“Those men said to him, ‘We are ritually unclean [because of contact] with a dead person; [but] why should we be excluded so as not to bring the offering of the L-rd in its appointed time, with all the children of Israel?’ ” (Bamidbar 9:7)
Take a look how important mitzvos were to these people who came to Moshe. They were exempt from Korban Pesach, but they wanted so badly to be keep the mitzvah. This shows their tremendous love of mitzvos. (Rav Meir Rubman, Zichron Meir)
Icouldn’t help the sigh of relief as I put down the phone. I’d been granted a reprieve; the rav said no, I didn’t need to fast this coming taanis.
For years, my fasting on the “smaller” fasts had been sporadic due to the fact I was usually at some stage of child-bearing. But now that my youngest was no longer a baby (although I still call him that!), I knew I needed to ask the rav about the upcoming fast.
