[Avodah] Chevra Kadisha Fast Day today, 15 Kislev?

[Zev Sero]

On Areivim, Naomi S Israel wrote:
> I heard something new today -- apparently 15 Kislev is a fast day for 
> Chevra Kadishas?  Is this commonly done??
> Never heard of this before.  (Also, a chevra kadisha can't fast, only 
> its members.)

It's pretty much universal that the members of a chevra kadisha observe
a fast day.  The exact day varies by region.  In Lita the minhag was
15 Kislev; in Poland the minhag was 7 Adar.  Neither date can fall on
Shabbos.  I've also heard of 29 Shevat, which can fall on Shabbos; I
assume that if so the fast is observed on Thursday instead.


> Do people taking on this fast continue it into Shabbos, until tzeis?  
> That's what the person announcing it said, but I thought that was assur.

The SA (OC 562:3 and 249:4) says every fast must continue until tzeis
hakochavim, unless it's a private fast and the person made a specific
tnai otherwise.  The Rema (249:4) says that some dispute this, and
therefore if it's a private fast one should break it after leaving
shul, but a public fast should continue until TzHK.  Ba'er Hetev goes
into detail, and says all the fasts listed in siman 580 count for this
purpose as "public", and a yartzeit fast depends on how it came out the
first time: if the first time was on a Friday then one should not
complete it, and so every time it falls on Friday, but if the first time
was during the week, and one didn't make a specific tnai that Friday
would be different, then one must complete it even when it falls on
Friday.

The ChK fast has certain aspects of a "public" fast; they make a minyan
with aneinu and vayechal.  Also it's like the fixed fasts the Ba'er
Hetev mentions, in that it's on a fixed day every year.  So it seems
that they have to complete it.

-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas