04 Nov WHAT IS BHA”B

Last Monday, the very
significant yet little known
days called BHA”B
ended. In two locations
(Masechtos Kiddushin
[81a] and Bava Kama
[82a]), Tosefos mentions
the minhag of fasting on
the first Monday, Thursday, and following
Monday of the months of Marcheshvon and
Iyar. This fast, which is also mentioned
several times in Shulchan Aruch and the Tur
[simon 429], is commonly known as the Fast
of BHA”B. Though most of Klal Yisroel
does not observe this practice, and many do
not even say the accompanying Selichos,
many congregations still bench BHA”B on
the Shabbos before the fast days begin. And,
while many of us will not fast, it behooves us
to understand the reasons for these fasts so
that we can still pray for the messages that
the fasts represent and give tzedakah towards
their specific significance.
One reason given by the Elya Rabbah [simon
492, seif 3] for these fast days is to atone for the
possible sin of doing work on the just passed
Chol HaMoed of Succos or Pesach. One can
immediately see how pertinent and timely
this reason is for, in our times when many are
forced to work and they first must determine
what halachically constitutes a davar ha’avud,
i.e., a situation where financial loss (and not a

mere avoidance of profit) would occur if work
wasn’t performed. And, the stakes are very
high for the Gemara tells us, “Kol hamvazeh
es hamoados, ein lo cheilek l’Olam Haba – All
who disgrace the moed days have no portion
in the World to Come.” Rashi explains this
refers to Chol HaMoed. We therefore are
quick to beg forgiveness if we miscalculated
during these holy days.
Another reason for this series of fasts can be
found in the Sefer Matamim (page 131), in the
Taamei Minhagim (page 250) and the Mateh
Moshe (page 747). They reason that we fast
because at these two points of the year, after
Succos and Pesach, there is a sudden change
in the weather which tends to cause people
to get sick. Therefore, we anticipate this by
fasting and praying for the welfare of Klal
Yisroel. Here is yet another vivid example
of how contemporary this is for our day and
age. Go into any drugstore and they will tell
you the Otc – over the counter drug trade
increase exponentially with the change of the
seasons. Furthermore seasoned psychiatrists
will inform you that there is a spike in mental
illness as well during the change of the
seasons.
Just to illustrate how this is still true nowadays,
I was once trying to get a hospital room for
someone who was stuck in the emergency
room of a New York hospital. The person had
already been there for over thirty hours but

the nurse explained to me that there were no
ICU or CCU beds available. When asked why
the hospital was so congested, she explained
to me that, at the change of the seasons, the
hospital is always fully booked because many
elderly people just can’t cope with the sudden
change of weather.
During the BHA”B fasts after Succos, it is an
opportune time for Rabbonim to alert their
congregations to the advisability of inquiring
about a flu shot for their elderly parents. The
flu, a mere nuisance for younger people, can
be, chas v’shalom, fatal to elderly people. So
a simple preventive flu shot before the onset
of a winter can be a marvelous opportunity
for kibud av v’eim. (Still, please consult
your physician to know if this is the correct
approach for each specific person.)
It is also around the time of BHA”B that, in
many synagogues, the age-old argument of
whether to open or close the windows rears
its ugly head. One must realize that it is not
coincidental that such a problem occurs in our
shuls. It would seem to be a challenge to us
to see if we have absorbed the divrei mussar
and hanhogas tovos that we see regularly
in shul, and whether we can focus more on
giving and caring for the other person than
for ourselves. And, precisely when we pray
that no one should be caught off-guard by a
sudden change of weather, we should also be
concerned about causing our chaver a sudden
draft. I instituted in my Shull that once coats
are on the coat rack the one who wants the
window closed gets his way.
Yet another reason for these fasts can be
found in The Mordechai on Masechtas
Taanis (number 629) and in the Sefer
Chasidim (227). They explain that at the
onset of Marcheshvan, we begin to expect
the yearly rainfall on which our livelihood
once depended. And, in the month of
Iyar, we are concerned that the fresh crops
should not be ruined by devastating natural
disasters such as wind blast or crop jaundice.
Hence, these fasts are, in essence, prayers
for success in parnossah, which is always a
major source of concern.
Finally, Tosefos in Kiddushin and Bava
Kama explain that we fast because during
Yom Tov both men and women went to hear
the droshah from the great sages and the
men were exposed to many women dressed
in their Yom Tov finery. Therefore, in order
to atone for any sinful thoughts this might
have generated, Chazal enacted a period of
fasting and Selichos.
When we learn these Tosefos, we should
reflect with fright on how far we’ve
deteriorated. In the olden days, men and
women who came in contact with one
another while going to shul for the sole
reason of listening to Torah from the mouths
of the Gedolim, already prompted a severe
reaction of a three-day fast. Imagine how
the Chachmei Chazal would blanch at the
exposure to arayos that some have from
the cinema, television, and internet. It is an
important lesson for us to remember how

high our standards should really be. (As an
aside, we see from the aforementioned Tosefos
that it was definitely the practice for women as
well as the men to go hear Divrei Hisor’rus.)
As to why no fasts were instituted after the
festival of Shavuos according to most of the
above reasons it is self-explanatory for, if the
fast is because of work on Chol HaMoed, there
is obviously no Chol HaMoed of Shavuos. If
the fast is because of the change in seasons,
likewise there is no such change around
Shavuos time. There is also, at that time of
the year, no significant threat to the crops for,
after all, they are already fully completed. As
we know, Shavuos is also known as the Chag
HaKatzir, the festival of harvesting. And, even
according to the reason of Tosefos, although
the people also gathered on Shavuos to hear a
droshah, since the festival is only one day long
there was less of a threat from the exposure to
women. Hence no fast was deemed necessary.
So, in the z’chus of our learning about the
fasts of BHA”B and praying for Klal Yisroel’s
health and wealth, may we merit that these
great blessings permeate our homes until the
coming of Moshiach, speedily and in our days.