Special Features
for Parshat Achari-K'doshim

From the virtual desk of the OU VEBBE REBBE 

The Orthodox Union – via its website – fields questions of all types in areas of kashrut, Jewish law and values. Some of them are answered by Eretz Hemdah, the Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, founded by HaRav Shaul Yisraeli, zt"l to prepare rabbanim and dayanim to serve the National Religious community in Israel and abroad. Ask the Rabbi is a joint venture of the OU, Yerushalayim Network, Eretz Hemdah... and the Israel Center. The following is a Q&A from Eretz Hemdah... 

Q If one is supposed to fast on a certain day and mistakenly eats, does he need to continue his fast or does it not pay since he anyway didn't fast?

A . We should first understand the conceptual basis of fast days, explore distinctions between different fast days and then answer your question.

One element of fasting highlighted in your question is the mitzva of going a day without eating. When this is the only element of a fast day, we indeed do say that once one has eaten, there is nothing more to lose. (Please note that eating, in this context, means eating a c'zayit within k'dei achilat pras (roughly, one sitting) which is a full violation of the fast. Even though it is forbidden to eat any amount on a fast day, one who just takes a small taste and/or spits out the food has not fully broken the fast and must certainly continue (Mishna Berura 568:5)). If one makes a vow to fast a day but does not incorporate the date of the fast in his vow, then there is no purpose to continue, as this day will not count toward fulfilling his vow in any case. Similarly, some explain the idea that a firstborn who partakes in the celebration of a siyum on Erev Pesach may eat the whole day, based on the assumption that ta'anit bechorot was accepted with only the aforementioned dimension (Eretz Hatzvi, cited in Minchat Yitzchak VIII, 45).

A second element of some fast days is the prohibition to eat. On Yom Kippur, there is certainly a prohibition to eat, above and beyond the mitzvah to fast (Pesachim 36a provides one of many applications of this idea). Thus, just as one who violates Shabbat may not continue doing so, so too, one who ate on Yom Kippur may not continue eating. The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 568:1) rules that whenever the day one fasts has a specific significance, one who eats cannot decide to switch the date after failing to fast the whole day, since fasting on a future day does not replace the need to fast on this day. He applies this logic to the four principal, rabbinic fast days, one who fasts on a yahrzeit, and one who specifies even an arbitrary day in his vow to fast. The same logic applies when one takes part in the fast of "Behab," "Yom Kippur Katan," or any, even optional, public fast which is set for a given day.

Whether one is required to fast another day to make up for not successfully fasting on the appointed day is a somewhat complicated question, beyond the scope of this response. You can start your research with the Rama 568:1 and the Biur Halacha, ad loc.

Ask the Rabbi Q&A is part of Hemdat Yamim, the weekly parsha sheet published by Eretz Hemdah. You can read this section or the entire Hemdat Yamim at www.ou.org or www.eretzhemdah.org. And/or you can receive Hemdat Yamim by email weekly, by sending an email to lists@eretzhemdah.org with the message: Join Hemdatya - Please leave the subject blank.

Ask the Vebbe Rebbe is partially funded by the Jewish Agency for Israel 

Hasidic Wisdom from the book by Simcha Raz (Elkins/Elkins) 

"Do not render an unjust decision." (VaYikra 19:15)

Do not grant injustice legitimacy by way of a trial
— Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Pshis’cha

"Do not be a talebearer AMONG your people." (VaYikra 19:16)

Do not spread gossip ABOUT your people
— The Ba’al Shem Tov

G-d hides so that we will seek.
— Rabbi Nacham of Bratzav

ArtScroll Series • Mesorah Publications Ltd.

WORDS OF WISDOM; WORDS OF WIT by Shmuel Himelstein

R’ Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor once had to take a train trip. On that same train was a “modern Jew,” one who had “modernized” his Judaism by throwing away most of it.

As the train entered the Vilna station, the “modern” man saw the entire train platform, as far as the eye could see, was packed with people. “Surely there must be some member of the royalty on the train,” he thought, “or maybe a high government dignitary." When he asked who everyone had come to see, though, he was told that all were waiting to catch a glimpse of R’ Yitzchak Elchanan.

“Well, if he’s on the train, I can understand it,” thought the man to himself. “He’s one of our leading rabbis, and I’ve read of how he meets with the greatest of dignitaries.”

Determined to see the great rabbi for himself, the man went over to the first-class carriage. How could so distinguished a rabbi travel in anything less?

"No, there’s no one here by that name”, replied the conductor.

“Well, maybe he’s in the second class carriage,” thought the man. “I’ll look for him there. “Again he was unsuccessful.

Finally, the man went to the third class carriage. “yes, he’s here.” a man told him, pointing to an old Jew with a long white beard standing in the corner. And what an embarrassment! He was standing there davening, in his tallis and tefillin - right in front of all the non-Jews!

The man waited until R’ Yitzchal Elchanan had ended his prayers and then went over and introduced himself.

“Rabbi,” he said, “I’d heard so much about you and what you’ve done for the Jewish people that I had always thought of you as someone who is modern.” 

“Indeed I am,” said R; Yitzchal Elchanan. “Those people who keep the mitzvos are the modern ones. It is the Jews who don’t keep the mitzvos who are old-fashioned, having reverted back to the practices of Avraham’s father Terach, who was an idol worshipper.”

Excerpted with the permission of the copyright holder

From the Desk of the Director 

Parshat Acharei Mot describes the Avoda service of Yom Kippur in which Aharon places lots (goral) on two goats, one for the Eternal, the other for destruction. With his piercing insight, Rav Soloveitchik draws a seminal connection between these goralot of Yom Kippur and the “Purim” of the Book of Esther. 

The “Purim” cast by the wicked tyrant Haman epitomize the human condition defined in terms of fate. Life is a series of coincidences, of events suddenly reversed. The awareness of this uncertainty alerts the Jew to the sudden turns of fortune, notes the Rav. 

It is also this awareness of our frailty that serves as a basis for our petition on Yom Kippur. And here the goralot seem to add their plea, also claiming that our vulnerability stems from unpredictable forces over which we have no control. 

However, we can think of goral not only as a twist of fate but also as "destiny." This term now invokes the sublime notion that so-called accidents reflect a higher, divine purpose. This new perception induces in us a sudden and stirring need to reconcile ourselves with Hashem. Thus, even if wealthy, we ask for sustenance; even in health, we pray for healing. We also feel that immediate impulse to thank Hashem for what we have - at this moment, in these times, and even when flames burn around us.

Shabbat Shalom, Menachem Persoff, Director, Israel Center

Dedicated to my friend & colleague - Phil Chernofsky With thanks to Hashem

[jtyltk] B'reishit is the first word of B'reishit. Vayeitzi is Vayeitzi's first word. No'ach is the third word of the Sedra by the same name. Acharei is its fifth word. K'doshim is the 14th word. That's the longest into the sedra that a name appears.