Rosh Hashanah 36

דאמר רב חנא בר ביזנא אמר ר"ש חסידא מאי דכתיב (זכריה ח, יט) כה אמר ה' צבאות צום הרביעי וצום החמישי וצום השביעי וצום העשירי יהיה לבית יהודה לששון ולשמחה קרי להו צום וקרי להו ששון ושמחה בזמן שיש שלום יהיו לששון ולשמחה אין שלום צום

seeing that R'Hanah B'Bizna has said in the name of R'Simeon the Saint: 'What is the meaning of the verse, Thus had said the Lord of Hosts: The fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth and the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Zech. VIII, 19.');">¹</span> The prophet calls these days both days of fasting and days of joy, signifying that when there is peace they shall be for joy and gladness, but if there is not peace they shall be fast days'! - R'Papa replied: What it means is this: When there is peace they shall be for joy and gladness; if there is persecution,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'decrees of the Government'.');">²</span> they shall be fast days; if there is persecution but yet not peace, then those who desire may fast and those who desire need not fast.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since these fasts were at the time of this Mishnah optional, no messengers were sent forth on their account.');">³</span>

אמר רב פפא הכי קאמר בזמן שיש שלום יהיו לששון ולשמחה יש גזרת המלכות צום אין גזרת המלכות ואין שלום רצו מתענין רצו אין מתענין

If that i the case, the ninth of Ab also [should be optional]? - R'Papa replied: The ninth of Ab is in a different category, because several misfortunes happened on it, as a Master has said: On the ninth of Ab the Temple was destroyed both the first time and the second time, and Bethar was captured<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In the war of Bar Cochba.');">⁴</span> and the city [Jerusalem] was ploughed.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Ta'an. 20b.');">⁵</span> It has been taught: R'Simeon said: There are four expositions among those given by R'Akiba with which I do not agree.

אי הכי ט"ב נמי אמר רב פפא שאני ט' באב הואיל והוכפלו בו צרות דאמר מר בט' באב חרב הבית בראשונה ובשניה ונלכדה ביתר ונחרשה העיר

[He said]:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In expounding the verse from Zechariah quoted above.');">⁶</span> 'The fast of the fourth month' - this is the ninth of Tammuz, on which a breach was made in the walls of the city,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [The fast of Tammuz observed nowadays on the seventeenth of the month is in commemoration of the same calamity at the Second Destruction; v. Ta'an. 26b. Supra on Deut. VI, 4 reads, 'on the seventeenth' following J. Ta'an. IV, 8 that also point in their evidence since in the absence of witnesses the New Moon is on the first time the breach was made on the seventeenth, the 'ninth' mentioned in the text being due to vz miscalculation caused by the confusion of the time, v. Tosaf. s.v. ].');">⁷</span> as it says, On the fourth month on the ninth of the month the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land, and a breach was made in the city.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Jer. LII, 6, 7.');">⁸</span>

תניא אמר ר"ש ארבעה דברים היה ר"ע דורש ואני אין דורש כמותו צום הרביעי זה ט' בתמוז שבו הובקעה העיר שנאמר (ירמיהו נב, ו) (ברביעי) בתשעה לחדש ויחזק הרעב בעיר ולא היה לחם לעם הארץ ותבקע העיר ואמאי קרי ליה רביעי רביעי לחדשים

Why is it called fourth? As being fourth in the order of months.' The fast of the fifth month': this is the ninth of Ab on which the House of our God was burnt.

צום החמישי זה תשעה באב שבו נשרף בית אלהינו ואמאי קרי ליה חמישי חמישי לחדשים צום השביעי זה ג' בתשרי שבו נהרג גדליה בן אחיקם ומי הרגו ישמעאל בן נתניה הרגו ללמדך ששקולה מיתתן של צדיקים כשריפת בית אלהינו ואמאי קרי ליה שביעי שביעי לחדשים

Why is it called fifth? as being fifth in the order of months.' The fast of the seventh month': this is the third of Tishri on which Gedaliah the son of Ahikam was killed.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Jer. XLI, 1, 2.');">⁹</span>

צום העשירי זה עשרה בטבת שבו סמך מלך בבל על ירושלים שנאמר (יחזקאל כד, א) ויהי דבר ה' אלי בשנה התשיעית בחדש העשירי בעשור לחדש לאמר בן אדם כתב לך את שם היום את עצם היום הזה סמך מלך בבל אל ירושלם ואמאי קרי ליה עשירי עשירי לחדשים והלא היה ראוי זה לכתוב ראשון ולמה נכתב כאן כדי להסדיר חדשים כתיקנן

Who killed him? Ishmael the son of Nethaniah killed him; and [the fact that a fast was instituted on this day] shows that the death of the righteous is put on a level with the burning of the House of our God. Why is it called the seventh?

ואני איני אומר כן אלא צום העשירי זה חמשה בטבת שבו באת שמועה לגולה שהוכתה העיר שנאמר (יחזקאל לג, כא) ויהי בשתי עשרה שנה בעשירי בחמשה לחדש לגלותנו בא אלי הפליט מירושלם לאמר הוכתה העיר ועשו יום שמועה כיום שריפה

As being the seventh in the order of months.' The fast of the tenth month': this is the tent of Tebeth on which the king of Babylon invested Jerusalem, as it says, And the word of the Lord came unto me in the ninth year in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, saying, Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this selfsame day; this selfsame day the king of Babylon hath invested Jerusalem.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ezek. XXIV, 1, 2.');">¹⁰</span> Why is it called the tenth?

ונראין דברי מדבריו שאני אומר על ראשון ראשון ועל אחרון אחרון והוא אומר על ראשון אחרון ועל אחרון ראשון אלא שהוא מונה לסדר חדשים ואני מונה לסדר פורעניות

As being the tenth in the order of months. [It might be asked], should not this have been mentioned first?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The event commemorated being chronologically the first of those mentioned.');">¹¹</span> Why then was it mentioned in this place [last]?

איתמר רב ורבי חנינא אמרי בטלה מגילת תענית רבי יוחנן וריב"ל אמרי לא בטלה מגילת תענית

So as to arrange the months in their proper order. I, however, [continued R'Simeon], do not explain thus. What I say is that 'the fast of the tenth month, is the fifth of Tebeth on which news came to the Captivity that the city had been smitten, as it says, And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me saying, The city is smitten,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ezek. XXXIII, 21. This is one of the four expositions in which R. Simeon differed from his teacher, R. Akiba. The other three are found in the Tosefta of Sot. VI and Sifre on Deut. VI, 4.');">¹²</span>

רב ורבי חנינא אמרי בטלה מגילת תענית הכי קאמר בזמן שיש שלום יהיו לששון ולשמחה אין שלום צום והנך נמי כי הני

and they put the day of the report on the same footing as the day of burning. My view is more probable than his, because I make the first [mentioned by the prophet] first [chronologically] and the last last,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The fast of the fourth month.');">¹³</span> whereas he makes the first last and the last first, he, however, following [only] the order of months I [also follow] the order of calamities.

רבי יוחנן ורבי יהושע בן לוי אמרי לא בטלה מגילת תענית הני הוא דתלינהו רחמנא בבנין בהמ"ק אבל הנך כדקיימי קיימי

It has been stated [elsewhere]: Rab and R'Hanina hold that the Megillath Ta'anith<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'Scroll of Fasting': a record of days on which it was prohibited to fast in memory of some joyful event which had happened on that date. It dates back in part before the destruction of the Second Temple (v. Shab. 13b) . Its present form dates from the days of Hadrian.');">¹⁴</span> has been annulled,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Apparently we have to supply, 'since the destruction of the Temple'.');">¹⁵</span> whereas R'Johanan and Resh Lakish hold that the Megillath Ta'anith, has not been annulled.

מתיב רב כהנא מעשה וגזרו תענית בחנוכה בלוד וירד ר"א ורחץ ורבי יהושע וסיפר ואמרו להם צאו והתענו על מה שהתעניתם

Rab and R'Hanina hold that the Megillath Ta'anith has been annulled, interpreting the words of the prophet thus: 'When there is peace, these days<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The four days mentioned by Zechariah.');">¹⁶</span> shall be for joy and gladness, but when there is no peace, they shall be fasts', and placing the days mentioned in the Megillath Ta'anith, on the same footing. R'Johanan and Resh Lakish hold that the Megillath Ta'anith has not been annulled, maintaining that it was those others [mentioned by the prophet] that the All-Merciful made dependent on the existence of the Temple,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' So that when the Temple is restored and there is peace these fasts are abolished.');">¹⁷</span>

א"ר יוסף שאני חנוכה דאיכא מצוה א"ל אביי ותיבטיל איהי ותיבטל מצותה

but these [mentioned in Megillath Ta'anith] remain unaffected. R'Kahana cited the following in objection: 'On one occasion a fast was decreed in Lydda on Hanukah<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' One of the Festivals mentioned in Megillath Ta'anith.');">¹⁸</span> and R'Eliezer went down there and bathed and R'Joshua had his hair cut,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' R. Eliezer and R. Joshua were disciples of R Johanan b. Zaccai, and became authorities only after the destruction of the Temple. Bathing and haircutting were prohibited on fast days.');">¹⁹</span>

אלא אמר רב יוסף שאני חנוכה דמיפרסם ניסא

and they said to the inhabitants, Go and fast in atonement for having fasted [on this day]'!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And if it was prohibited to fast on Hanukah, so also on the other days mentioned in Megillath Ta'anith.');">²⁰</span> - R'Joseph said: Hanukah is different, because there is a religious ceremony [attached to it]<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Viz., the kindling of the lights.');">²¹</span> Said Abaye to him: Let it be abolished and its ceremony with it?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Seeing that it is purely Rabbinical.');">²²</span>

מותיב רב אחא בר הונא בתלתא בתשרי בטילת אדכרתא מן שטרייא שגזרה מלכות יון גזרה שלא להזכיר שם שמים על פיהם וכשגברה מלכות חשמונאי ונצחום התקינו שיהו מזכירין שם שמים אפילו בשטרות וכך היו כותבים בשנת כך וכך ליוחנן כהן גדול לאל עליון

- R'Joseph thereupon [corrected himself and] said: Hanukah is different because it commemorates publicly a miracle.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' By the kindling of lights, and the people regard its ceremony like one ordained in the Torah.');">²³</span> R'Aha B'Huna raised an objection [from the following]: 'On the third of Tishri the mention [of God] in bonds was abolished:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This is a sentence from Megillath Ta'anith, which the Baraitha explains.');">²⁴</span> for the Grecian<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., Syrian.');">²⁵</span>

וכששמעו חכמים בדבר אמרו למחר זה פורע את חובו ונמצא שטר מוטל באשפה וביטלום ואותו היום עשאוהו יו"ט ואי סלקא דעתך בטלה מגילת תענית קמייתא בטול אחרנייתא מוסיפין

Government had forbidden the mention of God's name<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'the name of heaven'. [Cf. Gen. Rab. 11, 4: 'The Jews were ordered by the Greeks to write on the horn of the ox, " we="" have="" no="" share="" in="" the="" god="" of="" israel"'].');"="">²⁶</span> by the Israelites, and when the Government of the Hasmoneans became strong and defeated them, they ordained that they should mention the name of God even on bonds, and they used to write thus: 'In the year So-and-so of Johanan, High Priest to the Most High God', and when the Sages heard of it they said, 'To-morrow this man will pay his debt and the bond will be thrown<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'it is found that the name of heaven is lying about'.');">²⁷</span>

הכא במאי עסקינן בזמן שבית המקדש קיים

on a dunghill', and they stopped them, and they made that day a feast day.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [Geiger, Urschrift, p. 34 places this in the last days of John Hyrcanus when the Pharisees turned against him; Graetz, Geschichte III, 2 p. 572 during the reign of Queen Salome when the Pharisees were in power. For other views, v. Lichtenstein, H, HUCA, pp. 283ff].');">²⁸</span> Now if you maintain that the Megillath Ta'anith has been annulled, [is it possible that] while the former [prohibitions of fasting] have been annulled, new ones should be added? - With what are we here dealing? With the period when the Temple was still standing