Aside from on Thanksgivukah, by the time most people usually get home
from work, the time to kindle the Chanukah lights has already arrived.
And by the time the whole family gets together to actually light,
another ten to fifteen minutes may have elapsed. What’s the story with
sneaking in a quick taste of those latkes before dinner?
The source of the prohibition of eating before the performance of
certain Mitzvos is a Gemorah in Sukkah (38a). From there we derive that
the prohibition exists not only for Biblical Mitzvos but also for
Rabbinic Mitzvos. The Poskim extend the various prohibitions from the
discussion found there. Our interest now, of course, is Chanukah.
THE THREE CATEGORIES
Before we get to Chanukah lights, let’s create some categories.
There are some Mitzvos where it is both forbidden to eat and even to
taste before we perform them. We will call these Category One No
Pre-Food – Mitzvos. (We don’t want to call them Category One Mitzvos
because the issue of eating before them is not synonymous with the type
or level of the Mitzvah per se).
There are also Mitzvos where, it is forbidden to sit down to a meal
before you do them, and ideally, one shouldn’t taste anything, but there
is room to be lenient if one is feeling weak or one is sick. We will
call these Mitzvos Category Two No Pre-Food – Mitzvos.
Finally, there are some Mitzvos where the halacha is not to sit down
and eat before we perform them, but we are allowed to taste something
before we perform them, and there is, in fact, no problem in tasting. We
will call these Category Three No Pre-Food Mitzvos. [...]
ReplyDeleteSomeone once asked a wise man why we no longer fulfill the Rambam's ruling to flee from evil places into the desert. He answered that in our day and age, if people flee to desert they'll degenerate to a lower level than the society they left.
ReplyDeleteSomeone once asked a wise man why we no longer fulfill the Rambam's ruling to flee from evil places into the desert. He answered that in our day and age, if people flee to desert they'll degenerate to a lower level than the society they left.