Fast of the Firstborn on Erev Pesach: Who Fasts, Who's Exempt, and How a Siyum Can Help

- It is customary for male firstborns to fast on Erev Pesach, in remembrance of the miracle performed for Israel's firstborns during the Plague of the Firstborn in Egypt.

Who Is Required to Fast

- Firstborn sons, whether firstborn to their father or to their mother.

- Some have the custom that even if a man is not a firstborn, but a firstborn son was born to him who has not yet reached bar mitzvah, the father fasts in place of his son until the child grows up. And if the father himself is a firstborn and a firstborn son is born to him, the practice is that the father fasts for himself, and the child's mother fasts for the child. Others hold that today we do not take on this stringency, especially given the general weakness in our times. Therefore, the father should try to attend a seudat mitzvah in order to be exempt from this fast. (The rules of participating in a seudat mitzvah are explained below.)

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Who Is Exempt from the Fast

- Anyone with an illness, such as eye pain, someone who is bedridden, and the like.

- A groom during the \"Sheva Berachot\" week may not fast (and if he can easily attend a siyum masechet, he should).

- The mohel, the baby's father, and the sandak.

- Some say that a firstborn woman should also fast; our custom is not so—she is exempt from this fast. If she can and it's feasible, it is good for the firstborn woman to go to the synagogue and participate in a seudat mitzvah, or for them to bring her cake from a siyum masechet held at the synagogue.

- In places where firstborn women do fast: if she is pregnant or nursing, she is exempt from the fast; she is also exempt for two years after giving birth, even if she stopped nursing.

- If a firstborn son was born and the baby is still under 30 days old, the father should not be stringent and fast on behalf of his firstborn.

Using a Seudat Mitzvah to Avoid the Fast

- In our times, when people are weaker and fasting disrupts running the Seder, firstborns customarily end the fast by participating in a seudat mitzvah, and there is solid basis for this practice.

- Meals that count as a seudat mitzvah: a meal for a siyum masechet; a groom-and-bride meal during the seven days of celebration; a brit milah meal; a pidyon haben; a bar mitzvah meal whose date actually falls on Erev Pesach.

- Those who attend a siyum masechet and wish to exempt themselves from the fast must:

1. Hear the siyum.

2. Eat a kezayit of food—that is, 27 grams of mezonot or fruit—at the siyum meal.

- Someone who merely tasted a kezayit of food from the meal but did not attend the siyum masechet is not exempt from the fast.

- Likewise, someone who heard the siyum but did not eat a kezayit of food is not exempt from the fast.

- In pressing circumstances, an individual can exempt himself alone from this fast by making a siyum on a tractate of Mishnah, with commentary and understanding; studying without understanding does not exempt him from the fast.

- One who studied from one of the books of the Zohar, even without understanding—just reading the text—may use that siyum to exempt himself and even other people, who participate in the seudat mitzvah for that completion.

- A firstborn who sought a seudat mitzvah and did not find one, began fasting, and later found a seudat mitzvah should participate in that meal and exempt himself from continuing the fast.

- Participation in a bar mitzvah seudah counts only if the meal is held on the boy's actual 13th birthday (not just any celebration when the child is already 13+ or has not yet turned 13).

- A mourner for his father or mother within twelve months, if he is a firstborn, may go to a siyum masechet on Erev Pesach to exempt himself from the fast.

- Likewise, a mourner within 30 days for other relatives, if he is a firstborn, may go to a siyum masechet on Erev Pesach to exempt himself from the fast.

- However, a mourner within the first seven days who is a firstborn should not be lenient and go to participate in a siyum masechet to exempt himself from the fast. But if he is weak and the fast will be difficult for him, and there is concern that fasting will disrupt his Leil HaSeder, he should redeem the fast with charity.

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