Question:
Do you have to daven Maariv before you eat on a minor fast day?
Answer:
You do not have to daven maariv before breaking the fast. Even on Yom Kippur it is technically permitted except for the fact that we have to hear havdalah. As a side point, I once heard that the reason the most people daven before eating after a fast is because there is a certain preference to a person’s teffilah when it is said while the person is fasting, however this is only a “ma’alah” and certainly not a requirement
Sources:
M:B 624-3, R’ Y. Cahen shlit”a
To sit down to a seuda before davening Maariv and fulfilling the mitzvah d’oraysa of Shema – that would be problematic, as one is not allowed to eat a meal prior to fulfilling a mitzvah that is already incumbent (or about to become incumbent) on him. So probably the rav’s answer is only referring to a snack.
there is a certain preference to a person’s teffilah when it is said while the person is fasting – is there a source for this?
1. it is no differant than any other night if one eats before davening maariv.
2. Mabit in Bais Elokim, and Tosefos at the end of Yuma. I don’t know exactly where.
Can one drink water on motzei yom kippur before havdalah?
If one needs it, it is permitted to drink water, but the person should say Boruch Hamavdil beforehand. See Shmiras Shabbos K’hilchoso 62-25 in the name of R’ S. Z. Auerbach zt”l
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