Avodah Mailing List

Volume 32: Number 172

Fri, 26 Dec 2014

• 1. Halachically Speaking Doing Business on a Non-Jewish Holiday (Prof. Levine)
• 2. seeing a woman's picture before dating (Eli Turkel)
• 3. Re: Escorting the Queen (Micha Berger)
• 4. Re: Escorting the Queen (Kenneth Miller)
• 5. Re: seeing a woman's picture before dating (Kenneth Miller)
• 6. Insights Into Halacha: The Many Facets of Asarah B'Teves (Prof. Levine)
• 7. MAKING COFFEE ON SHABBOS (Prof. Levine)
• 8. Re: seeing a woman's picture before dating (Ben Waxman)
• 9. Re: MAKING COFFEE ON SHABBOS (Ben Waxman)
• 10. osek be-mitzvah (Eli Turkel)
• 11. Zmanim app (Ben Waxman)
• 12. Re: Zmanim app (Zev Sero)
• 13. Re: Zmanim app (Kenneth Miller)
• 14. December 31 at night ()

See http://tinyurl.com/nmz5nte

Sorry, no matter how pretty you say the girl is, I need to see a picture
before my son dates her. Period.

Of late, statements like the above have become more common in the complex
world of shidduchim. Mothers have taken on a more proactive role, not only
in approving of the girl that their boys will be dating, but in actually
pre-approving the potential daughter-in-law's physical appearance.

What is the Torah perspective on this trend?
see  http://5tjt.com/the-picture-of-perfection/
for a fuller discussion

-- 
Eli Turkel

[I'm adding teasers. -micha]

   By Rabbi Yair Hoffman

   "I hope you don't mind, but the boy's mother would like to see a
   picture of your daughter."
   ...

   Of late, statements like the above have become more common in the
   complex world of shidduchim. Mothers have taken on a more proactive
   role, not only in approving of the girl that their boys will be dating,
   but in actually pre-approving the potential daughter-in-law's physical
   appearance.

   What is the Torah perspective on this trend?

   Rav Avrohom Meisels in his Der Oitzer fun Nissuin cites a fascinating
   precedent regarding the Chebiner Rav,... The Chebiner Rav responded in
   writing to the shadchan with a message to the other side, "Lo y'aseh
   kein bimkomeinu, laseis ha'tzurah lifnei ha'bechirah"...

   Shlomo HaMelech tells us in Mishlei (31:30), "sheker ha'chein v'hevel
   ha'yofi"... The Peleh Yoetz explains that Shlomo HaMelech is not saying
   that we should ignore all beauty, but rather that the main criterion
   for marriage should be whether the woman has fear of Heaven....

   Rav Yaakov Galinsky, zt'l, once asked a question regarding Tu B'Av...
   Rav Galinsky answered that the purpose of each girl wearing borrowed
   white clothing was to demonstrate that beauty and charm is all vanity
   and unimportant...

   Rav Galinsky's point can possibly be seen in a growing countertrend.
   ...

   Poskim in the chassidishe world are more adamant about the prohibition
   involved in a man looking at a picture of a woman. Rav Yisroel Harpenes
   of Hisachdus HaRabbanim, in his sefer Yisrael Kedoshim (p. 125) writes
   that even when the woman is dressed in a completely modest fashion,
   the idea of a man gazing at a picture is entirely against halachah...

   Notwithstanding the stringent view, the issue is subject to much
   halachic debate. Certainly, Jewish law prohibits ogling. Rabbeinu
   Yonah (Shaarei Teshuvah 1:6 and 8) defines it as a full-blown Biblical
   prohibition...

   Rambam also forbids it, but whether it is a Biblical or rabbinic
   prohibition is subject to debate. The Beis Shmuel and the Pnei Yehoshua
   (Even Ha'ezer Vol. II #44) both understand that the Rambam rules that
   it is forbidden only by rabbinic decree. Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt'l
   (Igros Moshe, E.H. Vol. IV #60) rules that the Rambam's view is that
   it is forbidden by Biblical decree...

   The Talmud (Avodah Zarah 20a-b)... The term that the Talmud employs
   in its discussion is "histaklus."...

   The Shulchan Aruch (E.H. 65:1), however, writes that it is forbidden
   to look at women who are laundering. This prohibition is found in
   Bava Basra 57b. The reason is that while they are laundering, parts
   of the body that are normally covered are sometimes exposed...

   This would seem to contradict the simple implication of the paragraph
   in Avodah Zarah 20b. It seems from this passage in Shulchan Aruch
   that there is no issue of looking at women as long as they are not
   in a state of compromised dress.

   How then would Rav Karo, the author of the Shulchan Aruch, explain
   our Gemara? ...

   Rav Dovid Feinstein, shlita, was not happy when he heard of this
   growing practice and responded, "Why are we making things more
   difficult? There is a certain chein that young ladies have that
   often does not come across in a photograph, and can only be seen
   in person. We are making the shidduch crisis worse with these new
   requirements." ...

   Rav Shlomo Heinemann, shlita, of Baltimore, when consulted by this
   author on the question, responded, "I do not think that it is within
   the framework of tznius for a girl to give a picture out where others
   can possibly see it. This is not with the ruach of Torah." Rav Shmuel
   Fuerst, a dayan in Chicago stated, "This wasn't the mehalech for
   doros, and I think it is lacking in tznius. I don't think it is a
   proper hanhagah and, besides, a picture can be very deceiving."

On Wed, Dec 24, 2014 at 06:10:36PM +0000, Kenneth Miller via Avodah wrote:
: When my guest is leaving, and I escort him out, it is true that he
: has already left my home. But I did not stay behind. The whole point -
: the whole definition of "levaya", if I'm not mistaken - is that I go
: with him, together, for the first portion of his trip.

: My outgoing guest and I spend this time either silently thinking about
: how we'll miss each other, or discussing things of mutual interest..

So the question is how that maps to qedushas Shabbos. We are saying that
Shabbos has left, but we are still holding on to its presence, somehow.
(?)

You asked about qedushas Shabbos ending with havadalah. I suggested
the comparison to a guest leaving. Does that "holding onto its presence,
somehow" necessarily contradict saying the qedushah is gone?

On a similar topic, see this recent article in Torah Musings
<http://www.torahmusings.com/2014/12/melaveh-malka-women/>. Quote:

    It is unclear to what extent melaveh malka is a weak but binding
    obligation, a proper practice (see Shulchan Aruch Harav OC 300:3;
    Mishna Berura 300:2), and/or a spiritual opportunity. It is also
    tricky to implement melaveh malka because there are many things
    mentioned by one or more poskim to enhance the practice (we will
    mention only some). The gemara, after the above quote, mentions both
    (hot) bread and meat, which some, like your husband, see as matters
    to be makpid about (see Maharsha Shabbat 119b; Mishna Berura 300:1).

    The gemara implies (as the Taz, OC 300:1 understood) that the main
    factor is actually the setting of the table, and the food seems an
    afterthought ("even... a k'zayit") or that which makes the table
    "the stage." Many people who are machmir regarding eating ignore such
    elements mentioned by poskim as a nice tablecloth, place setting,
    and candles -- matters of kavod modeled after Shabbat. On the other
    hand, some of the reasons given for melaveh malka do indeed focused
    on food, as does the ensuing passages of thegemara.

    Some hiddurim mentioned are close to mutually exclusive. It is best
    to have melaveh malka soon after Shabbat; yet, it is best to cook
    for it after Shabbat. One idea is to eat something right away for
    melaveh malka, with Shabbat ambience, and have more serious eating
    later (Siddur Beit Yaakov (Emdin) p. 206b).

Whether the ikar is the eating or the kavod shown in the setting may
help inform what trying to stay in Shabbos's presence after it left is
a metaphor for.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "The most prevalent illness of our generation is
mi...@aishdas.org        excessive anxiety....  Emunah decreases anxiety:
http://www.aishdas.org   'The Almighty is my source of salvation;  I will
Fax: (270) 514-1507      trust and not be afraid.'" (Isa 12) -Shalhevesya

R' Micha Berger wrote:

> We are saying that Shabbos has left, but we are still holding on
> to its presence, somehow. (?)
>
> You asked about qedushas Shabbos ending with havadalah. I
> suggested the comparison to a guest leaving. Does that "holding
> onto its presence, somehow" necessarily contradict saying the
> qedushah is gone?

Yes, it sure does seem like a contradiction to me. How can one hold on to Shabbos's presence while not holding on to its kedusha? How can they be separated?

This question comes up in various circumstances, such as determining the
bris date for a boy who was born after Kabalas Shabbos but before Shabbos
"actually" began. The halacha, I'm told, is that we view this interval as
having Kedushas Shabbos without *being* Shabbos. But I don't recell ever
hearing of a case where we have Shabbos's presence without its kedusha.

Offlist, someone wrote me that his rebbe had explained the ikkar of Melavah Malka to be the contrary of what I said:

> He said it originated in a time when it was hard to have really
> hot fresh-tasting food on Shabbos day, and so that you wouldn't
> have a taana against Shabbos, you should have something like that
> right after Shabbos. Therefore the MM food because "l'shaym kavod
> Shabbos" quite literally. Nowadays (he said somewhat humorously)
> some people will light a cigarette for MM "l'shaym kavod Shabbos"
> and I know that in the summer I sometimes take a motzei-Shabbos
> shower with this in mind. He said it should l'chatchila be a seuda
> where you wash and bentch because that's more kavodic. The point
> is that it should be done with kavana and in the spirit of kavod-
> Shabbos.
>
> Therefore, my understanding and vision of Melaveh Malka is not to
> avoid malacha and not to ?stretch out your Shabbos". That would be
> tosefes Shabbos ? delay making Havdala so you can linger in
> Shabbos.

This sounds like Melaveh Malka was designed as a sort of concession, to
insure that we do not come to resent Shabbos. Some people really want their
hot food, their cigarettes, and their shower. But why would this need to be
institutionalized? If someone wants hot food such as was unavailable for
the last 25 hours, then let him cook some - but we don't need to make it
into a mitzvah.

Yet the halacha is clear: Melaveh Malka *is* a mitzvah. And furthermore,
despite having said havdala and having done melacha, it *is* connected to
Shabbos somehow. I need to resolve this, and I was inspired by the ideas
from my offlist correspondent. I've come up with the beginnings of an idea,
which I submit for comments:

Motzaei Shabbos is connected to Shabbos, but is not part *of* Shabbos.
Perhaps its relationship to Shabbos is similar to the relationship that
Chol Hamoed has to Yom Tov. A certain set of rituals is shared, and the
hashkafic aspects are shared, but the issur melacha is pointedly *not*
shared.

Chol Hamoed is a time when the issur melacha of Yom Tov is expressly
relaxed for the purpose of allowing us to enjoy the holiday in ways that
are assur on Yom Tov itself. Yet there is no relaxing at all of the
importance of matzah or sukkah. Similarly, perhaps Motzaei Shabbos is a
time to enjoy Shabbos in ways that are assur on Shabbos itself.

It is hard for me to imagine how to "enjoy Shabbos in ways that are assur
on Shabbos", but maybe that's what Havdala and Melaveh Malka are supposed
to teach. All comments eagerly solicited.

Akiva Miller
____________________________________________________________
The #1 Worst Carb Ever?
Click to Learn #1 Carb that Kills Your Blood Sugar (Don't Eat This!)
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3131/549c9c2dcac531c2d55a6st03vuc

R' Eli Turkel posted a link:

> "Sorry, no matter how pretty you say the girl is, I need to see
> a picture before my son dates her. Period."
>
> Of late, statements like the above have become more common in
> the complex world of shidduchim. Mothers have taken on a more
> proactive role, not only in approving of the girl that their
> boys will be dating, but in actually pre-approving the potential
> daughter-in-law's physical appearance.
>
> What is the Torah perspective on this trend?
> see  http://5tjt.com/the-picture-of-perfection/
> for a fuller discussion

These words do indeed appear in the linked article, but I consider this to
be a false and misleading teaser to it. The entire article discussed the
propriety of looking at a picture of the girl in question as opposed to
looking at her directly, and the propriety of looking the girl as opposed
to not knowing what she looks like.

But nowhere in that article did I see any discussion of whether it should be the mother -- rather than her son -- who is making this decision.

Akiva Miller
____________________________________________________________
The #1 Worst Carb Ever?
Click to Learn #1 Carb that Kills Your Blood Sugar (Don't Eat This!)
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3131/549caa2e801712a2e05a1st01vuc

The upcoming Fast of Asarah B'Teves is quite 
exceptional. Aside for the fact that the fast is 
really meant to incorporate three separate Fast 
Days, unique to this fast is that it is the only 
one that we do actually observe as a fast on a 
Friday. Even Tisha B'Av, which commemorates the 
actual destructions of our Batei HaMikdash, gets 
pushed off. Yet, next Thursday, for a fast best 
known for being the year???s shortest (for 
everyone in the Northern Hemisphere), all of Klal 
Yisrael will fast. The question is why...

To find out, read the article 
"<https://go.madmimi.com/redirects/1419531398
-bea4ea0a38d41172b758cfca5b66970d-f4fff57?pa=27223848287>Insights 
Into Halacha: The Many Facets of Asarah B'Teves".


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 From http://tinyurl.com/lc4rpdw


QUESTION How does one make a cup of instant coffee [or instant tea] 
on Shabbos?

DISCUSSION: There is a well-known halachic principle that is cited 
when discussing if and how food can be "cooked" or warmed up on 
Shabbos: Ein bishul achar bishul, which means that once a food has 
been cooked before Shabbos, it cannot - in halachic terms - be 
"cooked" again. In other words, a food which has already been cooked 
cannot be subject to the prohibition of cooking on Shabbos.

Regarding making a cup of coffee on Shabbos, one could reason that 
since coffee beans are first roasted and then cooked while being 
processed into instant coffee,1 it would be permissible to pour 
boiling water from an urn directly onto the [already cooked] instant 
coffee powder. But there are two good reasons why this is not so 
simple a matter:

See the above URL for the rest of this discussion. YL
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On 12/26/2014 2:21 AM, Kenneth Miller via Avodah wrote:
> But nowhere in that article did I see any discussion of whether
> it should be the mother -- rather than her son -- who is making this
> decision.

Nor do they discuss the girl looking at his picture (or the girl's mother
if we want to be equivalent)

Ben

On 12/26/2014 12:46 AM, Prof. Levine via Avodah wrote:
> From http://tinyurl.com/lc4rpdw

>> QUESTION How does one make a cup of instant coffee [or instant tea] 
>> on Shabbos?

1. While it may be true that generally, coffee beans are cooked before 
they are made into instant coffee, it is possible that a method other 
than cooking was used in the manufacturing process.
2 If, indeed, a process other than cooking was used, then it would be
strictly prohibited to pour water directly from the urn over the coffee,
since then the coffee would become cooked for the first time.

What is a statement like the above supposed to mean? The writer raises a
possible question but then never says that he checked the manufacturing
process to find out how instant coffee is made. If the working
assumption (as he says "it is generally true") is that the beans are
roasted, why should an unproved point be considered at all relevant?

Ben

I heard a shiur today tangentially related to the question of asei dochei
lo taaseh.

Short summary

main sugyot are succha 25a,26a, Baba Kamma 56b

1) Tosafot - doing a mitzvah exempts from another mitzvah only if one
interferes with another

2) Or Zarua & Ran -  doing a mitzvah exempts from another mitzvah only if
one is actively doing the mitzvah

Thus if one is walking to do a mitzvah according to Tosafot one should
still give charity while according to the Or Zarua one is exempt from
giving charity
3) Raavad quoted by Rashba - doing a mitzvah always exempts from another
mitzvah

Question: Does this work because one is "anoos" and can't do 2 mitzvot or is
one patur
(a little like hutra vs dechua)
see Kovetz shiurim Baba Batra #48 whether one has to repeat the mitzvah he
missed.
Would seem that according to Tosafot it as ones while according to Ohr
Zarua and Raavad it is a ptar

Question: It is clear that normally Osek be-mitzvah does not override a lo
taaseh
One if the mitzvah has both an aseh and lo taaseh (eg charity, returning a
lost item etc)

Netivot (Biurim 72:19) claims that a gabbai tzedakah is not exempt from
other mitzvot since one is not required to be a gabbai tzedakah and
voluntering does not exempt from other mitzvot

Question on Netivot: Gemara in Succah lists sellers of tefillin and
techelet as exempt from other motzvot and one is not required to be a
salesman of these items
Also Bet Yaakov on Ketubot 49b (by the author of the Netivot) asks why a
shomer is exempt from giving charity when charity also has a lo taaseh
see also Ohr Sameach Yom Tov 3:8.
Answer: There is a difference between a plain lo taaseh and one which is
meant to strengthen an asseh (eg charity and returning lost items etc)

Ritva (Succah 25a) asks the basic question - why do we need a pasuk to
exempt someone doing a mitzvah - this seems to be obvious, why give up one
mitzvah to do another? He answers that even if the second mitzva is greater
one is forbidden to give up the first for the second.

Chiddush of the maggid shiur (Rav Algazi):
For a mitzvah kiyyumit the lo taaseh is not absorbed by the aseh and so
doing a mitzvah would not exempt from giving charity which also has a lo
taaseh
For a mitzvah chiyuvit doing a mitzvah exempts even from a mitzvah that
also has a lo taaseh like charity. Hence a shomer is exempt from giving
charity even though there is a lo taaseh. However a gabbai tzedakah is only
a mitzva kiyumit and so not exempt from giving charity - this answers the
difficult Netivot

-- 
Eli Turkel

My Zmanim app gives many possible times for different situations. For 
example, for putting on tallit/teffilin, it shows three different 
possibilities: 10.2 degrees (the sun is 10.2 degrees below the geometric 
zenith), 11 degrees, 11.5 degrees. I was in shul last week where people 
started putting on tallit and teffilin at the time given by the 11.5 
degrees option (the early option).

1) Are these times actually stated in literature? Rabbis were able to 
calculate when the sun was 11.5 degrees below the geometric zenith? None 
of these options say anything like "tzman HaGra", so what do they mean?
2) Alot hashachar gets a lot more complicated. Many more options, some 
of them an actual time (like 120 minutes before sea level sunrise based 
on the time to walk . . . ), some of them degrees (16.1 degrees) , some 
of them a psak by the Gra or the MG'A. Again, what do all of these 
options mean? If a rav's name isn't attached to one of them, does it 
mean anything?

Ben

On 12/26/2014 05:57 AM, Ben Waxman via Avodah wrote:
> My Zmanim app gives many possible times for different situations. For
> example, for putting on tallit/teffilin, it shows three different
> possibilities: 10.2 degrees (the sun is 10.2 degrees below the
> geometric zenith), 11 degrees, 11.5 degrees. I was in shul last week
> where people started putting on tallit and teffilin at the time given
> by the 11.5 degrees option (the early option).
>
> 1) Are these times actually stated in literature? Rabbis were able to
> calculate when the sun was 11.5 degrees below the geometric zenith?
> None of these options say anything like "tzman HaGra", so what do
> they mean?

No pre-20th-century source gives any shiur for "misheyakir".  There
is nothing to base such a shiur on, except personal observation.
You were expected to go out and look.  But in modern urban conditions
that's no longer an option.

Therefore Or Hame'ir (AFAIK the first full-length sefer on the subject
to include computer-generated charts), in his first edition, did not
give a time for it, because anything he put down would just be his
own guess.  But the feedback he got was that in the absence of such
a time people were putting on tefillin at the time he gave for alos
hashachar!   So for the second edition he decided he had no choice
but to go out into the country, away from light pollution, and do his
own experiments in distinguishing various objects.  He determined
that he could usually tell the difference between these things when
the sun was at about 11 degrees, IIRC (and I'm not at all sure that
I do), so he put that down in his charts, with a note that it was
not based on any source.


2) Alot hashachar gets a lot more complicated. Many more
> options, some of them an actual time (like 120 minutes before sea
> level sunrise based on the time to walk . . . ), some of them degrees
> (16.1 degrees) , some of them a psak by the Gra or the MG'A. Again,
> what do all of these options mean? If a rav's name isn't attached to
> one of them, does it mean anything?

There's a machlokes Chazal whether alos hashachar is the time it takes
to walk 4 mill or 5 mill before sunrise.  Chazal tell us that the time
it takes to walk a mill is 1/40 of a day, but they differ on whether,
for this purpose, the day is measured from dawn to dusk, or from
sunrise to sunset.   In other words, in the 720 minutes from sunrise
to sunset, can a person walk 40 mill, 32 mill (plus 4 before sunrise
and 4 after sunset), or 30 (plus 5 before and 5 after)?   Thus, is
kedei hiluch mill 18 min, 22.5, or 24?   Thus, is alos hashachar
4*18=72, 4*22.5=90, 5*18=90, or 5*24=120 min before sunrise?
Since options 2 and 3 are identical, we really only have 3 options.
(4*24=96, and 5*22.5=112.5 aren't options, because they contradict
themselves.)  So these three options come to us directly from Chazal,
and how we pasken depends on which rishonim we follow.

Then we have the two approaches to how to understand this whole
"minutes" business.   There's the naive approach that minutes means
minutes, no matter where you are or what season it is.  But the
GRA, Alter Rebbe, and various other achronim pointed out that this
makes no sense, and *can't* be what Chazal meant.  Chazal *must*
have been talking about a specific latitude and date, and how dark
it was that many minutes before sunrise, i.e. how far below the
horizon the sun was.   Thus the *real* calculation is based on
degrees.

R' Ben Waxman asked many very important questions about when zmanim are
expressed in "degrees". One good place for authoritative information on
this would be the classic "Halakhic Times" by Leo Levi, especially the
Hebrew section.

The app I use has an over-simplified version on its Help page (http://www.myzmanim.com/
read/degrees.aspx), but it is a good introduction. Here's part of what
he writes there about Alos Hashachar:

> Where is the sun 72 minutes before sunrise, on an equinox day,
> in Yerushalayim? The answer is, 16.1 degrees below the horizon.
> As such, Alos can be defined for all settings, as the time when
> the sun reaches 16.1 degrees below the horizon.

Personally, I think this makes a lot of sense in theory. But putting it in
practice is very different: What point in Yerushalayim was used for these
calculations? Why use Yerushalayim and not Bavel or Har Sinai? Are all
equinox days the same? How much deviance is allowed in these calculations?
Do we agree on the definition of "sunrise"?

According to R' Leo Levi's book, the figure "16 degrees" (not 16.1) is what
corresponds to 72 minutes before sunrise, and "20 degrees" corresponds to
90 minutes before sunrise (which is 4 mil, when each mil is 22.5 minutes).
But did he actually use the figure of "16" for his calculations, or did he
use a more precise figure and round it for printing? What figure should I
use if I want to calculate these zmanim myself?

Thus far I've barely touched the surface of how complicated Alos Hashachar
is. RBW's post actually referred to Misheyakir, which is even more
complicated, because (as far as I know) NONE of the classic sources
describe this zman to any precision whatsoever. For Alos Hashachar, we know
it to be four (or maybe five) mil before sunrise, and then we can debate
how long a mil is. But for Misheyakir, all we have is "When it is bright
enough to distinguish between this and that"  (whatever "this and that"
might happen to be).

So when recent generations asked their rabbis about Misheyakir, we got
answers which were (as far as I know) totally subjective, based on no
mathematics at all, but only on the posek's perception of visibility. Each
paskens as he sees fit, and I mean that in a positive way, but it seems so
subjective that I don't know how -- or if -- a consensus can ever be
reached. For example, one sefer I just glanced at quotes one posek as
saying that Misheyakir is 60 minutes before sunrise in New York City, while
another posek says that it varies from 36 minutes in winter to 40 minutes
in summer. I imagine that the "degrees" in RBW's app are similarly
calculated, by taking the minutes declared by some poskim, and converting
that information to the sun's position below the horizon.

I could write a lot more, but I'll finish up by reminding everyone that
whatever zmanim chart you follow, don't imagine that it is accurate down to
the last second!

Akiva Miller
____________________________________________________________
The #1 Worst Carb Ever?
Click to Learn #1 Carb that Kills Your Blood Sugar (Don't Eat This!)
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3131/549d77547e5c47754649cst04vuc

http://www.yutorah.org/_shiurim/Public%20Fast%20Days.html 
? 
Fast days discussion concerning night before: 
? 


Rambam, Hilchot Ta'aniot 5:5 and 5:10, implies that in principle Tisha B'Av
is more stringent than the other fast days.? The other fast days do not
start until the morning and the only prohibition that applies on these days
is eating (and drinking). 

R. Yeshaya Horowitz, Shelah , Ta'anit 43b, sides with the opinion of Ramban
and explains that the reason why there was no widespread acceptance of all
of the stringencies of Tisha B'Av is because it is something too difficult
to impose on the masses.? Therefore, R. Horowitz suggests that an
individual who feels that he is capable of fasting for twenty-four hours
and refraining from the prohibited activities of Tisha B'Av should do so.?
However, he should not publicize this and therefore, he should wear leather
shoes in public.? This recommendation is cited by Mishna Berurah 550:6 (and
Sha'ar HaTziun 550:9).? [To the best of this author's knowledge, there are
many scrupulous individuals who do not follow this stringency.] 

? 

KT 
Joel Rich 
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