Guide
Historical Fast Days in Early Judaism
1st–3rd Centuries
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By Carol Bakhos
The Seventeenth of Tammuz and the Ninth of Av are fast days in the summer months that commemorate the destruction of both the First and the Second Temple. The Mishnah also associates these days with other tragedies, both biblical and historical, illustrating the rabbis’ paradigmatic and typological modes of thought: similar events recapitulate each other and occur at the same season of the year. The Mishnah also discusses ritual behavior indicating diminished joy during the three weeks between the two fast days.
Related Primary Sources
Primary Source
The Seventeenth of Tammuz and the Ninth of Av
m. Ta‘anit 4:6–7
6. There were five events that happened to our ancestors on the seventeenth of Tammuz and five on the ninth of Av. On the seventeenth of Tammuz the tablets were shattered, the tamid offering was…