Question
What are the minhagim about tefillin for a bar mitzvah boy 30 days before?
What are the minhagim about fasting 3 fasts before bar mitzvah?
Answer
On the day of the Bar-Mitzva the Jew is obliged with all the Mitzvot. On this day ha starts laying Tefilin.
Some communities have the custom of starting 30 days earlier. The Tefilin are laid during Shacharit. One should make a festive meal and invite rabbis and guests on the day on the Jewish calendar.
Regarding fasts before the age of 13: On Yom Kippur and the ninth of Av one should get used to eating less meals and with greater space between them. Also fasting for several hours in the morning is the custom. If the fasting can cause harm then he should eat. On the other fasts he should not fast.
Rabbi Yitzchak Grinblat
