Editing Seventeenth of Tammuz

{{Short description|Jewish fast day}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox holiday
|holiday_name = Seventeenth of Tammuz
|official_name = {{langx|he|שבעה עשר בתמוז}}
|date = 17th day of [[Tammuz (Hebrew month)|Tammuz]]
|observances = [[Fasting]], [[prayer]]
|type = [[Judaism|Jewish religious]] and national
|significance = Date when the walls of [[Jerusalem]] were breached
|relatedto = The fasts of the [[Tenth of Tevet]] and [[Tisha B'Av]], [[the Three Weeks]] & [[the Nine Days]]
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| date{{CURRENTYEAR}} = {{Calendar date/infobox|year=current}}
| date{{NEXTYEAR}}    = {{Calendar date/infobox|year=next}}
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[[File:Circle of Juan de la Corte - The Burning of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar’s Army - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Nebuchadnezzar's army burns [[Jerusalem]]. (c. 1630–1660)]]

The '''Seventeenth of Tammuz''' ({{langx|hbo|{{Script/Hebr|שִׁבְעָה עָשָׂר בְּתַמּוּז}}}}, [[Modern Hebrew|Modern]]: ''Shiv'á Asár beTammúz'', [[Tiberian Hebrew|Tiberian]] ([[Romanization_of_Hebrew|SBL]]): ''Šib̲ʿāʿāśār bəṯammuz'')) is a [[Ta'anit|Jewish fast day]] commemorating the breach of the walls of [[Jerusalem]] before the destruction of the [[Second Temple]].<ref name=mishna>{{cite wikisource |title=Mishnah Ta'anit 4:6 |wslink=Translation:Mishnah/Seder Moed/Tractate Taanit/Chapter 4/6}}</ref><ref name="jvl">{{cite web|title=Minor Fasts|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/minor-fasts|website=Jewish Virtual Library|access-date=June 2, 2017}}</ref> It falls on the 17th day of the fourth [[Hebrew calendar|Hebrew month]] of [[Tammuz (Hebrew month)|Tammuz]] and marks the beginning of [[The Three Weeks]], a mourning period leading up to [[Tisha B'Av]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.torah.org/learning/yomtov/3weeks/ |title=The Three Weeks: Mourning the Destruction |publisher=Torah.org |year=2007 |access-date=July 8, 2012}}</ref>

The day also traditionally commemorates the destruction of the two tablets of the [[Ten Commandments]] and other historical calamities that befell the Jewish people on the same date.<ref name=mishna />

==History==
[[File:David Roberts - The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans Under the Command of Titus, A.D. 70.jpg|thumb|250x250px|"The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans Under the Command of Titus, A.D. 70" by [[David Roberts (painter)|David Roberts]] (1850)]]
The fast of Tammuz, according to [[Rabbi Akiva]]'s interpretation, is the fast mentioned in the [[Book of Zechariah]] as "the fast of the fourth [month]" ([[Zechariah 8#Verse 19|Zechariah 8:19]]). This refers to Tammuz, which is the fourth month of the [[Hebrew calendar]].

According to the [[Mishnah]],<ref name=mishna /> five calamities befell the Jewish people on this day: 
#Moses broke the two tablets of stone on Mount Sinai, when he saw the [[Golden calf]];<ref>When Moses descended from the mountain, he saw the letters engraved on the Tablets ascending. Therefore he broke the Tablets (''[[Tanchuma]], [[Ki Tissa]] #26''). Moses made a great rectification. When he saw the letters ascending, he realized that sanctity was returning on high and that Godliness was becoming concealed again. By breaking the Tablets, Moses made sure that people would have to search for Godliness. And if they search, they will find it (''Likutey Halakhot III, p. 33a'')</ref>
#During the [[Siege of Jerusalem (597 BC)|Babylonian siege of Jerusalem]] the daily [[Korban|''tamid'' offering]] ceased to be brought because no sheep were available;
#During the [[siege of Jerusalem (AD 70)|Roman siege of Jerusalem]], the city walls were breached, leading to the destruction of the [[Second Temple]] on [[Tisha B'Av]];
#Prior to [[Bar Kokhba's revolt]], Roman military leader [[Apostomus]] burned a [[Torah]] scroll;
#An idol was erected in the Temple.

The Babylonian Talmud places the second and fifth tragedies in the [[First Temple]] period.<ref name="taanit">''[[Ta'anit (Talmud)|Taanit]]'' 28b</ref>

The [[Book of Jeremiah]] (39.2, 52.6–7) states that the walls of Jerusalem during the First Temple were breached on the 9th of Tammuz.
Accordingly, the [[Talmud|Babylonian Talmud]] dates the third tragedy (breach of Jerusalem's walls) to the Second Temple period.<ref name="taanit"/> However, the [[Jerusalem Talmud]] (''[[Ta'anit (Talmud)|Taanit]]'' IV, 5) states that in both eras the walls were breached on 17th Tammuz, and that the text in Jeremiah 39 is explained by stating that the Biblical record was "distorted", apparently due to the troubled times.<ref>The Roman Titus breached Jerusalem in the Second Temple period ([[Encyclopedia Judaica]]). Note that the [[Tosafot]] commenting on the Babylonian Talmud at ''[[Rosh Hashana]]'' 18b cite the Jerusalem Talmud as arguing with the Babylonian Talmud.</ref>

The Seventeenth of Tammuz occurs forty days after the [[Jewish holiday]] of [[Shavuot]]. [[Moses]] ascended [[Biblical Mount Sinai|Mount Sinai]] on Shavuot and remained there for forty days. The Children of Israel made 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 [[Israelite]]s were violating many of the laws he had received from God, and smashed the tablets.<ref name="ohr">{{cite web|url=http://ohr.edu/yhiy/article.php/991|title=The Giving of the Torah|last=Rubin|first=Rabbi G.|year=2001|website=Ohr.edu|access-date=May 28, 2009}}</ref>

==Customs==
As a minor fast day, fasting lasts from dawn to shortly after dusk. It is [[minhag|customary]] among [[Ashkenazi Jews]] to refrain from listening to music, public entertainment, and haircuts on fast days, and on this occasion because it is also part of [[The Three Weeks]] (see below, ''Bein haMetzarim'').<ref>{{cite web|url=http://crownheights.info/something-jewish/446126/laws-and-customs-17-tammuz-and-the-3-weeks/|title=Laws and Customs: 17 Tammuz and the 3 Weeks|website=Crownheights.info|date=July 14, 2014 |access-date=July 1, 2018}}</ref> Other deprivations applicable to the major fasts (i.e. [[Yom Kippur]] and Tisha B'Av) do not apply.<ref>Shulchan Aruch OC 550:2.</ref>

If the 17th of Tammuz falls on a Shabbat, the fast is instead observed the next day, the 18th of Tammuz (on Sunday).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Fast of Tammuz {{!}} United Synagogue|url=https://www.theus.org.uk/article/fast-tammuz|access-date=2022-01-12|website=www.theus.org.uk}}</ref> This last occurred in 2022, and will occur again in 2029.

A [[Torah]] reading, a special prayer in the [[Amidah]] ([[Aneinu]]), and in many, but not all, Ashkenazic communities [[Avinu Malkenu]] are added at the morning [[Shacharit]] and afternoon [[Mincha]] services. Ashkenazi congregations also read a [[haftarah]] (from the [[Book of Isaiah]]) at Mincha. Congregations also recite during Shacharit a series of [[Selichot]] (special penitential prayers) reflecting the themes of the day.<ref name="chabad">{{Cite web |url=http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/479885/jewish/The-17th-of-Tammuz.htm |title=17th of Tammuz: History, Laws and Customs - > |access-date=July 10, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170712143529/http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/479885/jewish/The-17th-of-Tammuz.htm |archive-date=July 12, 2017 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

==Cycle of fasts==
The 17th of Tammuz is the second of the four fasts commemorating the destruction of the Temple and the Jewish [[Babylonian captivity|exile in Babylon]]. It is preceded by the fast of the [[Tenth of Tevet]] and arrives three weeks prior to the full-day fast of the [[Tisha B'Av|Ninth of Av]].<ref name="chabad"/> The cycle is also associated historically with the [[Fast of Gedalia]], which is observed on the third day of [[Tishrei]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Zechariah 8:19 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Zechariah.8.19?lang=bi |access-date=2024-08-15 |website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref>

==''Bein haMetzarim''==
{{main|The Three Weeks}}
The three weeks beginning with the 17th 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 The Three Weeks. Some customs of mourning, which commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem, are observed from the start of the Three Weeks.<ref>{{cite web |date=June 19, 2002 |title=17th of Tammuz |url=http://www.aish.com/tishabav/tishabavdefault/17th_of_Tammuz.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815152135/http://www.aish.com/h/9av/oal/48943446.html |archive-date=August 15, 2018 |access-date=July 1, 2018 |website=Aish.com}}</ref> 

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 ([[Midrash Rabbah|Lamentations Rabbah]], fourth century CE?). This [[midrash]] glosses [[book of Lamentations|Lamentations]] 1:3, "All [Zion's] pursuers overtook her between the straits."

The three weeks of mourning between the 17th of Tammuz and 9th of Av is cited<ref>''[[Encyclopaedia Judaica]]'', Second Edition, Volume 6. "Fasting and Fast Days". 2007. [[Keter Publishing House]].</ref> as a [[Takkanah#Introduction|rabbinically instituted]] period of fasting for the "especially pious". Such fasting is observed from morning to evening, common with other rabbi-decreed fasts.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*Rabbi [[Eliezer Melamed]] – [[Peninei Halakha]] – [http://ph.yhb.org.il/en/category/zemanim/05-07/ The Laws of the Seventeenth of Tammuz]

{{Jewish and Israeli holidays}}{{The Three Weeks}}

[[Category:Days of the Hebrew calendar|Tammuz 17]]
[[Category:Jewish fast days|Tammuz 17]]
[[Category:Tammuz (Hebrew month) observances|Tammuz 17]] 
[[Category:The Three Weeks|Tammuz 17]]