Q&A: Is It Appropriate to Fast? And Do You Need to Check Whom You Give Kapparot Redemption Money To? Two Separate Questions
Is It Appropriate to Fast? And Do You Need to Check Whom You Give Kapparot Redemption Money To? Two Separate Questions
Question
1.
My daughter is fasting today because it is the yahrzeit of the pogrom.
Is it meaningful to fast according to the Gregorian date? (According to the Hebrew date it’s forbidden because it’s a holiday.)
Does it make sense to fast on consecutive days, since last night we fasted the postponed Fast of Gedaliah?
Isn’t it better to avoid several fasts so close to Yom Kippur?
If in fact many people fast according to the Gregorian date, does that have any halakhic validity?
2.
It was just published that on Channel 14 they paid 1,000 shekels to a woman with a baby to say that the baby was born even though she had not gotten pregnant for a long time, etc., and that nevertheless he was born thanks to the fact that she prayed or donated to the tzaddik of Stefanesti, etc. And they coached her on what to say, etc. The woman says she is not religious and does not believe in miracles, and the story never happened, and there wasn’t even a parable involved, but she did it for the money.
Is it permitted and proper to publicize their lie?
Answer
- If fasting helps her, then she should fast. I have nothing more to say about it. If it helps, then she can do it according to the Hindu calendar too, if she wants.
- She can also fast for a whole consecutive week, if it does not harm her.
- No halakhic validity whatsoever. If it spreads and becomes a custom, then perhaps it will have some sort of validity.
- Indeed, I received this too. It is a commandment to publicize it for the benefit of the public.
I found a clear-cut halakhic decisor who rules that one should fast:
https://www.israelhayom.co.il/news/local/article/16571528