This day is a half-day fast (dawn to dusk) in Judaism. The Mishnah lists five catastrophes that befell the Jewish people on this date:
- Moses descended from meeting God and receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai, saw the Jews worshipping the Golden Calf, and broke the two stone tablets God had given him.
- The daily Tamid offering, which had been brought regularly in the Jerusalem Beit haMikdash [Temple] from the time the Jews built the Mishkan for over one thousand years, was halted during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem before the Beit haMikdash was destroyed.
- The Romans invaded Jerusalem, breaching the walls of the city, prior to destroying the second Beit haMikdash. (The Babylonians invaded Jerusalem to destroy the first Temple on the 9th of Tammuz.)
- Prior to Bar Kokhba’s revolt (132-135 CE), Roman military leader Apostomus burned a Torah scroll.
- An idol was erected in the Temple.
Tzom Tamuz is a minor fast. There are two major fasts and four minor ones in Judaism. The two major ones are:
- The most important of all, and also the best-known among non-Jews, is the fast of Yom Kippur.
- The other one is Tisha B’Av.
The three other minor fasts are:
- The fast of Gedalia which commemorates the assassination of the governor of Judah – Gedalia- which left Judah devoid of Jewish rule, and made the destruction of the first Temple complete.
- The Tenth of Tevet commemorates the beginning of the siege that Nebuchadrezzar of Babylonia laid to ancient Jerusalem, an event that ultimately led to the destruction of the First Temple, Babylonia’s conquest of southern Israel’s Kingdom of Judah and the first exile.
- The fast of Esther.
The main purpose of Tzom Tamuz is to remember and mourn the loss of the destroyed Temple in Jerusalem. By fasting we show that we are still affected by this loss. Thus Isaiah (66:10) indicates that mourning over a loss leads to increased happiness upon return of the loss:
Be glad with Jerusalem, and exult in her, all those who love her; rejoice with her in celebration, all those [who were] mourners over her.
Tzom Kal – have an easy fast.
1 Comment
July 20, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Nice summary. The O-U website lists even more calamities on this day, such as in 1391 4,000 Jews were killed in Spain (who says Spain was such a Golden Era for Jews?). In 1970 Libya ordered the confiscation of Jewish property.
And it may not have been to the day, but this past week Israel received the bones of two soldiers for freeing a child killer. Another sad day for Am Yisrael.