Tanit Bechorot: Difference between revisions
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→Which firstborns are obligated to fast?
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# In commemoration of the miracle that Hashem saved the firstborn Jews from the plague of the firstborn, the firstborns fast on Tanit Bechorot, which is on Erev [[Pesach]]. <Ref>Mishna Brurah 470:1, Kaf HaChaim 470:1, Tur 470:1. The original source for this fast is Masechet Sofrim 21:3. Kaf Hachayim 470:30 explains that even though the miracle happened on the fifteen we fast on the fourteenth because we don't fat on [[yom tov]]. </ref> | # In commemoration of the miracle that Hashem saved the firstborn Jews from the plague of the firstborn, the firstborns fast on Tanit Bechorot, which is on Erev [[Pesach]]. <Ref>Mishna Brurah 470:1, Kaf HaChaim 470:1, Tur 470:1. The original source for this fast is Masechet Sofrim 21:3. Kaf Hachayim 470:30 explains that even though the miracle happened on the fifteen we fast on the fourteenth because we don't fat on [[yom tov]]. </ref> | ||
==Which firstborns are obligated to fast?== | ==Which firstborns are obligated to fast?== | ||
# A firstborn of one’s mother or the firstborn of one’s father (or both) should fast on Erev [[Pesach]]. <Ref> | # A firstborn of one’s mother or the firstborn of one’s father (or both) should fast on Erev [[Pesach]].<Ref>Shulchan Aruch O.C. 470:1 </ref> The reason is that Hashem killed both the firstborns of the father and of the mother in Egypt. <ref>Mishna Brurah 470:2, Kaf Hachayim 470:2. </ref> | ||
# Even a Levi or Cohen should fast. <Ref>Mishna Brurah 470:2 </ref> | # Even a Levi or Cohen should fast.<Ref>Mishna Brurah 470:2 </ref> | ||
# A groom within 7 days of the wedding doesn’t have to fast on Tanit Bechorot. <Ref>Kovetz MeBet Levi (Nissan 5761 pg 86). Rav Ovadia Yosef in Yabia Omer 1:25 says he should try to participate in a seudat mitzva. </ref> | # A groom within 7 days of the wedding doesn’t have to fast on Tanit Bechorot.<Ref>Kovetz MeBet Levi (Nissan 5761 pg 86). Rav Ovadia Yosef in Yabia Omer 1:25 says he should try to participate in a seudat mitzva. </ref> | ||
# A firstborn born through a caesarian section or firstborn after a miscarriage should also fast.<Ref>Guide to Practical Halacha (v. 5 p. 142 n. 4-5) quoting the Debrecener</ref> | |||
===Women=== | ===Women=== | ||
# The Ashkenazic minhag is that women don’t fast. <Ref>Rama 470:1, Mishna Brurah 470:4 </ref> This is also the Sephardic minhag.<ref> Although Shulchan Aruch O.C. 470:1 holds that women firstborns should fast Tanit Bechorot and Rav Ovadia Yosef in Sh”t Yechave Daat 3:25 and Sh”t Yabia Omer 4:42 upheld that minhag, nonetheless, in Chazon Ovadia Pesach p. 207-8 he concluded that it wasn't the minhag today. Rav Shlomo Amar in Haggadah Myamim Yamim agrees. Kaf HaChaim 470:17 quotes the Chida (Machazik Beracha 470:2) and Ben Ish Chai (Parashat Tzav) that the Sephardic minhag is to follow the Rama that women do not fast Tanit Bechorot. </ref> Even for those who the custom is for women to fast, if the woman is pregnant or nursing she shouldn't fast. <ref> Mishna Brurah 470:9, Kaf Hachayim 470:15 and 21. </ref> | # The Ashkenazic minhag is that women don’t fast. <Ref>Rama 470:1, Mishna Brurah 470:4 </ref> This is also the Sephardic minhag.<ref> Although Shulchan Aruch O.C. 470:1 holds that women firstborns should fast Tanit Bechorot and Rav Ovadia Yosef in Sh”t Yechave Daat 3:25 and Sh”t Yabia Omer 4:42 upheld that minhag, nonetheless, in Chazon Ovadia Pesach p. 207-8 he concluded that it wasn't the minhag today. Rav Shlomo Amar in Haggadah Myamim Yamim agrees. Kaf HaChaim 470:17 quotes the Chida (Machazik Beracha 470:2) and Ben Ish Chai (Parashat Tzav) that the Sephardic minhag is to follow the Rama that women do not fast Tanit Bechorot. </ref> Even for those who the custom is for women to fast, if the woman is pregnant or nursing she shouldn't fast. <ref> Mishna Brurah 470:9, Kaf Hachayim 470:15 and 21. </ref> | ||
