Responsa for Taanit 24:14

היכי עבדי אמר אביי מצפרא עד פלגא דיומא מעיינינן במילי דמתא מכאן ואילך ריבעא דיומא קרינן בספרא ואפטרתא מכאן ואילך בעינן רחמי שנא' (נחמיה ט, ג) ויקומו על עמדם ויקראו בספר תורת ה' אלהיהם רביעית היום ורביעית מתודים ומשתחוים לה' אלהיהם

IF THESE PASSED AND THERE WAS [STILL] NO ANSWER TO THEIR PRAYERS THEN BUSINESS IS RESTRICTED AS ALSO IS BUILDING, PLANTING, BETROTHAL AND MARRIAGE; AND MEN GREET ONE ANOTHER AS PEOPLE LABOURING UNDER DIVINE DISPLEASURE. THE YEHIDIM<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. supra p. 44, n. 9.');">¹⁰</span> BEGIN THEIR FASTING ANEW AND CONTINUE UNTIL THE END OF NISAN; IF NISAN PASSES AND RAIN FALLS THIS IS A SIGN OF DIVINE ANGER, AS IT IS WRITTEN, IS IT NOT WHEAT HARVEST TO-DAY, etc.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I Sam. XII, 17.');">¹¹</span> <big><b>GEMARA: </b></big>It is reasonable that all the other restrictions [should be forbidden] because they give pleasure, but why work which is a source of pain? - R'Hisda replied in the name of R'Jeremiah B'Abba: Scripture says. Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Joel I, 14.');">¹²</span> This means that [the fast day is to be treated] like a solemn assembly. Just as it is not permissible to do work on a solemn assembly it is likewise not permissible to do work on a fast day. Perhaps just as on the solemn assembly work is forbidden from the preceding evening so too on a fast day work should close on the preceding evening? - R'Zeira replied: R'Jeremiah B'Abba explained the matter to me thus: Scripture says, Gather the elders'; it is to be like a gathering of elders, as the elders foregather by day so too the fast commences on the day. Perhaps [it commences] from noon? - R'Shisha B'Idi replied: This is a support for R'Huna who said: The assembly [of the community on a fast day] takes place in the morning. How do they spend [the day]? -Abaye replied: From morning to midday they look into the affairs of the city;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' To find out if the citizens were guilty of any dishonesty or whether in the city there were men of violence (Maimonides) . V. Buchler, Moses Maimonides, viii Centenary Memorial Volume, ed. by I. Epstein, pp. 13-55.');">¹³</span> from then onwards they read for a quarter of the day from the Torah and the Prophets and the rest of the day [is spent] in praying for mercy, as it is said, And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the Law of the Lord their God a fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed and prostrated themselves before the Lord their God.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Neh. IX, 3.');">¹⁴</span>

Teshuvot HaRosh