[Avodah] Fasts That Fall On Friday Are Observed On Friday

[Jay F. Shachter via Avodah]

>
> Minor fasts, such as the fasts observed by the Chevraya Kadishaya,
> *can* fall on Friday, and when they do they are completed.
>

Add to that the fast of the firstborn, which is observed on Friday
when it falls on Friday (or so I have been told).


> 
> We never push off a fast because it's on a Friday (except Yom
> Kippur).
>

This may be a pedantic distinction, but no, we do not push off Yom
Kippur when it falls on Friday.  We fiddled with the calendar so that
the 10th of Tishrey would not fall on Friday, but if the 10th of
Tishrey ever did fall on Friday, we would surely have fasted on that
day.  This is not the same thing as pushing off a fast, which means
observing it on a different day, e.g., fasting on the 10th of Av
instead of the 9th of Av.  A pedantic distinction, perhaps, but in my
opinion an important one; fasting on the 10th of Tishrey is serious
business.

			Jay F. ("Yaakov") Shachter
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