Taanit 30 - December 12, 8 Tevet

This week’s learning is sponsored as a zechut for a refuah shleima for Chava Naami bat Daba Chana, Evie Haar, b'toch she'ar cholei Yisrael, by the Hadran Women of Long Island. May our learning be a source of strength and merit for the entire family. Today’s daf is sponsored by Moshe & Aviva Schwartz in honor of their cousins, Amalia Gerber “Mazal tov for completing your first siyum of Mishnayot Nezikin in honor of your Bat Mitzvah” and Ilana Kurshan “for teaching us as part of siyum Masechet Ta'anit!” One cannot eat two cooked items on erev Tisha B’av – is this only in the afternoon or only for the final meal before the fast? Or both? One cannot eat wine or meat at that meal and according to Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, one should change from the way one normally eats. What does this mean? Laws of mourning apply to Tisha B’av. One cannot eat, drink, wash, put on oils, wear shoes, engage in sexual relations, read passages from the Tanach, learn Mishna, Talmud, Midrash, halakha, and aggada as they are pleasurable activities. There is a debate whether or not one can learn a section that one has never learned before as perhaps it is less enjoyable. Children in school should not study. One is allowed to study passages that discuss the destruction of the Temple and passages from Job. Salted meat is no longer considered meat, although it depends on how long it was salted. At what point after pressing the grapes is wine considered a problem? What did Rav Yehuda do every erev Tisha B’av? Can one work on Tisha b’Av? It is dependent on one’s custom. Torah scholars do not work so as to fully experience the fast. However, the rabbis strongly encouraged everyone to refrain from working. Does one need to turn one’s bed over as mourners do? What about pregnant and nursing women? The Mishna stated that the happiest days of the year were the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur was a happy day because it is a day where our sins are forgiven. But what happened on the 15th of Av? Several answers are brought.