Taanit 11 - November 23, 19 Kislev

Study Guide Taanit 11

Today’s daf is sponsored by Jason Friedman in honor of Danielle Novetsky Friedman’s birthday today. Wishing you all the best on this special day. Happy birthday! 

One who is traveling should eat small amounts of food either because it is not good for one’s intestines or because the food will run out. In what cases will there be a difference in practice between these two reasons? In case of a famine, one should not engage in sexual relations, unless the couple has no children yet. If one has means while there is a famine in the community, it is forbidden to remove oneself from the community and ignore what others are going through. People like that will not be included when the community is ultimately consoled. The Gemara calls such a person ‘beinoni, middling’." Who is considered evil? An evil person's conduct in a famine, causes the death of the righteous. Why? What is the reward for one who does include oneself in the community’s suffering? An example is taken from Moshe in the Amalekite war. Who testifies against a person who does not act in this manner? Who will know what one does behind closed doors? There are several possibilities - the stones and beams of one’s house, the two angels who accompany a person, one’s soul, or one’s organs. The righteous are punished for minor transgressions, the wicked are rewarded for minor commandments, and a person justifies his judgment on the Day of Judgment at the end of his life. Is it considered a positive thing for a person to fast or is it something not recommended? There are two approaches to this and they are derived from the nazir. It says by a nazir, "who has sinned against the soul." Is he a sinner because he vowed not to drink wine or is it just referring to a nazir who became impure to a dead person? someone who is defiled to die? One suggests that there are 2 types of people - those who can tolerate fasting and those who can not and the law is different for each. Talmud scholars are not allowed to fast because it will prevent them from learning Torah. There are no severe level fast days Babylonia other than Tisha B'Av. If one, after fasting a whole day, decided to continue the fast until the next morning, would he/she say the prayer “aneinu” the next day? Does it depend on whether one holds there is/is not such a thing as fasting for a few hours?