Interesting Psak: Getting Married On The 20th of Sivan

Today, the 20th of Sivan, is a day that is prone to very bad things happening. So much so that the date, the 20th of Sivan, has been declared more than once as a fast day.

The first time the 20th of Sivan was declared a fast day, that time by Rabbeinu Tam, was for a blood libel in which 37 men and 17 women were burned at the stake, in Blois, France in 1171.

The 20th of Sivan was again declared a fast day, first by the Shach and later by the Vaad Arba Aratzos, and then was again confirmed by the Shela HaKadosh, Tosafos Yom Tov, Magen Avraham and others, after the Cossaks destroyed the Jewish community of Nemirov on that day, killing about 6000 Jews during the Chelminiski massacres (gzeirot Tach v'Tat).

Some say that an event we read about in this past week's parsha, B'haaloscha, also occurred on the 20th of Sivan - the incident in which a group of Jews complained about wanting meat in the desert and were killed in a plague and buried in Kivros HaTaava.

The Torah Tidbits listed an additional tragedy that happened, in more recent years, on the 20th of Sivan - the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in 1982. The Battle of Sultan Yacoub, of course, is the battle in the Lebanon War in which 3 Israeli soldiers (Zachary Baumel, Yehuda Katz and Zvi Feldman) fell as longtime MIAs, as well as 30 soldiers who died in battle.

While over the years the fast days faded from our observation, it is still a day that is historically marked by tragedy.

Interestingly, someone went to Rav Nissim Karelitz, as he was meant to be marrying off his son today, and asked Rav Karelitz if perhaps today should be observed as a day of mourning and not have the wedding as scheduled?

Rav Nissim Karelitz responded that we no longer observe the fast and commemorate the day. However, because "you already came and asked about it", it would be worthy and appropriate to not have the chuppa on the 20th, but to delay it until after sunset and then have the chuppa on the 21st of Sivan. (source: bechadrei)

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