Tisha B'Av - Pregnancy with Hematoma
Question
I am 16 weeks pregnant and have a hematoma. I wanted to know if I am obligated to fast.
Answer
Shalom UvRacha,
You may eat and drink as usual.
We’ll quote here the laws of Havdalah for someone eating on a fast day, as recorded in the recorded menu of the Beis Hora'ah hotline (option 500):
This year, since the fast begins on Motzaei Shabbos, anyone who is sick and needs to eat during the fast must first recite Havdalah over a cup before eating. [Even someone who becomes sick on Tisha B’Av itself and needs to eat must make Havdalah over a cup.] If others who are healthy and fasting hear Havdalah from this person, they fulfill their obligation by hearing it from him.
A woman who is permitted to eat on Tisha B’Av should make Havdalah and drink the cup herself [and there is no issue with this]. Some say her husband or someone else may make Havdalah for her, and she will drink the cup; and the one reciting the Havdalah fulfills his own obligation in this way.
If she cannot drink the Havdalah cup, she should make Havdalah and give it to a child who has reached the age of chinuch (around age 5–6) to drink. If no such child is available, she may eat before hearing Havdalah and hear it later after the fast ends.
Text of Havdalah on the fast day: Do not say the introductory verses before the blessing (such as “Hinei Kel yeshuasi...”). Start directly with the blessing “Borei pri hagafen”, followed by “Hamavdil bein kodesh lechol.” Do not make a blessing over the spices.
[If one has not yet said Borei Me’orei Ha’esh, it may be said during Havdalah. If one already said it earlier, it should not be repeated during Havdalah.]
It is preferable to use grape juice for Havdalah on a fast day [and this applies also to a woman making Havdalah].
The one making Havdalah should drink a reviyis from the cup. [Even though technically a cheekful would suffice, since ideally one should drink a reviyis to allow for the Bracha Achronah (after-blessing), a sick person may drink as much as is necessary to reach that amount.]
Someone who is only drinking water (with halachic permission) on Tisha B’Av and is not eating, does not need to make Havdalah beforehand.