RMb”M & Tisha B’Av

 

> It is often thought that we cannot eat meat or drink wine on the 8th of Av,
but that is simply NOT RMB"M's take in M"T: You may even eat meat and drink wine
in your last meal, as long as you eat that meal before noon. And moreover, as
worded in Laws of Fasts 5,7-8, there is a limit of one cooked dish with no meat
and no wine in the last MEAL (s:`odah in Hebrew, that is, an eating that
includes bread and its accompaniments) eaten in the afternoon of 8th of Av.
>
> I take that to mean that if one does not eat bread, even in the hour before
9th of Av there is simply no limit to what one may eat and drink.
>
> So should one gorge "kis:`odath sh:lomo" just skipping bread? Not really, as
that just makes the fast more difficult. My point here is simply to see what the
text says, no more and no less. Before a fast we should eat food that has lots
of fiber and lots of liquids (for example, lots of fresh fruit and veggies) and
avoid what will spike our blood sugar and then leave us hungry again far far too
soon.
>
> If anybody wants to object, but THE CUSTOM is not to eat meat or drink wine in
the week of 9th of Av, he should note that that custom is not a custom that was
enacted into law as binding by a Sanhedrin, so it is not binding on anybody.
(Reread Laws of Rebels again, if you did not get that key point about binding
customs yet!)

 

> Haircuts and trimming beard and mustache are forbidden by Law, not custom.

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When the month of Av enters, we reduce our joy. During the week of Tisha b’Av, there are LAWS (not customs) that forbid cutting one’s hair, laundering, or wearing pressed garments – even one of linen – until after the fast. It has already been accepted as a Jewish (non-binding) custom not to eat meat or enter a bathhouse during this week until after the fast. There are places that follow the "custom" of refraining from slaughtering from Rosh Hodash Av until after the fast.

 

All of Tisha b’Av applies at night as well as during the day. One may not eat after sunset (on the prior day); [it is forbidden to eat] between sunset and the appearance of the stars as on Yom Kippur

 

According to non-binding custom, one should not east meat or drink wine at the meal before the fast. One may however drink grape juice that has not been left for three days. One may eat salted meat that was slaughtered more than three days previously. One should not eat two cooked dishes...

 

More can be found here (in Hebrew):

 

http://www.mechon-mamre.org/i/3905.htm

 

The issues related to Shabboth, exemptions from fasting, clothing greetings, washing and more are discussed there.