Fast of the Firstborn

According to Rabbi Jacob Emden, the Fast of the Firstborn also commemorates the salvation of the Jews from the plot of Haman.

[17] Furthermore, during the Temple period, this loss was most profoundly felt on the fourteenth of Nisan, which was the busiest day of the year for the kohenim and Levites.

[18] Yehuda Grünwald, the rabbi of Satu Mare and student of Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer, suggests that the firstborn Israelites fasted in trepidation in advance of the Plague of the Firstborn; despite a divine guarantee of safety, they felt a need to fast in repentance to achieve greater divine protection.

[citation needed] According to Joel Sirkis, Alexander Suslin, and arguably Yaakov ben Moshe Levi Moelin, both men and women are obligated to fast.

The Shulchan Aruch codifies that a firstborn to only the father is obligated to fast,[21] while most printings of the Arba'ah Turim[22] indicate that such a person would be exempt.

The common practice is that it is subsequently broken in the morning at a seudat mitzvah (celebratory meal) following a siyum.

Normally, all Jewish fasts continue until nightfall (most authorities rule that this is somewhere between 20 and 40 minutes after sunset, but varies by location and time of year).

Normally, one may not enter a Shabbat (Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath) or Yom Tov (festival) in a state of fasting.

[citation needed] In modern times, however, this fast is rarely observed, as most firstborns opt to attend a siyum (festive meal celebrating the completion of a tractate of the Talmud) instead.

According to the second custom (quoted by the Magen Avraham in the name of the Maharash Levi), the fast may be broken at any festive meal celebrating a circumcision or a redemption of the firstborn.

According to the third custom, based upon the Maharshal,[26] the fast may even be broken at a seudat mitzvah for a siyum celebrating the completion of study of a tractate of Talmud.

[25] If a firstborn attending a siyum does not hear the completion of the tractate, or if he does not understand what he hears, or if he is in the shiva period of mourning and is thus forbidden from listening to the Torah material being taught, some authorities rule that subsequent eating would not qualify as a seudat mitzvah and he would therefore be forbidden to break his fast.

[citation needed] In order to break one's fast on a seudat mitzvah, many authorities rule that one must partake of at least a kotevet of food (around 1.5 to 2 oz.)

(The Bigdei Yesha commentary suggests the rationale behind this ruling was to avoid holding a fast during the month of Nisan, which is generally prohibited.)

If the eve of Passover is on Shabbat, many authorities rule that the fast is not observed at all, which is common practice in Sephardic communities.

[34] In such a scenario, the ritual of Bedikat Chametz (the formal search for forbidden leaven that is conducted before Passover) is set for Thursday night.

[citation needed] The above halakhic quandary is avoided completely if a firstborn fasts the entire day on Thursday.

To avoid the practical implications of the controversy, the Mishnah Berurah suggests that a firstborn should not serve as Chazzan on the day of the fast.

[citation needed] It is not traditionally observed by Yemenite Jews[40] and its practice was discouraged by Moroccan-Israeli rabbi Joseph Messas.

[42] Jacob Petuchowski at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, taught that Tsom B'chorot was the clearest example of a fast with a moral, social action message.