Today, we mark the Fast of the Seventeenth of Tamuz.
It commemorates the Roman siege of Jerusalem and when the walls of Yerushalayim were breached by the Babylonians first. A prelude to the destruction of the First and Second Temples. Whereas the Fast of the Ninth of Av (in three weeks’ time) is the most important fast after Yom Kipur, the Seventeenth of Tamuz is what is called a minor fast. Indeed, one may well wonder why simply breaching the walls of Yerushalayim alone should be remembered altogether. Unless as referring to the catastrophic loss of life, rape and destruction that followed. Or perhaps that there still remained the possibility of negotiations that failed.
To give it greater significance relative to its elder brother, the ninth of Av, the rabbis added a series of other events they calculated fell on this day. Amongst them, the anniversary of Mosheh breaking the tablets of stone; when the First Temple service was suspended by the Babylonians; when Apostumus (who experts have great difficulty identifying historically), burned the Torah and put a statue up in the Temple.
According to both the Mishnah and the Talmud (Ta’anit 29B) once the month of Av begins, and until the Ninth of Av is over, we reduce pleasure and joy and avoid doing business. The prevailing custom nowadays amongst the stricter is to extend this to a three-week period from the 17th of Tamuz. During this time, we have no weddings, parties or public festivities. For some, no music or TV. We eat no meat, drink no wine, nor wear new or laundered clothes (except for Shabbat).
The two important codes of Jewish Law, the Shulchan Aruch and Rambam, say that because the minor fasts are shorter, dawn to dusk, the obligation to fast can be set aside for anyone experiencing difficulty fasting. It was later that Rabbi Mosheh Isserles, known as ‘the Ramah’ the authority for Ashkenazi Jews, writing after the crusades, added “It is our custom not to have weddings from the 17th of Tammuz until the 9th of Av.”
All major religions have fasts. Some for self-improvement, and some for spiritual discipline. Others to simply mark significant dates in their history. Perhaps because for a further thousand years after the Roman era, our history has been one constantly punctuated with murder, massacre, pogroms and oppression (not to mention prejudice and racism).
It has now become fashionable to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem specifically on this day to reaffirm our commitment to the city. But the fact is that we do not know which walls of Yerushalayim we are talking about. We know of its destruction by the Babylonians in 586 BCE and then the beginning of the rebuilding authorized by Cyrus the Great of Persia and repeated by Darius the Great seventy years later. Ironic given Persia today, no wonder the Mullahs changed the flag. We know the city was the hub of the reconstituted Judean kingdom from other sources. Two thousand years ago Jerusalem was a busy, crowded city. According to Josephus, during the rule of Herod Agrippa the population reached about 120,000 people.
But there were three areas that comprised Yerushalayim. The Lower City sat on the smaller eastern hill, where the older Jebusite city had once stood. The city then spread over the western hill around the northwest of the Temple mount. During the later years of the Hasmoneans, it expanded north and west. This combined to made Yerushalayim the largest walled city in the country and one of the greatest in the entire Middle East.
There were three separate walls. The third was started during the reign of Agrippa, between 41 and 44 CE. Claudius, the Roman Emperor, wanted the work stopped. Later, the Zealots finished the wall during the Great Revolt, in 66 CE. After Titus completely destroyed the main walls, Hadrian rebuilt, and emperor Julian ordered a complete renovation before he was killed in battle. And later under the Ottomans renovations and innovations. But still, we are after only talking about walls!!
Yerushalayim has always been the focal point of the Jewish people since the days of David and Solomon. You might argue that we should keep this fast because we are still besieged and under assault. Antisemitism prospers. Israel’s legitimacy is challenged. Innocents are dying. But you could also argue that we have never been stronger, never been in more control of our destiny. Some say the divisions and internal factions fighting each other is itself a reason to fast.
As we can look at history and see the calamities, so too we can look at history and see the things worth rejoicing about. After all, according to the prophet Zecharia (8.19) ‘God says the fasts of the fourth (month) the fifth, the seventh and the tenth will become for the House of Judah, joy and gladness, happy festivals.’
Nothing wrong with praying for miracles so long as we don’t entirely rely on them!