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The Seventeenth of Tammuz (Template:Lang-he, Shiv'ah Asar b'Tammuz) is a minor Jewish fast day commemorating the breach of the walls of Jerusalem before the destruction of the Second Temple. It falls on the 17th day of the Hebrew month of Tammuz and marks the beginning of the three-week mourning period leading up to Tisha B'Av.

The day also commemorates the destruction of the Twin Tablets of the Ten Commandments. The Seventeenth of Tammuz occurs forty days following the holiday of Shavuot. Moses ascended Mount Sinai and remained up there those forty days. The Children of Israel built the Golden Calf on the afternoon of the sixteenth of Tammuz when it seemed that Moses was not coming down when promised. Moses descended the next day (forty days by his count), saw that the Israelites were violating many of the laws he had received, and smashed the tablets.

The day is marked with a fast, which lasts from dawn to dusk. Religious Jews abstain from eating and drinking.

Sources

The fast of Tammuz, according to R. Akiva's interpretation, is the fast mentioned in the Book of Zechariah. The verse states: "the fast of the fourth month". This refers to Tamuz which is the fourth month of the Hebrew calendar. This fast was originally on the ninth of Tamuz. After the Second Temple's destruction, the fast was moved to the seventeenth. According to the Mishnah (Taanit 4:6) five calamities befell the Jewish people on this day:

1. Moses broke the two tablets of stone on Mount Sinai;
2. The daily tamid offering ceased to be brought;
3. The walls of Jerusalem were breached (proceeding to the destruction of the Temple);
4. Prior to Bar Kokhba's revolt, Roman military leader Apostomus burned a Torah scroll;
5. 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 39.2, 52.6–7). However, the Jerusalem Talmud (Taanit IV,5) says that the breach of Jerusalem in the First Temple occurred on the 17th Tammuz as well; the text in Jeremiah 39 is explained by stating that the Biblical record was "distorted", apparently due to the troubled times.

More recently, the 17th of Tammuz was also the date of several events in U.S. history, including the Declaration of Independence in 5536 (July 4, 1776), the surrender of Vicksburg in 5623 (July 4, 1863), and the Confederate withdrawal from southern Pennsylvania in 5623 (July 4, 1863).

Customs

As a minor fast day, fasting lasts from dawn to shortly after dusk. Although it is customary among Ashkenazim to refrain from listening to music, public entertainment, and haircuts on this day, this is only because it is part of the Three Weeks (see below, Bein haMetzarim); other deprivations applicable to the major fasts (i.e. Yom Kippur and Tisha B'Av) do not apply.

A Torah reading, a special prayer in the Amidah (Aneinu), and (in many congregations) Avinu Malkenu are added at the morning Shacharit and afternoon Mincha services. Ashkenazi congregations also read a haftarah (from the prophet Isaiah) at Mincha. Congregations also recite during Shacharit a series of Selichot (special penitential prayers) reflecting the themes of the day.

Cycle of Fasts

The 17th 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 17th of Tammuz and ending with the 9th of Av are known as Bein haMetzarim ("between the straits", i.e. between the days of distress) or 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 Rabbati 1.29 (Lamentations Rabbah, fourth century CE?). This midrash glosses Lamentations 1.3, "All pursuers overtook her between the straits."

The "three weeks of mourning between the 17th of Tammuz and 9th of Av" is cited as a rabbinically instituted period of fasting for the "especially pious". Such fasting is observed from morning to evening, common with other rabbi-decreed fasts.

References

1. Minor Fasts
2. The Three Weeks: 17 Tammuz - 9 Av Mourning the Destruction - Torah.org
3. Rubin, Rabbi G. (2001). "The Giving of the Torah". Shavuot. Ohr Sameach. Retrieved 2009-05-28.
4. Zechariah 8:19
5. 8:19 Mechon-Mamre.org
6. The Roman Titus breached Jerusalem in the Second Temple period (Encyc. Judaica). Note that the Tosafot in (Rosh Hashana 18b cite the Jerusalem Talmud as arguing with our (Babylonian) Talmud.
7. Morse, Stephen P. "Answering "When did?" Calendar Questions in One Step". Retrieved 31 July 2011.
8. 17th of Tammuz - Tisha B'Av & the Three Weeks
9. Encyclopaedia Judaica, Second Edition, Volume 6. "Fasting and Fast Days". 2007. Keter Publishing House.

• Moveable holidays (2014 date missing)
• Jewish fast days
• Tabernacle and Jerusalem Temples
• Days of the Hebrew calendar