Fasting on the 9th of Av: "As a general rule, on days as fixed, soldiers, men and women of the security forces, must fast," says Rabbi Baruch Efrati, referring to today's fast.
"A mitzvah from the words of the prophets to fast on Tisha B'Av. When they instituted this fast, they did not include sick people in it. This year the fast is postponed from Shabbat, so its punishment is lighter from a halachic point of view, and anyone who is even slightly sick is exempt.
Combat military service has a mitzvah to do twice as much as the Torah, and when There is a choice between the success of the war and the continuation of the fast, the success of the battle is decisive."
"Now there is a war, and therefore anyone who is engaged in operational activity, or is on combat alert at the Gaza border before entering, will not fast. During activity, he will walk with his military shoes, even though they are leather. A soldier who has finished his duty in an operational activity, after being jumped on Shabbat, and needs to wash off the dirt In order for the rabbi to be able to sleep and prepare for the next shift, he is allowed to bathe his whole body in lukewarm water. If that is not enough and he needs broth to remove the tank grease from his hands, etc., so that he can function, he is allowed in broth.
"He who is engaged in an operational activity, and needs to concentrate on it, is exempt from prayer and lamentation, and will say, if he can, only the dawn blessings and the Shema reading, which are short and can be said orally or from an app on any device. When he can, he will pray and complete whatever is sufficient. Reciting a lamentation is more important than saying a lamentation.
"If he was given the option of free time in the morning, he should put on a tefillin at dawn, lest the offering be skipped. He could not do it at dawn, and he got time off in the offering, he would put it in the offering and pray. He was engaged in activity all day and only towards evening did he rest, he would put on a tefillin until the stars came out. An Ashkenazi will not bless after sunset, A
Sephardi will bless.
He will not pray after the stars have risen, unless he is certain that he will not be able to pray from dawn until the stars rise the next day either, in which case, he will now pray at night without a blessing.
Havdalah
"He who breaks the fast must make a distinction first. It is better for an Ashkenazi to make a distinction over grape juice, or beer (the blessing of everything) than wine. A Sephardi will make a distinction over wine. Now he will bless the vine, and a Havdalah blessing, he will drink a fourth and make a final blessing over the vine. He will say the Hafdalah without verses Forerunners (Behold the God of my salvation, Rishon LeZion, behold them).
"Those who go undercover are allowed to cut their hair and shave and put on make-up with various creams and costumes, so that they look like Arabs, before they leave for the operational activity. Although there is a dispute about saying the Psalms on Tisha B'av, the year there is a war, all of Israel can say the Psalms as a supplication to God, for the success of the soldiers, and they will choose chapters of requests and not chapters of thanksgiving.
"The breaking time of the fast for those who fly (and fast) in intelligence planes and the like, is determined by the time at the place they took off from, and after they land by the place they landed. Not by the sunset horizon from the plane itself."
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