There are six fast days in the Jewish calendar year. Two are very serious and are 25-hour fasts, namely Yom Kippur and Tisha B’Av. The other four fasts are morning until evening only.
Many members of the Jewish faith are not even aware, probably, of the four minor fasts, perhaps even of Tisha B’Av. What is interesting is all six fasts are mandated by the Bible itself, not just created by the rabbis.
These fasts are named in the Books of the Prophets by their month’s names; the fast of the fifth month, the fast of the sixth month. The reason for that is many of these fasts did not get an official name until later on in Jewish history.
One such fast is the 17th of Tammuz, which occurs June 27th.
It is a morning-to-evening fast, although that is a very long day this time of the year. The 17th of Tammuz represents a number of calamities that occurred to the Jewish people. The walls of First Temple were breached by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E. Some say the walls of Jerusalem were also breached by the Romans in the year 70 C.E.
According to the rabbis, there were actually five calamities that occurred on the 17th of Tammuz. The first was that Moses broke the first set of Tablets of the Ten Commandments when he came down from Mt. Sinai and saw the people worshipping at the site of the Golden Calf. The second, in the time of the Babylonians, they stopped the sacrifices in the Temple. Third, one of the enemies of the Jewish people, Aposotomus, burned the Torah in the Temple. Fourth, an idol was set up in the Temple, and fifth, as I mentioned above, the walls of Jerusalem were breached.
There was a three-week siege in the attack on the Temple, which culminated with it burning to the ground on the 9th of Av or Tisha B’Av, which is the darkest day in the Jewish calendar.
As a result of this siege, there developed a three-week period of mourning from the 17th of Tammuz until the 9th of Av. This period of mourning exists to this day. During these three weeks, one does not have a wedding, get a haircut or attend live music as a sign of mourning.
Once one enters the month of Av from the first of Av until the 9th of Av, the Fast of Tisha B’Av, the tradition for Ashkenazik Jews is to abstain from eating meat and drinking wine except on Shabbat, not do pleasure bathing such as swimming, etc.
Sephardic Jews tend to only observe the week in which Tisha B’Av falls, which is miniscule this year. The observance is short this year because the prohibition traditionally starts on shabbat and runs until the day of Tisha B’Av, which is Sunday July 18. So this year, the observance will be Saturday night July 17 and all day the following Sunday.
Even though Sephardic Jews tend not to observe the nine days of Av, the tradition is still not to eat meat during that period of time.
One might ask in this day and age, when the State of Israel exists and we have the Old City and the wall of The Temple, why it is necessary to observe these fasts.
There are numerous answers, but among them, one could easily say we do not have our Holy Temple, there is certainly not peace in Israel, certainly not peace in the world. The purpose of most of these fasts is introspection and repentance. Many Jewish people see Redemption in our time and these days as the Talmud predicts will turn from sad days into joyous days in the future.
Rabbi Mandl is rabbi emeritus at Kehilath Israel Synagogue
