וישלך בית אל, שראצר ורגם מלך ואנשיו, לחלות את פני ה’. לאמר אל הכהנים אשר לבית ה’ צבא-ות ואל הנביאים לאמר, האבכה בחדש החמשי הנזר כאשר עשיתי זה כמה שנים.
And they sent to Bet El; Shar’etzer, Regem Meleĉ, and his men – to seek out and pray before G-d. To wit: to the Kohanim in the house of the G-d of Hosts, and the to prophets, saying, “Shall I cry in the fifth month, and abstain as I have done these many years.”[i]
Historical Background
As noted in the start of this chapter, the prophecy was given to Zeĉarya in the fourth year of Daryavesh on the fourth (4th) of Kislev. At that point, the second Bais Hamikdash construction was already well underway, and the people of Babylon were seeking a prophetic answer as to whether the fast-of-the-fifth, namely the ninth (9th) of Av, needed to be observed. The fast had been instituted as a day of mourning for the destruction of the first Base Hamikdash, and with the second, replacement, Base Hamikdash under construction, the people were wondering whether they needed to fast any longer.
G-d’s response is recorded immediately thereafter,
אמר אל כל עם הארץ ואל הכהנים לאמר, כי צמתם וספוד בחמישי ובשביעי וזה שבעים שנה
Say to the all the people of the land, and to the Kohanim as follows: when you fasted and mourned on the Fifth (Tisha b’Av) and the Seventh (Tzom Gedalia) these seventy (70) years
הצום צמתם אני – have you really fasted for me?
G-d tells the prophet to issue a rebuke to the people. They are not fasting because doing so serves G-d. Rather, the purpose of the fast was because the people had been immoral. It is a call to improvement. The proper life of the Jewish people is to live a life of
משפט אמת שפטו, וחסד ורחמים עשו איש את אחיו. ואלמנה ויתום גר ועני אל תעשקו, ורעת איש אחיו אל תחשבו בלבבכם.
execute true justice, perform kindness and mercy to one’s brethren. Do not oppress widows, orphans, converts and the poor and do not think evil in your hearts against your brethren.
But the people failed to do so,
וימאנו להקשיב ויתנו כתף סררת, ואזניהם הכבידו משמוע. ולבם שמו שמיר משמוע את התורה
and they refused to pay attention and they shouldered aside [their obligations] in rebellion, and they made heavy their ears from listening. And they set their hearts as a Shamir[1] from listening to the Torah.
And it is because of their immorality that caused all the troubles they experienced, for which they were fasting.
Halaĉic Discussion
The concept that an established fast might not be observed in the full manner in which it was established is echoed in the Mishna, as quoted and discussed in the Gemara[ii]. The Mishna notes during what months the Sanhedrin would send out messengers to the various cities and communities, including to those in Babylon, to let them know how the calendar was being set so that they could observe the holidays on the proper date. Notably, the Mishna does not include the month of Tammuz, which contains the fast day of the seventeenth (17th) of Tammuz[2], nor does it include the month of Teves, which contains the fast of the tenth (10th) of Teves.
Rav Ĉona bar Bizna in the name of Rabbi Shimon the pious said, based on the verse[iii] כה אמר ה’ צבא-ות, צום הרביעי וצום החמישי וצום השביעי וצום העשירי יהיה לבית יהודה לששון ולשמחה – so says the G-d of Hosts; the fast of the fourth (month) [17th of Tammuz], the fast of the fifth (month) [9th of Av], the fast of the seventh (month) [3rd of Tishrei], the fast of the tenth (month) [10th of Teves] – shall be to the House of Yehuda as joy and celebration. The verse identifies them as fast days, and as days of rejoicing; when there is peace, these are days of celebration. When there is no peace – fasting.
Rav Pappa clarified, when there is peace, these days are for rejoicing. When there is persecution – fasting. When there is neither persecution nor peace, if they want they may fast and if they want they may not fast.
Question: If so, why is the ninth of Av different[3].
Answer: the ninth of Av is different because many troubles occurred on that day.
The Gemara continues further and notes an argument between the sages about the Megilla Ta’anis[4]: Rav and Rabbi Ĉanina state that the Megilla Ta’anis has been nullified[5], while Rabbi Yoĉanan and Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi argue that it [and its obligations] have not been nullified.
Thus, we see from here that there is a basis for the request made by Shar’etzer, Regem Meleĉ, and his men – since the second Base Hamikdash was now being rebuilt, perhaps it was time to stop observing the fast commemorating its destruction.
- If the question put forth by Shar’etzer, Regem Meleĉ, and his men is in line with an opinion in the Gemara, why did G-d response so harshly, with הצום צמתם אני – have you really fasted for me?
Purpose of the Fast
When G-d responds to the people’s request as to whether they should fast, G-d speaks of BOTH the fast of the fifth (Tisha b’Av) and the fast of the seventh (Tzom Gedalia) – כי צמתם וספוד בחמישי ובשביעי. The people though had only inquired about the fast of the fifth – האבכה בחדש החמשי. Why then does G-d add a second fast in his response?
G-d’s response exposes the disconnect between what the people valued and what G-d valued.
The people were focused entirely on the physical building of the Base Hamikdash. They essentially asked, “The building is back, so we can stop mourning the building, right?”
In his chastisement, G-d adds the fast of the seventh month – commemorating the assassination of Gedalia by a fellow Jew (Yishmael ben Nethania) – to shift the focus of the prophecy from the architectural rebuilding of the Base Hamikdash to the moral lessons of the fast. The death of Gedalia represented internal betrayal by fellow Jews, political factionalism, and the final extinguishing of Jewish autonomy in the land, which triggered the complete exile for seventy years.
These are the very same ingredients which four hundred and twenty years later triggered the next exile from the land by the Romans, for which effects we are still suffering from to this day.
By tying the fifth and seventh month fasts together, G-d is delivering a sharp critique: You are fixated on the wood and stones of the Base Hamikdash (as commemorated in the fifth month), but you are ignoring the social decay, violence, and lack of justice (the focus of the seventh month) that caused the destruction in the first place. The rebuke emphasizes that fasting was never supposed to be just about mourning a building; it was supposed to prompt moral introspection. Since they hadn’t fixed the root moral rot, their fasting was empty.
When there is Peace
Accordingly, as noted in the Gemara, there is a difference in years during which persecution occurred and in years in which we have peace. Our sufferings are not random geopolitical occurrences but calls to moral action and improvements. When there is peace, that is a signal that these days are days of ששון ושמחה – rejoicing and celebrating, not because the tragedy did not occur, but because the fasting had done its job, and we are celebrating the accomplishment of improved morality – as evidenced by the peace experienced.
[1] In the Midrash, the Shamir is described as something like a worm, hard enough to split rocks.
[2] This is especially notable because historically, one of the reasons for the fast is because that was the day Moshe returned with the first set of Luĉos, saw the people worshiping the golden calf, and broke them. This tragedy is a source of all the tragedies that follow as it says in the verse [Shemos 32:34] וביום פקדי ופקדתי עלהם חטאתם – and on the day I account, I will recall upon them their sin.
Similarly, while the primary focus of the tenth of Teves is the start of the Babylonian siege of the first Base Hamikdash, the Gemara [Megilla 9a-b] notes that a national tragedy occurred on the eighth of Teves, the sages were forced by the emperor Ptolemy to translate the Torah to Greek [arguably the claims to legitimacy by christianity and the muslimis because they had access to the Torah and could quote it or ape its teachings – which access stemmed from this translation]. And on the ninth of Teves, Ezra the scribe passed away. The sages did not want to have a month with three sad days mourned in a row, so they consolidated the mourning into one day – the tenth of Teves, which is why this fast is considered so strict that it can even be observed on Shabbos. These events all occurred prior to the compilation of the Mishna, and thus the Gemara asks why messengers were not sent out by the Sanhedrin for the month of Teves.
[3] It is different in that the Mishna identifies it as one of the periods which the Sanhedrin made an effort to ensure the day was observed timely by sending out messengers to notify the people as to when the month had been established.
[4] As per Rashi, there used to be a book / document / work called Megillas Ta’anis which listed out all the dates on which a miracle occurred which prohibited fasting or eulogizing on those days. However, now that the Base Hamikdash was destroyed, that Megilla has been nullified and one may fast or eulogize on all the dates listed in that Megilla.
[5] Which seems to be the Halaĉa since we do not have a copy of that Megilla, it was lost to time – presumably because the Jewish people did not maintain copies as it was nullified. Interestingly, Rashi seems to quote the opening statement of the Megilla אלין יומיא דלא להתענאה בהו – These are the days when one may not fast. Possibly, he might have had a copy of the Megilla, or its translation into the Targum.
[i] Zeĉarya 7:2-3
[ii] Gem. Rosh Hashana 18a-b
[iii] Zeĉarya 8:19 – arguably a prophecy issued in continuation to the verses discussed above.