«Блокада» Вайехи - 10 Тевет 5785

(1) There are days when the entire Jewish people1All healthy adult men and women fast2It appears that the Rambam considers these fasts to be obligatory in the present era. Based on his interpretation of Rosh HaShanah 18b in his Commentary on the Mishnah, Rosh HaShanah 1:3, the Rambam explains that in the era of the Second Temple, these fasts were of an optional nature. After the destruction of the Temple, however, every Jew is required to observe them. This obligation is also explicitly stated by the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 549:1, 550:1). because of the calamities that occurred to them then,3Here, the Rambam employs the same principle he developed at the beginning of this text regarding fasts instituted because of difficulties of an immediate nature, with regard to these fasts which were instituted for these national calamities.
Fasting in and of itself is not a purpose. Fasting can, however, serve to arouse [their] hearts and initiate [them in] the paths of repentance.4This is the intent of the fasts, and not merely refraining from eating. For this reason, the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 121:1 harshly reproves those who fast, but spend their days taking pleasure strolls and being involved in other forms of leisure activity. This will serve as a reminder of our wicked conduct and that of our ancestors, which resembles our present conduct and therefore brought these calamities upon them and upon us.5Although these tragedies took place in previous generations, we share the responsibility for them. The Jerusalem Talmud (Yoma 1:1) states, "Every generation in which the Temple is not rebuilt should consider it as if it was destroyed in its days." By reminding ourselves of these matters, we will repent6The word נשוב, translated as "we will repent," literally means, "We will return." Teshuvah involves a return to one's fundamental self, becoming aware of the fundamental Divine nature one possesses.
Such a process relates to these commemorative fasts, which on the surface are associated with undesirable elements, but possess a positive core, as reflected in the Rambam's statements at the conclusion of this chapter that in the era of the Redemption, all these fast days will be transformed into days of rejoicing and celebration. and improve [our conduct], as [Leviticus 26:40] states: "And they will confess their sin and the sin of their ancestors."7See Hilchot Teshuvah 1:1-2, 2:2, where the Rambam associates the mitzvah of teshuvah with confession.

(2) These days are the following:
The1The Rambam lists these fasts, not in the order in which the events which they commemorate transpired, nor according to the order in which they are mentioned in Zechariah 8:19 (see Halachah 4), but rather in the order of the year, beginning from the month of Tishrei. Third of Tishrei. This is the day on which Gedaliah ben Achikam2The governor appointed by Nebuchadnezzar to supervise the land of Judah. The Jews who were not exiled rallied around him, and it appeared that there would be hope of maintaining a Jewish settlement in the land (Jeremiah, Chapters 40-41). was slain3According to the Radak (Jeremiah 41:1 , Gedaliah was slain on Rosh HaShanah. Because a fast could not be held on that sacred day, the commemoration of his murder was postponed until the first available weekday. and the ember of Israel that remained was extinguished, causing their exile to become complete.4After Gedaliah's murder, the Jews remaining in Eretz Yisrael feared the wrath of the Babylonians and fled to Egypt, leaving Eretz Yisrael devoid of Jewish leadership and possessing very few Jewish inhabitants. (See Jeremiah, Chapters 41-43.)
The Tenth of Tevet. This is the day Nebuchadnezzar, the wicked, the King of Babylon, camped5The Hebrew term סמך, which the Rambam [and the prophet Ezekiel 24:2 ] employ, usually has a positive connotation, meaning "support." Perhaps this is also an allusion to the concept that ultimately these commemorative fasts have a positive intent, as mentioned at the conclusion of the chapter. against Jerusalem and placed the city under siege.6Our commemoration of this fast also marks two other undesirable events which occurred in the preceding days: the death of Ezra, the scribe, and the translation of the Torah into Greek at the demand of King Ptolemy (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 580).
The Seventeenth of Tammuz. Five tragedies took place on this day:7Ta'anit 29a states: Undesirable events are gathered together on a day appropriate for them. The spiritual nature of the day is such, that the potential for such tragedies to occur is greater.
a) The Tablets were broken;8When Moses descended with the Tablets of the Ten Commandments after being on Mount Sinai for forty days, he beheld the Golden Calf that the Jews had made. In wrath, or out of his concern for the Jewish people (see Rashi, Exodus 32:19 , Moses broke the Tablets.
b) In the First Temple, the offering of the daily sacrifices9The korban tamid (Numbers 28:1-8) was nullified;10Even during the siege of Jerusalem, the Jews would offer the daily sacrifices. Despite the famine in the city, they would offer two lambs each day as sacrifices. As the siege persisted, their supply of lambs dwindled, and on the Seventeenth of Tammuz, there no longer were any lambs to sacrifice (Rav Ovadiah of Bertinoro, Ta'anit 4:6).
Significantly, other commentaries (Rashi, Tiferet Yisrael) on the Mishnah identify the nullification of the sacrifices on the Seventeenth of Tammuz with different events in our history.
c) [The walls of] Jerusalem were breached in [the war leading to] the destruction of the Second Temple;
d)11Jeremiah 39:2 states that in the destruction of the First Temple, Jerusalem's walls fell to the Babylonian conquerors on the ninth of Tammuz. Nevertheless, it is the destruction of the city by the Romans that we commemorate by fasting, because the effects of that destruction are more severe (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 549:2). The Rabbis did not institute a fast for the Ninth of Tammuz as well, for it was felt that this would be an excessive burden for the people (Mishnah Berurah 549:4).
Furthermore, according to the Jerusalem Talmud, Ta'anit 4:8, because of the many difficulties suffered by the Jewish people, they miscalculated the date, and, even during the destruction of the First Temple, it was on the Seventeenth of Tammuz that Jerusalem's walls were breached. Apostmos, the wicked,12a Greek official in the Second Temple era (Rav Ovadiah of Bertinoro) burned a Torah scroll;13The Meiri identifies this as the Torah scroll written by Ezra the Scribe. This scroll was kept in the Temple Courtyard and was used to check the precision of the other scrolls. In this manner, he attempted to undermine the entire Torah tradition. and
e) He14Apostmos erected an idol in the Temple.15Others interpret this as a reference to the idol erected by King Menasheh in the First Temple. (See the Jerusalem Talmud, Ta'anit 4:6.)

On the Ninth of Av, five tragedies occurred:
It was decreed that the Jews in the desert would not enter Eretz Yisrael;
The First and the Second Temples were destroyed;
A large city named Betar was captured. Thousands and myriads of Jews inhabited it. They were ruled by a great king whom the entire Jewish people and the leading Sages considered to be the Messianic king. The city fell to the Romans and they were all slain, causing a national catastrophe equivalent to that of the Temple's destruction.
On that day designated for retribution, the wicked Tineius Rufus plowed the site of the Temple and its surroundings, thereby fulfilling the prophecy [Micah 3:12], "Zion will be plowed like a field."

(9) He did what was displeasing to GOD, just as his father had done. (10) At that time, the troopsatroops Heb. “servants.” of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched against Jerusalem, and the city came under siege. (11) King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against the city while his troops were besieging it. (12) Thereupon King Jehoiachin of Judah, along with his mother, and his courtiers, commanders, and officers, surrendered to the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign. (13) He carried off from Jerusalembfrom Jerusalem Heb. “from there.” all the treasures of the House of GOD and the treasures of the royal palace; he stripped off all the golden decorations in the Temple of GOD—which King Solomon of Israel had made—as GOD had warned. (14) He exiled all of Jerusalem: all the commanders and all the warriors—ten thousand exiles—as well as all the artisans and smiths; only the poorest people in the land were left.

(1) And in the ninth year of hisahis I.e., Zedekiah’s. reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar moved against Jerusalem with his whole army. He besieged it; and they built towers against it all around. (2) The city continued in a state of siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. (3) By the ninth day [of the fourth month]b[of the fourth month] Cf. Jer. 52.6. the famine had become acute in the city; there was no food left for the common people. (4) Then [the wall of] the city was breached. All the soldiers [left the city] by night through the gate between the double walls, which is near the king’s garden—the Chaldeans were all around the city; and [the king] set out for the Arabah.cArabah Hoping to escape across the Jordan.

And the Lord said unto Moses: “Write thou these words, for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel” (Exod. 34:27). Scripture states elsewhere in allusion to this verse: Though I write for him never so many things of My Law, they are accounted as stranger’s (Hos. 8:12). R. Judah the son of Shalum was of the opinion that when the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses Write thou, Moses wanted to write the Mishnah as well. However, the Holy One, blessed be He, foresaw that ultimately the nations of the world would translate the Torah into the Greek language and would claim: “We are the Israelites.”

Now the scales are balanced (as to who are His people). The Holy One, blessed be He, can say to the nations of the world: You claim that you are My children, but I know that only those who know My secrets are My children. Where are His secrets (to be found)? In the Mishnah, which was given orally, and from which everything can be derived.