I had heard that one should not go on a boat during the 9 Days because going on the water is dangerous and one should not go on a dangerous trip during the 9 Days. Is there any truth to any prohibition of riding on a boat during the 9 Days? If so, is there a difference in the prohibition if one goes on a cruise, a fishing trip, or a local ferry?
Answer
This is not explicit, but I think it is a logical extrapolation. R' Shternbach writes in Teshuvos V'Hanhagos 2:263
ולדעתי מותר להתרחץ בים, אבל לא לשוט עמוק ער קרוב לקומת איש שהימים האלו ר"ל הם מסוגלים לסכנה ח"ו... ובכל השנה לא חיישינן לסכנה רחוקה , אבל בימים אלו ראוי למנוע וכמבואר בש"ע
In my opinion, it is permitted to wash off in the sea, but not to wade deeper than the height of a person, because these days are days of danger. The entire year we are not concerned with far-off dangers, but in these days it is fit to refrain.
R' Shternbach prohibits wading into the water deeper than one can stand, because of the potential danger. Going on a small boat would, in my mind, be no less dangerous than going into water deeper than one could stand.
Shalmei Mo'ed quoting R' Shlomo Zalman Aurbach:
ומהאי טעמא לא היה ניחא לרבינו כלל הנסיעה במטוס בט׳ הימים שמר״ח אב עד תשעה באב, ואע״פ שבזמנינו נסיעות אלו מעשים הם בכל יום, מ״מ הואיל ומברכין על כך ברכת הגומל, אין לאדם להכניס את עצמו לספק סכנה בימים אלו
R' Shlomo Zalman extends the prohibition of danger to air travel. Even though his specific reasoning is because we say "hagomel" for air travel, he is comfortable extending the prohibition of dangerous activity to things which he acknowledges are normal, daily occurrences. In Halichos Shlomo (2:14), R' Shlomo Zalman also prohibited swimming, so it is clear that his threshold was not those things on which we say "hagomel."
No comments:
Post a Comment