Parshat Devarim

 

by Rav Yosef Zvi Rimon

Founder & Board Chairman

 

 

 

Did they fast during the second Temple?

 

The Rambam comments on the Mishnah (Rosh Hashan 1:3) and says that they did fast on Tisha B’Av during the second Temple time period.

 

Conversely, the Tashbitz writes in his Halachic Question and Answer book that clearly the Jews did not fast while the second Temple was standing.

 

According to the opinion of the Tashbitz the above Rambam is surprising. So how was it that people fasted for the destruction of the Temple while the second Temple stood?

 

A simple answer is that the second Temple was not as complete as the first one. The second Temple was missing the Holy Ark and some say that the Shechina – the divine presence did not rest there. Therefore they were still mourning and fasting over the destruction of the first Temple.

 

However, the Sfat Emet (Rosh Hashana 18) suggests that during the second temple fasting on Tisha B’Av was circumstantial. When there was peace for the Jews they did not fast even on Tisha B’Av. When the situation was more difficult and the Jewish people were under foreign rule they would fast.

 

The Gemarah writes that whether we fast or not, is not dependent on the Temple rather on the reality of the country, whether Israel is at peace or not.

 

From here we understand that fasting is not just about the past it is also dependent on the present. We say Lamantations on Tisha B’Av about events not only connected to the destruction of the Temples.  We discuss pogroms, the burring of the Talmud, the Holocaust etc.

 

The fast also reminds us of something good, the future building of the Temple. There is still a need to act properly; there is still a reason to await a change.

 

Perhaps this idea goes even deeper. Sometimes a person’s life is so good he doesn’t notice how good it is. Maybe fasting causes us to remember the destruction, the absence, to recall the past when life was not so good. And maybe only from the past destruction are we able to see our wonderful reality of Divine presence.

 

There is special significance in the lamentation “Fire will burn in me” which describes the incredible things we had when the Temple stood and the things that are missing now. (This idea is similar to what we say on Yom Kippur after we discuss the work of the High Priest.)

 

Today, unfortunately the House of G-d still lays in ruin, however there are many things that we have achieved. We have returned to our land, our home after thousands of years away, we also posses a part of Jerusalem, we have established a Jewish state, and we have raised the prestige of the Torah. But there is still a lot missing, spiritually and politically, especially in Divine presence and the sense that G-d rules.

 

When we fast of Tisha B’Av we cry on what we are missing, we cry over the destruction of the holy temple, over the expulsion of the shechina. Within this crying we must also remember the other things that have happened to the Jewish people like the demolition of Gush Katif and more importantly its people. But we also must remember with the help of G-d, all the things we have achieved thus far. The crying has another meaning. Are we truly acting in a way that expresses our gratitude for all we have received? Similarly we must look at all we have accomplished and know that this is the beginning of the redemption. If we do this we must realize that we have the strength within us to reach higher heights and with the help of G-d see a complete redemption very soon.

 

Shabbat Shalom!