QUOTE (Kalashnikover_Rebbe @ Feb 21 2008, 06:52 AM) *
Isn't a lunar eclipse considered a bad omen for Jews???


Yes, and hence the Mishnah Berurah in this siman cites the Magen Avraham that it's appropriate to fast when there's a lunar eclipse
[although depending whom one asks, some exclude an eclipse that is only partial, or that occurs on a holiday like shabbat or even all of chodshei Nissan or Tishrei..., or that occurs when the moon is waning* which is a siman ra for the yishmaeilim].


*Mind you, I'm not entirely sure how a lunar eclipse can occur when the moon is waning. Maybe they mean after the midpoint between our calculated moladot.


Iyh tomorrow we go back to siman 1 of orach chaim since we never did the first simanim 1-25 (we started at siman 26). As far as I know, we've now done everything except hilchot eiruvin which I do not intend to do, so we should be able to wrap this project up around Rosh Chodesh Nissan.