Related על ראש השנה 36:17
Sifrei Devarim
Similarly (Zechariah 8:19) "Thus has said the L-rd 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 will be for the house of Judah for joy and for gladness and for goodly festivals": "the fast of the fourth" — the seventeenth of Tammuz when the city was breached. "the fast of the fifth" — the ninth day of Av, when both the first and second temples were destroyed. "the fast of the seventh" — the third of Tishrei, when Gedaliah ben Achikam was killed. And who killed him? Yishmael ben Netanyah — to teach that the death of the righteous is as grievous to the Holy One Blessed be He as the destruction of the Temple. "the fast of the tenth" — the tenth of Teveth, when the king of Bavel came to besiege Jerusalem, as it is written (Ezekiel 24:1-2) "And the word of the L-rd came to me in the ninth year, saying: Son of man, write for yourself the name of the day, this very day. The king of Bavel has come against Jerusalem (to besiege it) this very day." (Thus, R. Akiva). And I say: "the fast of the tenth" — the fifth day of Teveth, when the report came to the exile that the city had been smitten, as it is written (Ibid. 33:21) "And it was, in the twelfth year of the month on the fifth of the month that a fugitive came to me from Jerusalem, saying 'The city has been conquered.'" And when they heard, they made the day of the hearing (a fast) like the day of the burning. And I find my view more cogent than that of R. Akiva. [For I speak of first things (in the verse) first, and of last things, last, and he speaks of first things last, and of last things first. For he counts according to the order of the months, and I count according to the order of the occurrences. And in Judah they fast for the act, and in the Galil, for the report.]
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