Fasts

If a person flies westward on a fast airplane on a fast day, traveling against the rotation of the Earth, should they observe the fast according to the times of the place of departure, the place of arrival, or according to their actual location and local time throughout the flight?

When hard times befall the Jewish people such as, G-d forbid, drought, warfare, or plague, we must realize that they are not a coincidence - rather they are a Divine warning to klal Yisroel to do tshuvah

After the destruction of the First Temple, the Prophets and the Sages of Israel legislated fasting on the Tenth of Tevet, for it was on that day that Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, and his legions placed Jerusalem under siege.

Would you kindly tell me what wonderful and good thing happened on the 17th of Tammuz in our history?

Is one permitted to say the Selichot of a fast day before Shacharit? As the 17th of Tammus here in Australia is winter and Shacharit starts late in the morning so to save time, it would be great to say selichot before Shacharit.

"If a person travels from one location to another during a fast day, is he governed by the halachic timeframes (e.g., sunset, nightfall) of the place where he began the fast, or those of the place where he finds himself at the time of conclusion? And what if he has already broken the fast?"

Fast days are occasion for introspection and repentance. After all, we are not fasting over the distant, unrelated past; we are fasting in response to our own present situation. How is it that instead of mourning we remain complacent and indifferent?

There is a tendency, on fast days, for people to concentrate upon the calamities of the past and on the stages that led up to the destruction of the Temple. People reflect on the distant past when they aught - says the Rambam - consider the present.

The Tree of Knowledge contained a mixture of elements - both good and evil. This, then, was Adam's sin: He ate from the tree, and this caused existence to fall to a level whereupon there existed a mixture of both good and evil.

Did Jews fast over the destruction of the First Temple when the Second Temple stood? Must pregnant and nursing women abstain from eating and drinking on minor fasts? Rabbi Eliezer Melamed addresses these and other important questions.