[Avodah] Feeding fish at Tashlich

[Zev Sero]

Danny Schoemann wrote:

> I researched this quickly and found that while on Shabbos you clearly
> cannot feed animals that aren't dependent on you (except for stray
> dogs) as per SA OC 344, on Yom Tov it's not all that clear.

You mean 324.


> In OC 497:2 there's a machlokes if you can feed them if you throw the
> food at a distance; not directly in front of them. Feeding animals
> that you can't eat also seemsto be allowed.

That se'if, and the whole discussion that ensues, is about animals
that are your responsiblity.  This is in *addition* to the issur in
siman 324.

 
> More to the point: In 583:2 where the Remo mentions Tashlich, the
> Machazis Hashekel protests vehemently against the Maharil and Eliya
> Rabo who advocate feeding the fish.

Do they really advocate it?  That would surprise me, and I see
nothing in the Machtzis Hashekel to suggest that they do.  I haven't
got them to look inside; have you seen them, or their language
quoted elsewhere?


> Clearly feeding the fish is not a 21st century innovation.

Nobody has suggested that it's a 21st, or even a 20th century
innovation; it's an old amharatzus.

 
> Does anybody have a reliable psak, Minhag or Mesora regarding this?

The Magen Avraham (as explained by the Machtzis Hashekel) seems
reliable enough, in the absence of any authority that defends the
practise.


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