Fast Days: Difference between revisions

# On the [[Shabbat]] prior to Asara Bitevet and [[Shiva]] Asar bitammuz, we announce the day of the fast prior to saying [[Mussaf]]. <ref> Yalkut Yosef Moadim page 530 </ref>

# A restaurant or store owner should preferably refrain from giving out food unless it is known that it is for sick people or for after the fast, and even if there are other places where people can access food. <ref> Yechave Daat 3:67. Beer Moshe 8:95 permits leaving a canteen or soda machine open in a camp for those who aren't fasting, and Shevet Hakehati 4:155:1 permits leaving a store open for those not fasting. </ref>

# Some poskim say that one should avoid eating too much before a fast, as this may make him feel the fasting less. <Ref> Eliya Rabbah 563:1, Kaf Hachayim 549:11 </ref>

# Prescribed [[medications]] may be taken, and if one has difficulty swallowing the pills they may use a minimal amount of water, the amount needed to swallow them. <ref> Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach quoted in Nishmas Avraham (v. 5, p. 46), Nitei Gavriel page 30 </ref>

# Some poskim permit taking caffeine suppositories during the fast, to avoid caffeine related headaches. <ref> Maharsham (1:123, page 178), Chelkat Yaakov 2:83, Contemporary Halachic Problems (v. 2, p. 26). </ref>  

# According to Sephardim, 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. According to Ashkenazim, one shouldn't taste anything but just say Baruch Shem. <Ref> Birkei Yosef 568, Sh”t Yabia Omer Y”D 2:5(6), O”C 4:41 and 10:41, Yalkut Yosef (Kitzur S”A 550:26 and [[Tefilla]] 1:89)  however, Kaf HaChaim 568:16, Daat Torah (of the Maharsham) 568:1, Sh”t Mishneh Halachot 7:80, Sh”t Shevet Sofer O”C 25, [http://www.yeshiva.org.il/midrash/shiur.asp?id=411#7a Peninei Halacha (Rabbi Elazar Melamed)], Halachos of [[Brachos]] (Rabbi Bodner, pg 207, note 39), 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. [http://www.yeshiva.org.il/midrash/printShiur.aspx/1762 Rav Mordechai Eliyahu] quotes the differing opinions and doesn't give a ruling. </ref>

# If one ate by mistake on a fast day he should nevertheless continue fasting afterwards. <ref> Shulchan Aruch 568:1. Mishna Berura 568:1 says this also applies if you ate on purpose. Mishna Berura 568:3 says that you can even say aneinu during the shemoneh esrei during public fast days. Yabia Omer YD 1:14:8 says you can only recite aneinu if you have eaten less than a [[kezayit]]. </ref>

# It is prohibited to chew gum on a fast day, unless the gum has no taste whatsoever. <ref> Yalkut Yosef Moadim 535 </ref>  

# 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). <Ref> Sh”t Yechave Daat 5:39, Sh”t Yabia Omer 1:33. He adds that if it is extremely urgent, one may be lenient on [[Tisha BeAv]] after mid-day in private. </ref>

# According to Sephardim, on a fast day besides [[Tisha BeAv]] and [[Yom Kippur]] one may taste food (to see if it’s spiced) up to a [[Revi'it]] as long as one spits it out afterwards. According to Ashkenazim, one may not taste food on any communal fast day except where one needs to taste a food for a Suedat Mitzvah to see if it’s spiced well. <Ref> S”A 567:1 writes that on any fast day one may taste food up to a [[Revi'it]] as long as one spits it all out except for [[Tisha BeAv]] and [[Yom Kippur]] when it’s forbidden. Rama 567:1 writes that the minhag is not to taste any food on any communal fast. Mishna Brurah 567:6 writes that one may only be lenient in a case where one has to taste food that’s being prepared for a Seudat Mitzvah to see if it’s spiced well. However, Rav Ovadyah in Chazon Ovadyah (Arba Taniyot pg 27) rules like S”A. </ref>

# Preferably one should be strict when making sure to have less than a [[Revi'it]] to  consider this [[Revi'it]] to include anything one tasted the whole day, however, the strict law is that one only has to make sure to have less than a [[Revi'it]] each time one tastes. <Ref> S”A 567:2 quotes a dispute whether one is allowed to taste up to a [[Revi'it]] and the [[Revi'it]] is a combination of anything one tasted the whole day or that one may taste up to a [[Revi'it]] many times if at each time it is less than a [[Revi'it]] (according to the explanation of Mishna Brurah 567:7 and 9). Kaf HaChaim 567:12 rules that the halacha follows the second opinion but preferably one should be strict for the first opinion as well. Mishna Brurah 567:8 also implies this. </ref>

# In general, it’s a mitzvah to taste the [[Shabbat]] food before [[Shabbat]] to know if tastes right ([[Preparing_for_Shabbat#Tasting_the_food_in_preparation_of_Shabbat|Tasting food in preparation of Shabbat]]). However, on Friday of [[Shabbat]] Chazon, one shouldn’t taste the food. <Ref>Shemirat [[Shabbat]] KeHilchata 42:61 </ref>

# If [[Asara BeTevet]] falls out to be on Friday one may taste the food if one spits it out and doesn’t swallow. <Ref>Shemirat [[Shabbat]] KeHilchata 42:61 </ref>

# It’s permitted to make a [[Shehecheyanu]] on a fast day. <Ref> Piskei Teshuvot 550:8 in name of Pri Megadim A”A 551:42 and Kaf HaChaim 550:209 </ref>

# There’s a dispute whether one may take a haircut on a fast day and it’s preferable not to. <Ref> Rav Chaim Palagi in Ruach Chaim 566:4 is strict. Or Letzion and Piskei Teshuvot 550:8 agree. However, Yalkut Yosef and Tzitz Eliezer 7:49:12 are lenient but still say its preferable not to. </ref>

# 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. <Ref> Sh”t Yechave Daat 2:67 </ref>

# 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. <Ref> Mishna Brurah 566:12 </ref>

# The primary purpose of the Fast days is to inspire a person to do Teshuva and remember his sins and the sins of our fathers which caused the tragedy which is being commemorated to occur. Thus, a person should should make time on a fast day to think about one's actions and do Teshuva. Those people who take walks and do other activities which are a waste of time when they are fasting have missed a major point of the fast. Nonetheless, one may not exempt oneself with only doing Teshuva because fasting on these days is a Mitzvah MeDivrei HaNevim. <Ref>Mishna Brurah 549:1</ref>

# A kohen who is not fasting, should not go up for [[birkat kohanim]] during [[mincha]]. <ref> Yalkut Yosef Moadim page 551 </ref>  

# If [[mincha]] went past sunset, [[birkat kohanim]] may still be recited within thirteen and a half minutes but not after that. <ref> Yechave Daat 6:40 </ref>