By Rabbi Lana Zilberman Soloway

 

The Jewish tradition cares deeply about fasting. Fast days are often viewed as an opportunity to reflect, rethink, repent, and repair, while other fast days are dedicated to remembrance and mourning. There are communal fast days that can be appointed by spiritual leaders at times of need, for example: when a Torah scroll is accidentally dropped to the ground, when there is a drought and rain is needed, when something terrible happens to a group of people or when there is a period of deep mourning. In addition, individuals can decide to be fasting as a way of repentance or correction for their deeds. Most fast days last from sunrise to sunset, and they cannot occur during Shabbat or Jewish Holidays since those are days of celebration and joy.

Besides the elective fast days, the Jewish calendar contains six fast days, commemorating different landmark events embodied in our Jewish history:

Fast of Gedaliah –  observed on the 3rd of the month of  Tishrei (right after Rosh Hashanah) – commemorates the assassination of Gedaliah, governor of Judea, who lived in Jerusalem in the 10th century BC.
Yom Kippur – observed on the 10th of  Tishrei – The Day of Atonement.
Asarah B’Tevet – observed on the 10th of the month of Tevet – to remember the time when the Babylonians laid siege on Jerusalem in the 6th century BC.
The Fast of Esther – observed on the 13th of the month of Adar (right before Purim) – commemorating Queen Esther, who had the Jews fast before she approached the king of Persia in the 3rd century BC.
Shivah Asar B’Tammuz – observed on the 17th of the month of Tammuz (Today!) – commemorating the Roman entrance to Jerusalem 2000 years ago (~ first century CE).
Tisha B’Av – observed on the 9th of the month of Av – commemorating the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem (~ first century CE). 

Why are we required to fast during these six days? It’s not our fault that the Temple was destroyed. The Jewish people at that time refused to listen to the prophets who warned them to better their ways, but we are those who are required to pay the price and suffer the consequences.

Our sages teach us that every generation for which the Temple is not rebuilt is as though the Temple was destroyed for that generation. If so, maybe a fast day is not really a sad day, but a day of opportunity, especially for us, the Reform Jews, who do not aspire to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, but rather refer to the Temple as a holy place within our hearts. We look at our history with curiosity, asking questions about lessons learned and seeking opportunities to better our paths nowadays.

Today is the 17th of Tammuz. It’s observed as a minor fast day, and it is said to commemorate not just one event in Jewish history but several tragedies of the Jewish people. 

Our sages in Mishnah Taanit 4:6 list the following events that occurred on this day:

*Moses broke the tablets he had been given on Mount Sinai.

*The priests in the First Temple stopped offering the daily sacrifice because Jerusalem was besieged and they ran out of sheep.

*The walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Romans in the Second Temple Period.

*A Roman general named Apostomos burned a Torah scroll, and a Roman idol was erected in the Temple.

This fast also begins a period of mourning that will last three weeks, until Tisha B’Av, the major fast day that commemorates, among other things, the destruction of both the first and the second Temples. 

During this three-week period, some people abstain from listening to music, eating meat, getting married, and cutting their hair, following the customs of bereavement.

 

How can we relate to the historical events that happened thousands of years ago and make it relevant to our time? By acknowledging the past in order to shape the present and create a better future.

Our world is in a state of turmoil. Too often it feels like we are hanging on the edge of the cliff and waiting for salvation. At times, we lift our eyes and search for guidance and help from above, as it is written in psalm 121: I lift up my eyes to the mountains –  where does my help come from? But at other times, the solution is to be proactive, to take responsibility and to understand that help will come from every single one of us. 

On the 17th of Tammuz the walls of Jerusalem were rebuked. It felt like an abyss, but it wasn’t. Not yet. There is still time to repair and to save the world from destruction. It is in our hands.

Today I will fast. First, I will commemorate the events of the past, and I will mourn the reality of the present. This week, we were notified about the loss of two incredible individuals who were kidnapped from their homes on October 7th. 

For 290 days, we prayed for their return home, and yesterday, unfortunately, they were announced as dead. 

Alexander Danzig, a 76-year-old Polish-Israeli man, teacher, educator, father of four children, and grandfather of twelve grandchildren. A son of two Holocaust survivors, who dedicated his life to educate the young generations about what happened to Jewish people during World War Two. One of my teachers and so many others. 

Yagev Buchshtav, a 35 years old man, husband of Rimon. The two were kidnapped together from their home in Kibbutz Nirim. Rimon was released home in November, leaving Yagev behind, in the underground tunnels of Gaza, hoping to be reunited with her loved one soon. Yagev was a sweet, gentle man, beloved by his family members, friends and the multiple animals he and Rimon cared for.

My heart breaks for their loss. May they rest in peace.

Today I will fast, and use it as an opportunity to reflect, rethink and search for ways to do and be better.

How will you make this day meaningful for you?