QUESTION

A congregant booked tickets for their family (six people) from South Africa to Chicago on Tisha B’Av. Due to the time zones, the travel would result in a 36-hour fast: the fast starts around 5:00 pm South Africa time, the flight leaves at 10:00 pm, they land in Chicago a little after noon, and the fast ends in Chicago at about 9:00 pm. This would make an effective 36-hour fast. The family cannot afford to change the flights due to large change fees. Is there a position to rely on that they could end their fast 25 hours after they started, even if it is still day where they land, or must they wait until nightfall in Chicago?

ANSWER

There is a full range of opinions on this question. The major poskim (halakhic decisors), including Rav Moshe Feinstein and Rav Ovadia Yosef, rule that one follows the local time in the place where one is currently situated. The determining factor is not how many hours one has fasted, but whether it is presently day or night. As a result, travel may either shorten or lengthen the fast: one who travels eastward may reach nightfall sooner, while one who travels westward may have to continue fasting for considerably longer (Igrot Moshe, Orach Chaim 3:96; Chazon Ovadia, Arba Ta’aniyot, “Motza’ei Tisha B’Av,” §1; see also Shevet HaLevi 8:261:2; Betzel HaChochmah 1:31:8).

However, other significant poskim maintain that, as long as the travelers have not yet landed, they remain defined by the location from which they departed. According to this position, they could end the fast while still on the airplane when the fast has ended in South Africa. If their watches remain set to South African time, they would eat when their watches reach the published time for the end of the fast in South Africa (Yaskil Avdi, Orach Chaim 8:38).

I think one may certainly rely on this latter position lekula (leniently) regarding the minor fasts. I would generally be more hesitant to apply it to Tisha B’Av. However, given the extreme number of hours involved here, I think we may be lenient in this case as well.

Rav Wosner also writes that, although a traveller would theoretically be required to continue until nightfall at their present location, one cannot impose so many additional hours of fasting. The resulting weakness places the traveller within the category of those exempt from fasting because of illness. He therefore permits the traveller to eat what is necessary once the fast has ended in the place of departure (Shevet HaLevi 7:76; 8:261). I would prefer not to rely on that approach, however, since it would mean that they are not considered to have completed the fast.

Therefore, they should eat while still on the airplane. Once they land and leave the airport, however, the principle of chumrei hamakom shehalakh lesham (observing the stringencies of the place to which one has travelled) would apply, and they should once again refrain from eating and drinking. If I am calculating correctly, this would give them approximately 2-3 hours in which to eat: 10:00 a.m. in Chicago is 6:00 p.m. in South Africa. If refraining from eating and drinking after leaving the airport would create a genuine hardship, they should be careful to eat and drink only betzina – in private.