QUESTION: When do we begin sitting on the floor Tisha B’Av evening, and when do we get up?

ANSWER: Shulchan Aruch (559:3) writes that on Tisha B’Av one sits on the floor from the night until mincha. Igros Moshe (OC 5:9) explains that sitting on the floor on Tisha B’Av is a custom, not a formal obligation, and this is why we do not sit on the floor the entire day. In the afternoon, our mourning lessens, and we may again sit on a chair at that point. He writes that one must begin fasting and remove their shoes at sunset, but regarding when to sit on the floor, this depends on the custom. He adds that it would seem to him that the common custom is to refrain from sitting on chairs beginning at sunset. The Shevet Halevi (10:83) writes similarly and concludes that in a place where the custom is to begin sitting on the floor only from tzeis hakochavim (nightfall), one may sit on a chair until then.

Regarding getting up from the floor in the afternoon, Shulchan Aruch writes that one should wait until mincha, however the Taz (559:4) writes that the custom is to get up already at chatzos (midday – a half hour before mincha gedola).

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.