Nechomah: That’s just not true. In fact, I think it’s against a B’feirush Mechaber. It’s somewhere in one of the Simanim on fasting that you don’t have to be Mashlim a Ta’anis Tzibbur if you have to eat for whatever reason but you do have to be Mashlim a Ta’anis Yachid that you accepted upon yourself.
42: What’s that from? It’s a good Sikkum but I don’t like the part in there about women not fasting not being done without direction of a Rav. It ignores the fact that there is a very strong Minhag that is still prevalent in many places for women not to fast the minor fasts. It might be against the Shulchan Aruch, but this Minhag is older than that and therefore isn’t overriden by the SH”A.