Concerning a קביעות that שבעה עשר בתמוז can fall on שבת, תשעה באב comes out on שבת, we find a מחלוקת in the גמרא. It says in the גמרא מגילה דף ה עמוד ב that רבי ביקש לעקור תשעה באב, that רבי once wanted to nullify the whole תשעה באב, the whole fasting of תשעה באב. And the גמרא explains that לא כך היה מעשה, this was not the מעשה, אלא תשעה באב שחל להיות בשבת הוה, it was תשעה באב that came out on שבת, ודחוהו לאחר השבת, and we pushed it away for after שבת, that they should fast on Sunday, ואמר רבי, so רבי said, הואיל ונדחה ידחה, since it was pushed away already, let it be pushed away completely, which means that רבי held that if תשעה באב comes on a שבת, then you don't have to fast at all. And it's self-understood that the same thing is also concerning שבעה עשר בתמוז, that according to רבי, if שבעה עשר בתמוז comes on a שבת, you don't have to fast. And it's a קל וחומר, because there is more reason to have to fast on תשעה באב if it come on a שבת, you should fast on Sunday, than you should have to fast on Sunday, the day after שבעה עשר בתמוז, because concerning תשעה באב there is a סברא לכתחילה you should have to fast not on the ninth day of אב, but on the 10th day of אב. As the גמרא says in תענית דף כט עמוד א that רבי יוחנן said, אלמלא הייתי באותו הדור, if I would have been in that generation, in the generation of the חורבן בית המקדש, לא קבעתיו אלא בעשירי, I would have established the fast day for the 10th day of אב, מפני שרובו של היכל בו נשרף, because most of the היכל, most of the בית המקדש was burnt on the 10th day of אב. So we see that when it comes to תשעה באב, there is a very strong סברא לכתחילה you should have to fast on the 10th day of אב. לפועל, the establishment of the תענית was on the ninth day of אב, but still the 10th day of אב is very closely connected to the חורבן בית המקדש. And still רבי said that if תשעה באב, the ninth day of אב came out on שבת, he held that you should not fast on Sunday. Since it was pushed off, you can't fast on the day, you don't fast at all, even though it's the 10th day of אב which לכתחילה has a very strong connection to the חורבן. Now certainly the same thing would be concerning שבעה עשר בתמוז, that the 18th day of תמוז has less connection to the חורבן בית המקדש, has less connection to שבעה עשר בתמוז than the 10th day of אב to the ninth day of אב. And if by the 10th day of אב he said that you don't fast at all, so too he held that you don't fast Sunday after שבעה עשר בתמוז. But that was only the opinion of רבי. The חכמים argue with רבי, and they hold that we do fast on the day after שבעה עשר בתמוז, and the day after תשעה באב, if they come on a שבת. And the הלכה is like the רבנן, as we do, that we fast on Sunday, the 18th day of תמוז, and we fast on Sunday, the 10th day of אב.

Now when a תענית comes on a שבת, and we push it off for Sunday, there's a whole discussion in the אחרונים בנוגע להלכה. In the שאלות ותשובות אבני נזר אורח חיים סימן תקו, שאלות ותשובות כתב סופר אורח חיים סימן קא, in the שאלות ותשובות of the מהרש״ם חלק ג סימן שס״ג, and the ראגאטשאווער speaks about it a lot in the צפנת פענח הפלאה and the השמטות in the מהדורא תנינא and in שאלות ותשובות דווינסק, שאלות ותשובות ווארשא, many places he speaks about this ענין. What is the ענין? That when a תענית comes out on שבת, and we push it off for Sunday, the שאלה is, is the פשט that the חיוב of the fast is באמת on שבת, but since we can't fast on שבת, we push it off to Sunday, so Sunday is considered a תשלומין of the שבת? It completes what we were supposed to do on שבת. So really what remains is that the day of the fast still remains שבת, but לפועל we can't fast on שבת, so we're משלים, we complete it on Sunday. Or the פשט is that לכתחילה, when the חכמים established the fast day, לכתחילה they established it that if it comes on a שבת, then the day of the fast day לכתחילה is on Sunday, not on שבת. And they write many differences להלכה, לדינא. For instance, if a child becomes בר מצוה on the 10th day of אב, so if the day of the fast at that year is on the 10th day of אב לכתחילה, then this child, since on the 10th day of אב he is בר מצוה already, he has an obligation to fast. But if we say that the fast day really remains for שבת, Sunday just completes what he missed on שבת, so the חיוב really is on שבת, since on שבת he wasn't בר מצוה yet, so he didn't have the obligation of fasting, so therefore he doesn't have to fast on Sunday, because Sunday is only to be משלים what you missed out on שבת. Since on שבת he didn't miss anything because he wasn't בר מצוה yet, so he doesn't have to fast on Sunday. Another נפקא מינה: there's a special דין in שבוע שחל בו תשעה באב. The week of תשעה באב has a special חומרא, special דינים. Now, if תשעה באב is שבת, then the whole week before that שבת is called the week of תשעה באב. But if לכתחילה the תקנה was that you fast on Sunday, then the week before cannot be considered the week of תשעה באב, because Sunday is a new week already, and לכתחילה the תקנה was for that day. Then there's another נפקא מינה: whether on שבת תשעה באב, the דברים שבצנעא נוהג, things which are private, whether the אבילות of תשעה באב concerning private things apply to that שבת. So if you hold that שבת remains the day of the fast day, it's just that we can't fast, so we're משלים it on Sunday, so then the דברים שבצנעא, the private, hidden things apply for שבת. But if we're going to say לכתחילה the fast day was established in such a קביעות for Sunday, then שבת is not תשעה באב, it doesn't have the דינים of תשעה באב, and and therefore the דינים of דברים שבצנעא, the private things would not apply. It would not it would not be אסור to do the things that you are not allowed to do on שבת of אבילות.

לפועל we do see, as many אחרונים bring out, that we do look at שבת as the day of the fast day, and Sunday as the day of תשלומין. Because we find that if תשעה באב comes out on שבת and we push it off to Sunday, then there are certain קולות. We're more lenient with the fast day than if it would come out on שבת. For instance, there's a דין concerning ברית מילה, that if the fast day is on שבת, then the בעל הברית, the father of the child, the סנדק, etc., have to fast on the day of the ברית. But if it come out on שבת and it's pushed off for Sunday, and Sunday is the ברית, the בעל הברית does not have to finish his תענית, because it's his יום טוב. And the רבי עקיבא איגר in the הגהות in שולחן ערוך brings from the תשובות of שבות יעקב that if a person is sick or a מעוברת, a woman who is pregnant, and have a small מיחוש, they're allowed to eat on תשעה באב that come on שבת, which means to eat on the Sunday. But if it would come out on the day of the fast day לכתחילה, you are not allowed to do. And then we find in the שדי חמד in פאת השדה in אסיפת דינים מערכת בין המצרים, he brings different דינים, different קולות concerning תשעה באב that comes out on שבת and we push it off for Sunday. So from all that it seems that באמת the day of the fast still remains for שבת. But since we can't fast on שבת, we push it off for Sunday. So Sunday is only a תשלומין for the fast day of שבת. In which way does it express itself that שבת still remains the day of the תענית? Because after all, לפועל we don't fast on that day. So what is the פשט that שבת still remains the day of the תענית, it's just that it's pushed off for Sunday?

Is the פשט as follows: it says in אחרונים that on a fast day there are two ענינים. First, the day itself is considered a יום תענית, a day of a fast day. Then there's a second thing, that the person, the איד, has to do certain things on that day, or there are certain restrictions on the person on that day. So when we say that we push away the תענית through שבת to Sunday, we only push it away לגבי the second thing, which means the דינים on the person that he has to do or not do on a fast day, that falls on him only on Sunday. But the fact that the day remains a יום תענית, that's still for שבת. What is the פשט that the שבת is a יום תענית? Now we know that a fast day is a יום רצון להשם. It's a special day of willing, השם's רצון is there, as the פסוק says in ישעיה קאפיטעל נ״ח פסוק ה׳. And even though this is really written concerning a fast day לגבי תשובה, when a person fasts as a form of תשובה and כפרה, but these four fast days, and especially תשעה באב, is not לכאורה because of תשובה, but it's because of אבילות, as it says in זכריה קאפיטעל ז׳ פסוק ג׳. It's because of the צרות that happened in these times. But nevertheless, the רמב״ם writes in הלכות תעניות in the beginning of פרק ה׳ that even these fast days is כדי לעורר הלבבות, in order to awaken the hearts, לפתוח דרכי תשובה, to open the ways of תשובה, ויהיה זה זכרון למעשינו הרעים, this should be a remembrance for our bad actions, ומעשה אבותינו שהיה כמעשינו עתה, and the actions of our parents that were like our actions now, עד שגרם להם ולנו אותן הצרות, and this brought them and us these צרות, שבזכרון דברים אלו נשוב להיטיב, because we'll remember this, we'll return and mend our ways, and he quotes the פסוק והתודו את עונם ואת עון אבותם. So we see that even these fast days also have the ענין of תשובה. וממילא, when it says לגבי a תענית of תשובה that it's a יום רצון להשם, the day of a fast day is a special, is זמן סגולה, עת רצון to השם, refers to these fast days also. And that is actually the reason why we fast on these days, because these days are special ימי סגולה. And as it says in the גמרא in ברכות דף י״ז עמוד א׳: שיהא חלבי ודמי שנתמעט כאילו הקרבתי לפניך על גבי המזבח ותרצני, that when you fast, it's when you it's as if the חלב ודם, the fat and the blood of the person that was minimized through not eating, should be as if he was מקריב it as a קרבן on the מזבח, ותרצני, which means this becomes a עת רצון. So we see that these fast days are עת רצון. And that's what we're saying here: that even though the actual fasting takes place on Sunday, but שבת still remains the עת רצון of the fast day. And אדרבה, on שבת it's a stronger עת רצון, because שבת is a יום, an עת רצון by itself, even without the fast day. It's חמדת ימים אותו קראת, it's a special day of pleasure. So if the fast day comes on שבת, so we're saying that it remains that this is the fast day, even though לפועל לגבי what the person is supposed to do, so we say he's not allowed to fast on שבת. But לגבי the day itself, we say the עת רצון of the fast day is on שבת itself. And the truth is that there's a very strong similarity between what the עת רצון of שבת is לגבי the עת רצון of a תענית. Because it says in many ספרים concerning יום כיפור, the fast day of יום כיפור, and from there we learn out that the same thing applies to all תעניתים, is that that's the day when לחיותם ברעב, as the פסוק says in תהלים, קפיטל לג פסוק יט, which means that on יום כיפור, the חיות that you get, the life that you get, is from the hunger, from not eating. All year round, the way a person lives is from אכילה ושתייה, you have to eat and drink physical food, and that's the way you live. Your גוף lives from גשמיותדיקע food. On יום כיפור, the level a ייד is supposed to reach is that his חיות, his life is supposed to come from not eating, which means that's the day he gets life in a higher level. Just like לעתיד לבוא, אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתייה, there is no eating and no drinking, and then there will be a life in a higher מדרגה, the life will come from רוחניות rather than from גשמיות. On יום כיפור a ייד is supposed to reach that מדרגה, לחיותם ברעב, that his life comes from רוחניות, not from גשמיות. As we see בפועל, on that day a ייד does not eat and drink. A ייד is involved in ענייני קדושה, you stand in שול and you דאווען and you learn all day. So a ייד is involved in רוחניות, and that's how he lives. What לפועל טאקע brings the life to the ייד on that day? From the food that he ate before. The food that he ate before is not food anymore. What he ate the day before became part of him. Who is he? He is a ייד. So the food became part of him as a ייד, and that's the life he gets that day. So the life a ייד gets on יום כיפור is not from physical food, but from food that already turned into קדושה, turned into being part of the person, part of the ייד. So on יום כיפור a ייד reaches the מדרגה that his חיות comes from רוחניות, not from גשמיות.

Now concerning שבת, even though on שבת a ייד does eat and drink, but the eating and drinking of שבת is not the same as eating and drinking of the weekday. Because during the week, normally, when a person eats and drinks, his pleasure comes from the food itself. His pleasure comes from the גשמיותדיקע food and the גשמיותדיקע drink. So his pleasure is a secular pleasure, so to speak. On שבת, when there's a מצוה לענגו, there's a מצוה to have pleasure from the food and from the drink, so the food that he eats and the pleasure he has from the food is really קדושה, is really holiness, really a מצוה. So it comes out that the שלימות, when is the קיום of the מצוה of עונג שבת complete, when his pleasure is from not the food, but from the fact he is מקיים the מצוה of ה׳ through this food that he's eating. So it comes out that the pleasure on שבת is not a pleasure of the גוף, but it's a pleasure of the נשמה. Now the truth is not everybody feels it, but the הלכה, the דין is that that's how it should be. So therefore in essence this is the way it is by everybody, even if a person doesn't feel it, that the pleasure he has on שבת from the food and the drink is not from them as גשמיות, but it is because it's a מצוה to eat and drink on שבת. So it comes out that on שבת a ייד has the כח to reach the מדרגה of לחיותם ברעב, which means to get חיות from רוחניות rather than from גשמיות, חיות of the נשמה rather than חיות of the גוף, through eating and drinking. The same level a ייד reaches on יום כיפור through not eating and drinking, a ייד is able to reach on שבת through yes eating and drinking. Because as we said, the שלימות of the מצוה of עונג שבת is when his pleasure is not from the תענוג, from the pleasure of the food, but it is an עונג רוחני of the נשמה, it's a רוחניותדיקע pleasure of the נשמה, because he is מקיים the מצוה of עונג שבת. So it comes out that this is similar to לחיותם ברעב. Because the אמת is, לגבי the body, if a person doesn't have pleasure from the food itself, it is called hunger. Just like we find concerning the מן, that the פסוק says in עקב, קפיטל ח פסוק ג: ויענך וירעיבך ויאכילך את המן. He made you suffer, He made you hungry, and He gave you the מן. Now לכאורה, if He gave them the מן, He didn't make them hungry. And the answer is, because when they ate the מן, first of all, they didn't see the taste that they had, but there's another reason: since the מן was really a רוחניותדיקע food, so לגבי the גוף גשמי, לגבי the physical גוף, it's called that he was hungry, because when is the physical גוף satisfied and not hungry? When it has pleasure from the גשמיות of it. Since the גוף is a physical thing, so it has to have pleasure from the physical food, and then it's satisfied. But if the food that it eats is רוחניותדיקע food, and the pleasure is from the רוחניות of it, then לגבי the גוף it's called hunger. So when you eat on שבת, לגבי the גוף, it's as if the גוף is fasting, because the גוף doesn't have pleasure from the food, because it's a רוחניותדיקע pleasure, it's pleasure from the מצוה of עונג שבת, so ממילא לגבי the גוף it's called that it's fasting. So it comes out that the eating on שבת is similar to לחיותם ברעב of יום כיפור. And since as we said before, this concept of לחיותם ברעב, even though it's written לגבי יום כיפור, but it applies to every תענית, so every תענית the meaning of the fast day is that that day you have חיות from רוחניות, not from גשמיות. Now since we said that שבת is the same מדרגה that you have חיות from רוחניות, not from גשמיות, from the נשמה, not from the גוף, so ממילא when a fast day comes out on שבת, it still remains that שבת is actually the fast day. Even though בפועל we fast on Sunday, but that's only לגבי the גברא, the person has to do the הלכות of a תענית on Sunday, but the day, the עת רצון of what a fast day is, is still on שבת. And the explanation as we just said, because on שבת you could have the fast day. Which means that just like on a fast day the main thing is that your חיות comes from רוחניות, not from גשמיות, so on שבת that can happen too. And not סתם, but it happens on a higher מדרגה, because on a fast day it only happens through not eating. On שבת it happens that even though you're eating and drinking, nevertheless, to you it is not physical food, but the eating and the drinking is only a fulfillment of the מצוה of השם, and that's where the pleasure is. So really on that day, your חיות comes from רוחניותדיקע pleasure.