Tisha B’Av in the Time of Cholera

Rabbi Moshe Schick (1807-1879) was a major Hungarian halakhic authority during the second half of the 19th century. He was also a close pupil of the Chatam Sofer (Rav Moshe Sofer, Hungary, 1762-1839), with whom he studied in the Pressburg Yeshiva. In 1838, on his teacher’s recommendation, Rabbi Schick was appointed Rabbi of Yeregin (Northeast of Bratislava), where he opened his own yeshiva and remained for 23 years. In 1861, together with 800 of his students, he moved to the town of Huszt in western Ukraine, where he served until the end of his life. Commonly known as “Mahara”m” Schick, he published commentaries on the Talmud  and the Torah. He is best known, however, for his responsa, which include more than a thousand teshuvot on all four volumes of the Shulchan Arukh. 

The following teshuvah was written towards the end of the great cholera pandemic of 1863-1875. Mahara”m Schick was asked whether the Jewish community must fast and maintain mourning customs during Tisha B’Av even though they were still in the throes of the pandemic.

Mahara”m Schick first addresses fasting by noting that even a sick person who is not dangerously ill is not required to refrain from eating on Tisha B’Av. Furthermore, Magen Avraham (Rabbi Avraham Gombiner, Poland, 1635-1682) established that fasting weakens a person’s resistance to illness, and therefore one must be particularly careful at a time when illness is rampant. Because of this, Mahara”m Schick argues that even healthy people should be excused from fasting as long as the risk of cholera persists. He likens the air which (he thought) carries the illness to a scorpion’s sting and argues that, if fasting would make people more vulnerable to the “sting” of the air, they should make sure to eat even if they are not presently endangered by the disease. The potential danger is to be treated as actual danger, thereby allowing them to forgo halakhic obligations (at least those of rabbinic origin) that would make them more vulnerable to the disease. This, however, does not mean that one should eat indiscriminately on Tisha B’Av. One should only eat what one must to prevent herself or himself from becoming weak. What was true in the time of Mahara”m Schick remains true today. His halakhic reasoning remains relevant and should be given serious consideration given the current reality. 

With regards to the mourning practices of Tisha B’Av, Mahara”m Schick asserts that these practices should be observed. He raises the possibility that one’s mood can impact one’s vulnerability to illness but ultimately concludes that the mourning of Tisha B’Av will not negatively affect one’s health in a significant way. The reason for this is that Tisha B’Av is not just about sadness and mourning, but it is also about hope. When a person whom we love dies, we cannot mourn forever. Halakha prescribes that the mourning must eventually come to an end. We find ourselves comforted and move on. Yet, the very fact that we continue to mourn the loss of the Temple so many years after its destruction indicates that we still have hope that God will rebuild the Temple and return our exiles. This is an important insight to remember this year on Tisha B’Av. As difficult as the COVID-19 pandemic has been, we have finally begun to see its end. So too we must remember the same applies to TIsha B’Av. Though the years of exile have been long and dark, hope still remains. In mourning we hold fast to God’s promise of redemption.

שו”ת