550:6 and Sh”t Bear Moshe 3:77
  5. ↑ S”A 567:3
  6. ↑ Yalkut Yosef (Moadim pg 534), Sh”t Minchat Yitzchak 4:109, quoted in Piskei Teshuvot 567:1
  7. ↑ Mishna Brurah 567:13
  8. ↑ Chaye Adam 132:22, Mateh Efraim 612:7, Moadim UZmanim 1:59
  9. ↑ Piskei Teshuvot 567:2, Bet Meir, Ashel Avraham, Aruch HaShulchan 567:4
  10. ↑ Sh”t Yabea Omer Y”D 2:5(6), O”C 10:41, Yalkut Yosef (Kitzur S”A 550:26) however, Kaf HaChaim 568:16, Daat Torah (of the Maharsham), Sh”t Mishneh Halacha 7:80, Sh”t Shevet Sofer O”C 25, and Piskei Teshuvot 568:2 rule that one shouldn’t eat it but rather say Baruch Shem. Teshuvot VeHanhagot 1:329 writes that one should taste it, not swallow, and then spit it out.
  11. ↑ Sh”t Yechava Daat 5:39, Sh”t Yabea Omer 1:33
  12. ↑ Shemirat Shabbat KeHilchata 42:61
  13. ↑ Shemirat Shabbat KeHilchata 42:61
  14. ↑ Piskei Teshuvot 550:8 in name of Pri Megadim A”A 551:42 and Kaf HaChaim 550:209
  15. ↑ Rav Chaim Palagi in Ruach Chaim 566:4 is strict, and so rules Or Letzion, Piskei Teshuvot 550:8. However, Yalkut Yosef and Tzitz Eliezer are lenient.
  16. ↑ Sh”t Yechava Daat 2:67
  17. ↑ Mishna Brurah 566:12
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