One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
תַּעֲנִיּוֹת
Fasts 5
Sefer Zemanim · The four fasts of the destruction and what they are actually for, the Ninth of Av in physical detail, and the small permanent gaps the Sages built into houses, tables and garments long after the fast is over
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Fasts named by the prophet, with the Thirteenth of Adar by custom
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Tragedies counted on the Seventeenth of Tammuz, and five more on the Ninth of Av
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Square cubit of wall left unpainted opposite the doorway
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Days, below which a returning traveler does not rend again
Part 1What the fasts are for, and when they move
- A diagnostic, not a memorial. These days are fasted so that hearts are stirred and the paths of repentance opened, by recalling that our own conduct resembles the conduct of our ancestors which brought these calamities upon them and upon us, as the verse about confessing our sin and the sin of our fathers has it. (5:1)
- Three of Tishrei and Ten of Tevet. Gedaliah ben Achikam was killed on the third of Tishrei and the last ember of Israel was extinguished, completing the exile; on the tenth of Tevet Nebuchadnezzar encamped against Jerusalem and laid the siege. (5:2)
- Five and five. The Seventeenth of Tammuz carries the breaking of the Tablets, the nullifying of the daily offering in the First Temple, the breaching of Jerusalem before the Second Temple fell, the burning of a Torah scroll by Apostmos and the idol set in the Sanctuary; the Ninth of Av carries the decree against the generation in the desert, both destructions, the fall of Betar and the plowing of the Temple site. (5:2, 5:3)
- The prophet's four, matched by month. Zechariah's fast of the fourth month is the Seventeenth of Tammuz, the fifth is the Ninth of Av, the seventh is the Third of Tishrei and the tenth is the Tenth of Tevet. (5:4)
- One fast moves back, the rest move forward. The Thirteenth of Adar, taken on by custom in memory of the fasts in Haman's time, is pulled back to Thursday the eleventh when it falls on Shabbat, while any other of these fasts falling on Shabbat is postponed to after Shabbat and one falling on Friday is kept on Friday; none of them has trumpets or Ne'ilah, all read Vay'chal morning and afternoon, and all but the Ninth of Av permit eating at night. (5:5)
RememberA fast that prepares you must come before its event. A fast that remembers can wait a day, because nothing is coming that it is getting you ready for.
Part 2Av, and the day itself
- Joy is reduced when the month enters. In the week of the Ninth of Av there is no haircutting, no laundry and no pressed garment even of linen until after the fast, it has been accepted as Jewish custom not to eat meat or enter a bathhouse that week, and there are places whose custom is to refrain from slaughtering from Rosh Chodesh Av. (5:6)
- The restrictions belong to the hour, not the food. At the meal before the fast there is no meat, no wine and no two cooked dishes, though grape juice not left three days and salted meat from an animal slaughtered more than three days earlier are permitted; all of this applies only to a meal eaten in the afternoon, and one who eats before noon may eat whatever he wishes. (5:7, 5:8)
- The rite of the pious, and the Rambam in the first person. What the public keeps is what the public can bear, while the earlier pious sat alone between the oven and the cooking range with dry bread and salt dipped in water and a pitcher of water, weeping like a man whose dead lies before him, and the Rambam adds that we never ate cooked food, not even lentils, on the day before the fast except on Shabbat. (5:9)
- Kept like Yom Kippur. Pregnant and nursing women complete the fast; washing in hot or cold water is forbidden down to placing a finger in it, as are anointing for pleasure, wearing shoes and marital relations; work follows local custom, Torah scholars are idle everywhere, and one who works on this day never sees a sign of blessing. (5:10)
- Even the consolation is closed. Scholars do not exchange greetings and answer a common person weakly and in a somber tone; Scripture, Mishnah, halachah, Talmud and Aggadah are all forbidden, and only Job, Eichah and the prophecies of retribution in Jeremiah may be studied, children stay out of school, and some sages do not wear the head tefillin. (5:11)
RememberEverything the chapter demands of the body has a floor under it, and the meal before the fast is governed by the clock rather than by the menu.
Part 3What outlasts the fast
- One cubit of bare wall, and no chisel for the buyer. After the destruction the Sages ordained that no house be finished with ornate palace walls; one covers them with mortar and whitens them and leaves a square cubit opposite the doorway unpainted, and a man who buys an already decorated dwelling leaves it as it is and is not obliged to scrape anything off. (5:12)
- The table short of a dish. A host serves slightly less than usual and leaves one place visibly lacking, a woman having a set of jewelry made omits a piece so that the set is not perfect, and a groom places ashes on his forehead where the tefillin sit, all of it to recall Jerusalem above one's greatest joy. (5:13)
- Instruments silenced, crowns removed. Melodies on any instrument are forbidden, as is celebrating or listening to them, and even unaccompanied songs over wine are forbidden, though the whole people took up the custom of praise and thanksgiving over wine; grooms wear no crowns or diadems and brides no crowns of silver or gold, while a garland of twisted cords is permitted a bride. (5:14, 5:15)
- A tear that may be stitched and never mended. One rends on seeing the cities of Judah in ruins and again on seeing the Temple in ruins, the obligation beginning at Tzofim with a second rending on reaching the Temple, while one coming from the desert who meets the Temple first rends for it and widens the same tear for Jerusalem; the rending is by hand and not with a tool, standing, through every garment until the heart is revealed, and it may be stitched, hemmed, gathered or sewn with a ladder pattern but never mended. (5:16, 5:17)
- Thirty days, and the last word. A traveler who reaches Jerusalem within thirty days of his previous visit does not rend, and only after thirty days must he; and all these fasts will be nullified in the days of Mashiach and turned into happiness, celebration and festivals for the house of Judah, who shall love truth and peace. (5:18, 5:19)
RememberThe garment is made wearable again in every practical sense and is never made whole. That distinction is the whole architecture of this chapter.