{"id":366,"date":"2010-02-09T01:00:10","date_gmt":"2010-02-08T23:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=366"},"modified":"2010-02-09T01:00:10","modified_gmt":"2010-02-08T23:00:10","slug":"05-09-01","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/05-09-01\/","title":{"rendered":"1 \u2013 The Meal Before the Fast (Seudah HaMafseket)"},"content":{"rendered":"
One may not eat two cooked dishes during the last meal before the fast of Tish\u2019a B\u2019Av<\/em>(Ta\u2019anit<\/em> 26b), because that is when our mourning over the churban<\/em> intensifies, and it is inappropriate, [at such a time], to dignify oneself by indulging in two cooked items. One cooked dish, however, [is permitted, because it] does not involve any special pleasure. It is also forbidden to eat meat or drink wine [at this meal] (ibid.), because these are distinguished foods that make one happy. Indeed, the custom nowadays is to refrain from eating meat and drinking wine from the beginning of Av (see above 8.13); nonetheless, the prohibition to eat these items up until the seudah ha\u2019mafseket<\/em> is based on a custom from the time of the Rishonim<\/em>, while the prohibition to eat them during the last meal is Rabbinically ordained. Therefore, a sick person or a postpartum woman, whom meat can strengthen, may eat meat during the nine days, but not at the seudah ha\u2019mafseket<\/em>[1]<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n What is the seudah ha\u2019mafseket<\/em>? It is the last meal before the fast, eaten after midday. Thus, if one eats his last meal before midday, he may eat two cooked dishes. The prevalent custom is to eat a regular meal, with several dishes, in the afternoon, and then to eat the seudah ha\u2019mafseket<\/em>, with only one cooked dish, shortly before the fast. One should not be crafty and eat a [full] meal, with several dishes, close to the fast, recite Birkat HaMazone<\/em> (Grace After Meals), wait a few minutes, and then eat another meal, so that the latter will be considered the seudah ha\u2019mafseket<\/em>.<\/p>\n Ex post facto (b\u2019di\u2019avad<\/em>), however, if the hour is late and one did not manage to eat a full meal in the afternoon, and he is concerned that it will be difficult to fast without eating several cooked dishes beforehand, he may eat a full meal, go to synagogue and pray Minchah<\/em>, and then return home to eat the seudah ha\u2019mafseket<\/em>. He should only be careful not to eat so much during the first meal that he has no appetite to eat the seudah ha\u2019mafseket<\/em>(Sh.A.<\/em> and Rama<\/em> 552:9, M.B.<\/em> 22).<\/p>\n