Fasting on a Plane, Advice for America, and Kugel on Shabbos

Extending and Shortening a Fast on a Plane Trip

Question

Ever year I travel from Israel to the USA to give chizuk to Yidden in America during the Eseres Yemei Teshuva. I usually fly right after Rosh Hashanah and land in the USA right before Tzom Gedalia starts. This year it was very hard for me to get a ticket and the only booking I could get was to travel from Israel to the USA before Yom Kippur on Tzom Gedalia in the morning. This means I will arrive in the USA in the afternoon of Tzom Gedalia after a twelve-hour flight. Is there any any heter for me to break my fast early?

Thank you,

YK

Rav Sternbuch 

I rule that there is a difference between Tisha B’Av and other fasts. Fasting on Tzom Gedalia is only a minhag, and therefore one can be lenient. If he is flying from Israel to the USA then one can break the fast at the time it is tzatz hacochavim in Israel, even though it is still daytime in the USA. Someone in the USA and flying back to Israel could finish his fast when it is tzatz hacochavim in Israel. In regards to Tisha B’Av one should be macmhir, and if he is flying to Israel should continue his fast until twenty-four hours had elapsed.

Rav Auerbach 

Rav Moshe Feinstein (Igros Moshe 3,96) writes that there is no explicit source regarding this question, therefore we must rule according to sevara. Rav Moshe Feinstein writes that the straightforward sevara is that one follows the day and the night where he is currently located and not from the place that he left from. Therefore in regards to your question, unless there is an extenuating medical condition which categorizes you as a choleh, or your doctor says that it is dangerous for you to fast, you would have to wait to break your fast until it is tzatz hacohavim in the USA. 

Advice to Americans before Rosh Hashanah

Question

The rav was in the USA recently and saw the Olam HaTorah there. What advice would the rav give to Jews living in America. 

Rav Auerbach 

In general I am impressed with the Olam HaTorah in America, but if there is one thing I would say really needs chizuk it is hasmada. There are many distractions in America and to sit in front of a sefer for many hours at a time without any distractions at all is not an easy feat. However, to really shteig in Torah this is a prerequisite, and therefore it is worthwhile to work very hard at this goal of learning Torah with great hasmada.

Meleches Borer For Children on Slightly Burnt Kugel

Question

My son does not like the slightly burnt part at the top of the kugel and will not touch kugel unless it is removed. If I give him kugel on Shabbos is it permitted for me to remove that part, since all adults eat this, or must I consider it pesoles and a question of meleches borer, since children do not like this. 

Rav Auerbach 

 In regards to hilchos borer the daas of children is definitely considered an opinion, and if your son does not like this part of the kugel the it would be pesoles. Even if your son was the only one makpid on this, since he considers this to be pesoles it would be forbidden for you to remove the burnt part, unless you take some of the non-burnt part with it.