Receiving An Aliyah in Mincha When Ta’anis Esther Is Early
In Minhagay HaGrach M’Brisk it’s brought down, that when Purim fell on Sunday and Ta’anis Esther was moved early to Thursday, R’ Chaim Brisker would refrain from receiving an aliyah in Mincha. There is a machlokes as to why the fast of Ta’anis Esther is brought earlier to Thursday and not Friday. The Tur (686) writes, it was customary to recite lots of selichos and tachnunin [pleas and supplications] and it was difficult to prepare for Shabbos, therefore, they made the fast on Thursday. The Beis Yosef, however, cites a different reason from the Maggid Mishnah (Hilchos Ta’anis 5:5). Although, when a fast falls on erev Shabbos we fast on erev Shabbos, that’s only if it’s the correct time for the fast, if, however, we are making a fast on an earlier date, then we avoid making it on erev Shabbos, as we don’t want to go into Shabbos hungry.
