Are you fasting today?

amother

Pear

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 5:03 pm

I’m chasidush and don’t usually fast
Especially when it’s a nidcha
But I happened to notice in the machzar
Teshuva, tefilla and tzedaka
And the corresponding word for teshuva is tzom
So I got inspired!

amother

Tanzanite

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 5:04 pm

I’ve fasted until I couldn’t. I only have one child, 9 months. Don’t breastfeed. But I am not feeling well. I had some water and a clear liquid. I feel like it’s a practice run before Yom Kippur.

amother

↑ NeonGreen

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 5:28 pm

amother Tiffanyblue wrote:

Why do you think this fast is always a nidche?
A nidche refers to a fast that is pushed off because of shabbos.

Gedalia was killed on rosh hashana. It was pushed off 2 days because we don't fast on yom tov.

Ema of 5 ↓

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 5:35 pm

amother OP wrote:

Is it less serious because its pushed off?
So far I am fasting but I find it so hard when taking care of kids. I dont have the excuse I used to have. Not pregnant, not nursing. But my youngest is 2 and a few months.
Its not like I feel sick or anything. Just really hungry and weak and didnt take a caffiene pill.
Curious what other women in simar situation are doing.
No chassidish for reference.

I’m not fasting, but I also haven’t had much to eat or drink today, I’ve been busy and I forgot. I know I will pay for that tomorrow :-(

amother

Steelblue ↓

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 5:47 pm

amother Zinnia wrote:

Yes my youngest is 3

I figured if I can do yom kipper I can do today.

Halachically, it doesn't work like that. Quite the opposite. There are priorities, and YK by far surpasses today, please seek Rabbinic guidance in the future

amother

↑ Steelblue

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 5:50 pm

shabbatiscoming wrote:

No it is not.

You are quite confident without backing.
In fact, it is as the story with Gedalia happened on RH.

↑ Ema of 5 ↓

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 6:01 pm

amother NeonGreen wrote:

Gedalia was killed on rosh hashana. It was pushed off 2 days because we don't fast on yom tov.

The day on which the even for which we fast was pushed off, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what it’s referring to when a fast is called nidche. A fast that is nidche means the fast is pushed off from the day we are meant to fast, it has nothing to do with the reason for fasting. Taanis Esther is not observed when Bnei Yisrael actually fasted, but the fast is only called nidche when it’s not observed on the day that chazal established.
(Edited to make it more accurate)

Last edited by Ema of 5 on Sun, Oct 06 2024, 6:23 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Valerian

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 6:05 pm

I'm not fasting cuz I have a nursing toddler.

But one year when I was not pregnant and not nursing and my youngest was 3, I felt guilty not fasting so I fasted taanis esther. By around 3:00 I had to break my fast because my kids were driving me insane and there was so much to do. Well, by the time we got to after megilla, my headache had not subsided, I was in a bad mood, and we were going to my in-laws for that night meal. Then and there I had an aha moment that mothers of little kids shouldn't fast unless they have to. No guilt.

patzer ↓

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 7:34 pm

Ema of 5 wrote:

Taanis Esther is, in fact, on the day that the Jews fasted. Ob the 13th of Adar, the Jews fought a war against their enemies.Historically, Jews have always fasted on the day of a war as a way of arousing Hashem's mercy. Our fasting on the 13th of Adar commemorates that fast.

amother

↑ Azalea

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 7:58 pm

patzer wrote:

I believe it commemorates the fast that Esther instituted before she risked her life to approach the king on her own initiative without being summoned. That's why it's called the Fast of Esther, not the Fast of Persian Jewry or the Fast of Jews of the Persian Empire. And according to the Midrash, it took place Pesach time.

↑ patzer ↓

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 8:06 pm

amother Azalea wrote:

Yes, the fast that Esther instituted took place Pesach time; however, that is not the fast that Taanis Esther commemorates.
Rabbi Jacobson actually has a fascinating explanation as to why it's called Taanis Esther - but I don't want to derail this thread with a long explanation.

↑ Ema of 5 ↓

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 9:06 pm

patzer wrote:

Correct, but that’s not what we are commemorating with the fast. We are commemorating the fasting that they did before Esther went to Achashveirosh, which was on Pesach.
Edit: there may be other reasons as well, but one of the very well known reasons why we fast is because Esther fasted and asked the entire nation to fast for her for three days before she went to the king uninvited, which was a sin punishable by death.

↑ patzer

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 9:54 pm

Ema of 5 wrote:

As I've mentioned before ..... our fasting on the 13th of Adar commemorates the fast that the Jews observed on the day of the battle, which was on the 13th of Adar.

↑ Ema of 5

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 9:58 pm

patzer wrote:

As I've mentioned before ..... our fasting on the 13th of Adar commemorates the fast that the Jews observed on the day of the battle, which was on the 13th of Adar.

And as I mentioned, there is clearly more than one reason why we fast, one of them being to commemorate that they fasted before Esther went to achashveirosh.

gold2

Mon, Oct 07 2024, 2:38 am

amother Lemon wrote:

It’s important to me. BH I try to fast every fast, long and short. So far, so good, thank you Hashem
I feel it’s the least I can do for my sins and our Jewish history

I admire you for wanting to fulfil the mitzva of fasting, but I think in the future you need to ask a shaila whether you are allowed to fast on a non strict fast when pregnant

The heter to not fast is not just to get off easy but may be a chiyuv in looking after yourself. And with Yom Kippur coming up in less than a week which really is much more strict , all the more so. It would be a shame for you to have to break Yom Kippur's fast because you overdid it earlier in the week.

Even for Yom kippur, you are supposed to ask when pregnant, some are told to take shiurim others not depending on the situation