Study Sheet – Public Fasts

1. The Six Public Fasts

Classification:

• Torah origin: Yom Kippur
• Related to the Temple's destruction: Gedaliah, 10 Tevet, 17 Tammuz, Tisha B'Av
• Historical events: Fast of Esther
• Specific group: firstborns

2. The Three Weeks (Bein HaMetzarim)

Period from 17 Tammuz to 9 Av: national mourning for the Temple's destruction.

Progressive restrictions:

• Three Weeks: no weddings, reduced music
• The Nine Days (from 1 Av, Ashkenazim): no meat or wine (except Shabbat), no bathing for pleasure, no laundry
• 9 Av: the culmination of mourning

The 17th of Tammuz commemorates: Moses' shattering of the Tablets and the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem.

Shabbat Chazon ("Vision"): the Shabbat before 9 Av, haftarah from Isaiah.

Shabbat Nachamu ("Consolation"): the Shabbat after 9 Av, haftarah "Nachamu nachamu ami."

3. Tisha B'Av – The 9th of Av

The saddest day of the Jewish calendar. Commemorates multiple catastrophes:

• Destruction of the First Temple (586 BCE) and the Second Temple (70 CE)
• Fall of Betar (135 CE)
• Plowing of Jerusalem
• Decree against the desert generation (the spies)
• Expulsion of Jews from Spain (1492)
• Liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto

Restrictions (same as Yom Kippur): 25-hour fast, no washing, no perfume, no leather shoes, no conjugal relations. Torah study is also restricted (only texts related to mourning).

Eikhah (Lamentations) is read. One sits on the floor or on low stools. No Tachanun (as 9 Av is called a "mo'ed" — appointed time).

4. Rules Common to Minor Fasts

Duration: from dawn (amud hashachar) to sunset.

Only the prohibition on eating and drinking applies (not the other restrictions of Yom Kippur/Tisha B'Av).

Anenu is added to the Amidah.

Exempt: children, pregnant and nursing women, the ill.

Se'udah HaMafseket: the last meal before a fast begins. For Tisha B'Av: no meat or wine. For Yom Kippur: it is a mitzvah to eat well.

5. Fasts and Shabbat

No fast (except Yom Kippur) may take place on Shabbat:

• Tisha B'Av and 17 Tammuz → postponed to Sunday
• Fast of Gedaliah → postponed to 4 Tishrei if the 3rd is Shabbat
• Fast of Esther → moved to Thursday if 13 Adar is Shabbat

6. Spiritual Meaning of Fasts

Fasts are not punishment but an opportunity for teshuvah and introspection. Maimonides (Hilkhot Ta'aniyot 5:1): fasts aim to "awaken hearts and open the paths of repentance." Fasting without doing teshuvah is like "a body without a soul."

The Prophets (Isaiah 58) insist: fasting must be accompanied by social justice. True fasting is that which frees the oppressed and feeds the hungry.

7. Individual Fasts (Ta'anit Yachid)

Examples: fasting on the anniversary of a parent's death (yahrzeit), fasting on one's wedding day, fasting on the eve of Rosh Chodesh (Yom Kippur Katan — little Yom Kippur).

Key Takeaways – Summary