SEVENTEENTH OF TAMMUZ

(Redirected from 17th of Tammuz)

The 'Seventeenth of Tammuz' (Hebrew: 'שבעה עשר בתמוז', ''Shiv'ah Asar b'Tammuz'') is the seventeenth day on the Hebrew month of Tammuz. This day is a half-day fast (dawn to dusk) in Judaism.

Contents

Background

Observances

Place among the fasts

''Bein haMetzarim''

Background

The 17th of Tammuz is mentioned in Nevi'im (Prophets) - as "the fast of the fourth month" (Zechariah 8:19). The Mishnah (''Taanit'' 4:8) lists five calamities that befell the Jewish people on this date:
# Moses broke the two tablets of stone on Mount Sinai;
# The daily ''tamid'' offering ceased to be brought;
# The walls of Jerusalem were breached (proceeding to the destruction of the Temple);
# Prior to Bar Kokhba's revolt, Roman military leader Apostomus burned a Torah scroll;
# An idol was erected in the Temple.
The Babylonian Talmud (''Taanit'' 28b) places the second and fifth tragedies in the First Temple, while dating the third tragedy (breach of Jerusalem) to the Second Temple period. Jerusalem of the First Temple, on the other hand, was breached on the 9th of Tammuz (cf. Jeremiah 52.6-7).
July 4, 1776 (American Independence Day) was on the Seventeenth of Tammuz.

Observances

As a minor fast day, fasting from dawn to dusk is required, but other laws of mourning are not observed. A Torah reading and Haftorah reading, and a special prayer in the Amidah (the Aneinu), are added at both Shacharit and Mincha services.

Place among the fasts

The Seventeenth of Tammuz is the second of the four fasts commemorating the destruction of the Temple and the Jewish exile. It is preceded seven months by the fast of the Tenth of Tevet and arrives three weeks prior to the full-day fast of the Ninth of Av. The last of the four fasts is the Fast of Gedalia, which is observed on the third or fourth day of Tishri.

''Bein haMetzarim''

The three weeks beginning with the ''Seventeenth of Tammuz'' and ending with the Ninth of Av are known as ''Bein haMetzarim'' ("between the straits," i.e. between the days of distress) or as simply the Three Weeks. Some customs of mourning, which commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem, are observed from the start of the Three Weeks.
The oldest extant reference to these days as ''Bein haMetzarim'' - which is also the first source for a special status of the Three Weeks - is found in Eikhah Rabbathi 1.29 (Lamentations Rabbah, fourth century CE?). This midrash glosses Lamentations 1.3, "All [Zion's] pursuers overtook her between the straits."