Foodlessness

June 30, 2010 at 11:29 am · Filed under General, Lifestyle/Halachah, Prayer/Tefillah and tagged: 17th of Tammuz, Apostamos, destruction of the temple, fast day, individual fasting, michah, prayers, public fast days, Tisha B'Av, tzom kal

by eshetkayil

Yesterday, the 17th of Tammuz, was a public fast day. It’s not commanded in the Bible – it’s purely traditional. It commemorates five sad things that historically and traditionally happened that day:

1. Moses broke the first set of Ten Commandments tablets at Mount Sinai, in response to the sin of the golden calf.
2. The daily offerings at the First Temple were suspended during the siege of Jerusalem, when the priests could not obtain any animals.
3. The walls of Jerusalem were breached, heralding the destruction of the Second Temple three weeks later (on Tisha B’Av).
4. Apostamos, a Roman General, burned a Torah scroll, setting a precedent for the burning of Jewish books for centuries.
5. An idolatrous image was placed in the sanctuary of the Temple.

Read the rest of this entry »

Comments (3)