Fasts
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Introspection on the Seventeenth of Tammuz Fast days are occasion for introspection and repentance. After all, we are not fasting over the distant, unrelated past; we are fasting in response to our own present situation. How is it that instead of mourning we remain complacent and indifferent?
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a day of great promise that unfortunately was never realized
Would you kindly tell me what wonderful and good thing happened on the 17th of Tammuz in our history? -
Selichot before Shachrit
Is one permitted to say the Selichot of a fast day before Shacharit? As the 17th of Tammus here in Australia is winter and Shacharit starts late in the morning so to save time, it would be great to say selichot before Shacharit. -
Flying West on a fast day
"If a person travels from one location to another during a fast day, is he governed by the halachic timeframes (e.g., sunset, nightfall) of the place where he began the fast, or those of the place where he finds himself at the time of conclusion? And what if he has already broken the fast?" -
The Weak Point of the Seventeenth of Tammuz
There is a tendency, on fast days, for people to concentrate upon the calamities of the past and on the stages that led up to the destruction of the Temple. People reflect on the distant past when they aught - says the Rambam - consider the present. -
The Breaking of the Tablets on the Seventeenth of Tammuz
The Tree of Knowledge contained a mixture of elements - both good and evil. This, then, was Adam's sin: He ate from the tree, and this caused existence to fall to a level whereupon there existed a mixture of both good and evil. -
The Minor Fasts and Their Laws
Did Jews fast over the destruction of the First Temple when the Second Temple stood? Must pregnant and nursing women abstain from eating and drinking on minor fasts? Rabbi Eliezer Melamed addresses these and other important questions. -
What's Fasting Got to Do With It?
A day of fasting is not one of dieting. We are not fasting for something far-removed from ourselves, but rather for our situation this very day. -
Book Burning
One of the tragedies that we mourn on the 17th of Tammuz is the burning of the Torah - the ultimate repression of the ultimate book. -
Medical preparation for the end of the fast
May I carry the medication to shul in the morning to take after the fast, or is this hachanah mekodesh lechol?
