22 Jul NINE DAYS QUESTIONS: WITH RABBI MOSHE ELEFANT FROM THE OU

Beginning Rosh
Chodesh Av until
after Tisha B’Av
(the Nine Days)
the custom of
Ashkenazim is not to eat meat
or drink wine, in remembrance
of the destruction of the Beis
Hamikdash. What about a food
that was cooked with meat, or
a pareve soup that was cooked
in a fleishig pot can they be
consumed? Also, can one eat
foods that contain red wine
vinegar?
The Mishna Berura (551:63) writes that the
common custom is not to eat foods that were
cooked together with meat. For example, one
should not eat a potato from a fleishig cholent,
even though it does not contain actual meat.
Since it absorbed from the meat, we refrain
from eating it. He adds that one may cook a
pareve food in a fleishig pot, even if the pot
had been used to cook meat immediately
beforehand.

Rama (OC 551:9) writes that using wine
vinegar is acceptable during the Nine Days.
He explains that wine vinegar does not
promote simcha (joy), and was not included
in the wine restriction. Wine “vinegar” refers
to wine that has fermented to the point where
one would not drink it (MB 551:57).
I have the custom of making Havdalah on
beer during the nine days. I noticed that I do
not have any beer in my refrigerator. I would
like to place a bottle of beer in the fridge now
(on Shabbos) to be able to use after Shabbos
for Havdalah. Is this a problem of hachanah
(preparation)?
Rav Belsky, zt”l was asked this exact question.
He ruled that if one forgot to put a beer in
the fridge before Shabbos they may do so on
Shabbos to use for Havdalah. He explained
that since one isn’t doing any prohibited act
by putting beer in a fridge on Shabbos and
one is doing so for the purpose of enhancing
a mitzvah, it is permissible. Rav Belsky
maintained it is comparable to the case
mentioned in Shulchan Aruch O.C. 293:3.

I am visiting my parents over
the Nine Days. I have a very
large family of my own. Do
I have to schlep changes of

clothing for my
whole family for
the entire Nine
Days or can I
rely in advance
on the permit
mentioned in a
previous Halacha
Yomis, namely,
that if I run out
of clean clothing
I am allowed to
clean my clothing
up until the week in which
Tisha B’Av falls?
There is a difference of opinion about this
question among the great poskim of the past
generation. Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach,
zt”I and Rav Elyashiv, zt”l both were of the
opinion that every family member should
take a set of clean clothing which will last
them the entire Nine Days, so that it will
not be necessary to do any laundry during
the Nine Days ( cited by Nitei Gavriel, Bein
HaMetzarim, 16:8). On the other hand Rav
Moshe Feinstein, zt”l was lenient and ruled
that the family only needs to take along
what they would normally take on such a
trip. If they run out of clean clothing, they
can rely on the permit of one who does not
have sufficient clothing to last him until
the end of the Nine Days who is allowed to
clean necessary clothing before the week in
which Tisha B’Av falls (Sefer Chol HaMoed
K’Hilchoso 85:23).
If one does not own enough changes of
clothing to last the entire Nine Days, Rav
Moshe, zt”l (Piskei Teshuvos 534:2, citing
Kuntres Hilchos Chol HaMoed se’if 7)
writes that it is pashut (obviously true)
that he is not required to purchase new
clothing before Rosh Chodesh Av even if
he can easily afford it and that if he runs
out of clean clothing during the Nine Days
he can rely on the above permit.

May I learn with the intention
to make a Siyum during the
Nine Days so that a meat
meal can be served? May
I delay the completion of
learning until the Nine Days
in order to be able to make a
Siyum?
The Mishna Berura (OC 551:73 quoting
Elya Rabba) writes that one may not
delay or accelerate one’s learning to
schedule a Siyum during the Nine Days.
The Aruch HaShu khan (OC 551:28), in
fact, recommends that even if a Siyum
happens to fall out during the Nine Days,
one should postpone it until after the Nine

Days, when the proper joyous celebration
can be made in honor of the Torah. However
other poskim are lenient in this matter (see
Shu”t Yabia Omerl :26 and Moadei Yeshurun
p. 132:llb and 155:66)
Rav Moshe, zt”l felt that preferably one
should refrain from making a Siyum from the
7th of Av until after the Nine Days, since on
the 7thof Av our enemies entered the Heich
al leading to the eventual destruction of the
Bais HaMikdashon the 9th and 10th of Av
(See Magen Avraham 554:9 quoting Tur).

What happened on the 7th of
Av? How is this observed?
The Gemara (Taanis 29a) relates the
events that led up to the destruction of
the Beis Hamikdash. Although the walls
of Yerushalayim were breached on the
seventeenth of Tammuz, the fighting
continued. It was not until the seventh of
Av that the Babylonians entered the Beis
Hamikdash and desecrated it. On the ninth
of Av, close to sunset, they set the Beis
Hamikdash on fire.
The Magen Avrohom (554:9) writes that
even those who must eat meat or drink wine
during The Nine Days, if possible, should
refrain from meat and wine beginning the
7th of Av, in recognition of the increasing
calamity. Nonetheless, the Mishnah Berurah
(551:61) writes that the restriction of the
Magen Avrohom does not apply to someone
who is ill and must eat meat for reasons of
health.
Piskei Teshuvos (551:38) cites sefer Otzer
HaChaim that even those who permit serving
meat at a siyum during The Nine Days may
not do so beginning the 7th of Av. Similarly,
Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt’l ruled that
one may not serve meat or wine at a seudas
Bar Mitzvah from the 7th of Av and onward
(Mivakshei Torah vol. 48, chapter 4).