Chapter 11.
The Added Fasts
Yom haKippurim is the only fast prescribed by the Torah. In commemoration of national calamities or other tragic occurrences, a great on the day before the beginning of most of the months. The most important fasts are: number of fasts were in the process of time added to the Jewish calendar. The destruction of the Temple alone added one major annual fast, and the custom among the pious of fasting half a day, on Monday and Thursday. As a means of atonement, similar semi-fasts were observed:
The Fast of the Firstborn is the day that ends in the feast of Passover, the 14th of Aviv (the first month). This fast is only observed by firstborn males, to commemorate the fact that they were spared from the final plague in Egypt.
The Day the inner wall of the city of Jerusalem was breached was the 17th of the 4th month (called Tammuz by some) in the year 70 C.E., and extreme hardship, sickness, and hunger ensued.
Tesha' b'Av (the 9th of the 5th month) is the day both the first and second temples were destroyed. Zecharyah 8:23 says this fast will one day be turned into a glad and joyful feast--probably when the third temple is built and there is no reason to continue mourning its absence. So will the fasts of the 4th, 7th, and 10th months.
The Fast of G'dalyah falls on the third day of the seventh month--right during the week between Yom Teruah and Yom haKippurim. It commemorates the assassination of the governor over Judah appointed by Babylon after the first Temple was destroyed in 586 B.C.E. (2 Kings 25:22ff), ruining what could have been an otherwise-orderly situation for those who were blessed to not have been carried into captivity. It resulted in the dispersing of even these who had remained because they were too poor to be considered worth taking captive. This rather than Yom haKippurim is likely to be the "fast of the seventh month" that is pre-empted by a feast, since the latter is an actual commanded fast.
The 10th of Teveth (the 10th month) is the day the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians began. The remembrance of the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust has been added on this date in more recent years.
The Fast of Esther is on the 13th of Adar (the 12th month), the day before Purim, to commemorate the frightful prospect that was before the Israelites on the day the law allowed them to be slaughtered, even though a counter-measure was added to allow them to defend themselves.
Also, as Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, who now heads the Israeli Sanhedrin, writes, "It is accepted practice for Jewish communities, in times of trouble and distress, to declare a public fast on a certain day or days, hoping that the power of prayer and charity, fasting and self-purification, will bring heavenly salvation. The Bible refers to this several times, e.g., ‘Blow, the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast… then will YHWH be jealous for His land and pity His people' (Joel 2:15-18). Among other instances, the people of Israel fasted for salvation from the Philistines (I Samuel 6:6), when their fields were devastated by a plague of locusts during the period of Joel (1:14), and on the three-day fast called in support of Queen Esther's efforts to overturn Haman's decree in the time of King Ahasuerus (see Esther 4:16). The Mishnah declares that this should be done "for any trouble that comes upon the community" (Ta'anit 2:8). Tractate Ta'anit is devoted to the laws and customs for such fast days."
There are other fasts that were instituted only on a local level, usually on occasions of public distress. They may only apply to one community in one city--since sometimes the same event harms one area and benefits another--or they may be extended to a whole city, a whole country, or to Jews everywhere. During the Second Temple period and shortly afterward, if it did not rain when it was expected to, a series of fasts of increasing intensity was declared on Mondays and Thursdays of each week (keeping them as far from the Sabbath as possible).
Brides and grooms often fast on the day leading up to their wedding (which is usually held at evening) for the forgiveness of sins prior to beginning their life together.
One is always free to undertake a personal fast, as long as it is not on a Sabbath, a new moon, during the month of Aviv, or on any of the holy days, even the "minor" festivals. Some people have been known to fast even on account of the dread caused by a bad dream, and are called Ta'anith Halom.
All Jewish fasts begin at sunrise and end with the appearance of the first stars of the evening, except Yom Kippur and Tesha b'Av, which last from sunset to sunset. Some rise before dawn to eat breakfast, and the requirements are less stringent for those who are pregnant or have serious medical conditions. Adolescents are expected to begin participating in the fasts just before the age of Bar or Bat Mitzvah. There is no special ritual for the ordinary fast-days. The Torah is taken out and the passage from Exodus is read which discusses the thirteen qualities of mercy and of YHWH's forgiveness at the supplication of the pious (Ex. 32: 11-14; 34:1-10). The same passages are read both at the morning and afternoon services. Special prayers for forgiveness are provided for the various fasts. The giving of charity on a fast-day, especially the distribution of food necessary for the evening meal (Sanhedrin 35a, was strongly encouraged, in accordance with the rabbinic saying that "the reward of the fast-day is in the amount of charity distributed" This is based directly on the warning in Isaiah 58.
The only fixed fast-day that may be celebrated on a Sabbath is Yom haKippurim; all the others, if they fall on a Sabbath, are postponed until the following day, except the fast of Esther, since the following day is Purim; it is moved instead to the previous day. The Jerusalem Talmud (Ta'anit 3:11) says that on a Sabbath it is forbidden to go without food until midday, except when one is accustomed to eat late in the day and would injure himself by changing his custom!
Except on Yom Kippur and Tesha b'Av, the command to fast applies only to food and drink; washing the body or anointing oneself are permitted. It is forbidden, however, to indulge in any unnecessary pleasures: one is called to meditate on the significance of the fast and examine his own sins. Pregnant or nursing women (and some say those who are ill) are permitted to eat, but should eat only as much as is necessary "so that all may participate in the common sorrow". Some participate in a partial fast--from meat and wine--on the first nine days of Av (when the Temple was besieged) or the whole period from the seventeenth of Tammuz to the tenth of Av--a three-week period of increasing mourning. Jews do not schedule weddings or parties or get their hair cut during this time either. (Jewish Encyclopedia)
Congregation Beth Lechem has no set traditions in this regard, even in regard to these fairly universal fasts, since they are not Scripturally commanded, though we certainly encourage reflection on what the loss of the Temple means to us and prayer that it will be restored "soon and in our day".
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11. The Added Fasts
An Introduction to the Hebrew Calendar
