Rabbi’s Corner – Fast of Tammuz
Reasons behind the fast on 17th Tammuz
- Moses broke the tablets when he saw the Jewish people worshipping the Golden Calf.
- During the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, the Jews were forced to cease offering the daily sacrifices due to the lack of sheep.
- Apostomos burned the holy Torah. (Historians debate whether this took place during the Roman period or earlier during the Greek empire.
- An idol was placed in the Holy Temple.
- The walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Romans, in 69 CE, after a lengthy siege. (Three weeks later, after the Jews put up a valiant struggle, the Romans destroyed the second Holy Temple on the 9th of Av)
The Jerusalem Talmud maintains that this is also the date when the Babylonians breached the walls of Jerusalem on their way to destroying the first Temple.
The 17th of Tammuz begins a period of three weeks of mourning for the destruction of the Temple which culminates with the fast of 9th Av when both Temples were destroyed.
Losing the Temple was more than just a loss of sovereignty and the plunging of the Jewish people into exile.
We become spiritually dislocated. The Temple had served as the spiritual epicentre of the Jewish people for over 800 years.
Now Judaism would adapt to the new environment. The Synagogue became the “miniature sanctuary” – where we could bridge the divide between heaven and earth. The Bet Midrash became the hallowed place where mans mortal and finite mind could be suffused with Divine wisdom.
But Judaism was never supposed to be limited to a place or institution.
To be a Jew is to walk with Hashem in love and awe wherever we are “when you are home or go on the way, when you lie down and when you get up”.
The great ideas of Judaism must not be compartmentalised; the dignity of the human being created in the image of God, the concept of Shabbat that we live for a higher purpose, the concept of Mitzvot that connect us to our infinite source. All these ideas are eternally true no matter what the latest cultural pressures bring to bear on the Jewish people.
Our job has always been and always will be bringing heaven down to earth and teach the world to look beyond the mere physical outer trappings of reality to a deeper Godly core.
This message is needed now more than ever before. The loss of the Temple almost 2000 years ago began a process of misalignment of the Jewish people and their Godly mission. Yet at the same time it was part of Hashem’s plan that we are scattered to four corners of the globe to be able to spread light and goodness in all directions.
When we fast on Tammuz it is not an antiquated tradition. Quite the contrary by fasting we give ourselves permission to connect for one day to the spiritual brokenness that exists in the world. But instead of despairing or trying to force a utopian vision on society we do what Jews do best – go inwards to look at the change we can effect on ourselves. We can use the negative energy of the fast of Tammuz to propel ourselves to positive change. We can pray and yearn for a better society and reinvigorate and recommit ourselves to become better people (both in our interpersonal relationships and our relationship with God).
In a world where the politics of power is all too common and political opponents shift the blame of societies ills onto one another in a perpetual cycle of blame and victimhood, the fast of Tammuz stands apart with a message of personal responsibility and empowerment to change ourselves.
We start by fasting and acknowledging the reality of brokenness in our world. But from this bitterness we are able to propel ourselves forward on a positive mission of renewal asking God in the Psalmists words “Create for me, God a new heart”
Shabbat Shalom. |
