A (Very) Minor Holiday

On the Hebrew calendar, today is the 17th of Tammuz, a minor fast day.  Unlike the "major" fast of Yom Kippur, which traditionally lasts 25 hours, on a minor fast day, one only refrains from food from sunrise to sunset.  The period from the 17th of Tammuz to Tisha b'Av (the 9th of Av, or this year, July 20th) is known as the "Three Weeks," during which some Jews observe mourning customs—not holding weddings or parties, avoiding haircuts or shaving, etc.

Why?  According to the Mishnah (Taanit 4:6), five disasters befell the Jews on the 17th of Tammuz:

• Moses smashed the original tablets of the Ten Commandments (because of the Golden Calf).
• When Jerusalem was besieged by the Babylonians, they had to stop offering a sacrifice at the Temple, because the city ran out of goats.
• When Jerusalem was besieged by the Romans, on this day they breached the walls.
• Apostomos (a Roman general?) burned a Torah scroll and...
• ...placed an idol in the Temple.

The Three Weeks of mourning lead up to Tisha b'Av, the major fast commemorating the destruction of the Temple (the "Second Temple" in Jerusalem) by the Romans in 70 C.E.

As part of their attempt to modernize Judaism, the founders of the Reform Movement removed the emphasis on the Jerusalem Temple.  They eliminated prayers that referred to Temple sacrifices and all the traditional prayers for the Temple to be rebuilt.  They deemphasized fast days like the 17th of Tammuz, which focused on Temple-related disasters in the past.

Those early Reforms have mostly persisted—very few Reform Jews will be fasting today.  But being aware of the traditional Jewish calendar helps us stay connected to the larger Jewish world.  And an excuse for some Jewish text and history is never a bad thing.

For discussion:  In recent decades, WHC (like many Reform congregations) has reintroduced customs long absent from Reform Judaism.  Would you like to see us re-engage with more observances from the traditional Jewish calendar?  Should we commemorate the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple? 

Image:  James Jacques Joseph Tissot (French, 1836-1902), The Chaldees Destroy the Brazen Sea