Asara B'Tevet 5786 | Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz

Today's cheer is dedicated anonymously for the refor of Batgalina. May she have a refor. Um I know I said last week I would be talking about free will. I'm going to defer it for a week because I want to talk about assurb a little bit. So this will be a digression from our normal topic. Uh hopefully I won't be repeating. I think I'll have something something new to uh to share with you. First, as you just heard and as you know, Assures is the first of four fast days that commemorate different stages in the destruction of the Basikdash. And Assures, it is recorded that his army began the siege against Jerusalem that culminated in the destruction of the Basikdash several years later. So really nothing happened in Assar. It was the beginning of a siege on the 17th of T. So so it turns out though Assurbase is only connected to the first Basa Mikdash. There is no event uh on Assar that is connected to the second Basa mikdash. So Asarbase is about the first mikdash. Then we come to Shiva Sorbetamos. And according to the Mishna in Tinus on Shiva Sorbetamos, the Romans breached the walls of your shalam culminating in the Corbin 3 weeks later on the 9th of A. Now the Mishna in Tinus actually says that it is recorded in the book of Yahoo that the Babylonians breached the walls of Yushelim on the 9th of Tamos. So in reality there ought to have been a fast both on the 9th of Tamos and on the 17th of Tamos. The Kakim felt that would have been too much of a hardship. So we celebrate not celebrate we commemorate the events of breaching the walls of usim on the 17th which is the mikdash sheni. So it does turn out that is mikdash rishon shivasamos is mikdash sheni. Then we have the 9th of A which is of course the identical date for both the bias region and the bias sheni and uh the destructions are separated by 490 years. There are 490 years between the bay is rishon by the Babylonians and the bay is sheni by the Romans. And the last of the fasts which is the first the earliest one in the Jewish calendar year is sadalia. And s gdalia like is only connected to the firstban. It's not connected to the second and s gdalia is a postmortem fast meaning it's after the destruction of the temple. Meaning after nebuar was Mak the bay and most of the Jews were exiled from the land. He did allow a small group of people small group of Jews to remain in the land to be tenant farmers to pay taxation. And over this small group of Jews he appointed a righteous governor Gdalya Gdalya bin Aikam. and Gdalia bin Aikum was assassinated very shortly thereafter less than two months after the uh we observe the fast of Gdalia on the 3rd of Tish which is the day after Roshashana in fact most understand that Gdalia was actually assassinated on Roshashana itself but because you're not supposed to fast on a yumto we push off the fast of Gdalia to the first available free day which is the day after Roshashana. Gdalia was assassinated by rivals by political rivals who envied his position and in fact he was warned that these people are out to get him. Uh they wanted to meet with him for a meeting to discuss policy. He was warned by his uh staff so to speak that his life is in danger. He ought to take precautions. Uh the Gomorrah says he refused to accept lush and horror about people and as a result he was killed. And the Gomorrah says that's a very serious mistake because although it's true that just as you are not allowed to speak lashhara, you're not allowed to accept lash as absolutely true, but you nevertheless take the steps to protect yourself in the event it is true. So it's full arty as it were to ignore warnings that someone is going to hurt you. Now sidalia of course took place less than two months after the kurba and yet we do connected to the ba mikdash because it was the final nail in the coffin. Meaning as long as there was a Jewish presence in Eric Israel there was a hope that there would might be a speedy redemption. when uh Gdala was killed and that ended the Jewish settlement in Eric Israel. Even the small numbers of people that remained after the Kurban were dispersed. So at that point they realized that they were in for the long haul which actually the long haul compared to our gullet was not such a long haul but it was 70 uh it was 70 years. Now the origin of these four fasts is actually in the book of Zakaria. It's in Tanakh itself at least in an oblique way. Zakaria was one of the last nimagaria and Malahi are the very last prophets and they uh lived at the very beginning of the Bayeni after the 70 years of exile at the very beginning of the Bayeni and that's where Nvoua is dying out. In fact, Rashi comments that Zakaria's navu in particular are very very obscure and very dreamlike and difficult to interpret. And the explanation is because this is the very end of Nvoua. So the signals are fading. They're getting weaker and weaker and much harder to discern. And even the Nvi himself does not always fully understand the import of his prophecies. In fact, I'll give you a very interesting proof of that or at least indicator of that in a in a minute or or so. Now, in the Navi Zakaria perhan, uh there's actually a Shila Zakaria was asked Shila from the community of Jews who still lived in Bavl. Remember when the second temple was built, most of the Jews were not living in Arit Israel. Most of the Jews did not come back. only a small courageous minority came back and Zakaria gets a shila from the Jews in Bavl and that is hey do we still have to fast on the 9th of A because for 70 years we've been fasting on the 9th of After the destruction of the first temple now that the Bay Sheni is getting rebuilt do we fast now it's interesting that Zakaria eventually literally answers that question but it takes quite a long time. Uh for more than a peric he digresses and gives them muser for even asking the question. What is he so critical about? He says you're so focused on technicalities. Should you fast? Should you not fast? Do you think Hashem really cares if you fast or not fast? He doesn't really care if you eat and he doesn't really care if you fast. Hashem cares about the purity of your heart. Hashem cares about your intentions. Hashem cares about the kindness that you show the widow and the orphan and the stranger. And if fasting brings you to chuva and introspection and repentance, that's a good thing. But if it's simply a superficial ritual of not eating, but it does not change your behavior and your attitude and your feelings, then as far as God is concerned, it's no big deal. it's not worth that much. So he doesn't even answer the question until he gives them this big musmoose. Why are you fasting in the first place? I guess he had a sense it was almost as if they were rejoicing in the second temple only because they don't have to fast anymore. Meaning to say, "Oh great, it's so great. We got we don't have to fast." Like that's the like that's the point. And obviously that's not the point. But in terms of the answer to the question, Zakaria gives the following answer. Zakaria says the fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth month and the fast of the seventh month and the fast of the 10th month. Once we have a Bikdash, they will be days of festival and rejoicing. Now what are these names? Fourth month, fifth month. Because remember in Tanakh we always count our months from Nissan. So the fourth month is the fourth of Nissan. Fourth from Nissan which is Tamos, right? Nissan. So is the fast of Tamos. Although Lani I would suggest that the fast of Tamos in the time of Zakaria must have been on the 9th of Tamos not the 17th of Thomas because the breaking of the into the city of the walls was 9th of Tamos byon the 17th of Thomas of the Romans didn't happen yet but okay it's called the fast of tamasi the fifth month is the fast of a sashi which is tish is the fast of gdalia And which is today is the fast of the 10th month which happens to be the 10th of it's a double 10. This is 10th month 10th 10th day. So Zakaria answers that when you have a bet these fasts become and now note what he says. He doesn't just say you're not going to fast anymore. He says they become holidays. Now the logic of not fasting of course makes perfect sense. If you are fasting because we don't have a beta mikdash once we have a beta mikdash why fast but that doesn't explain why they become holidays let's say the nth of a 10th of t they will become yamim toim why would they become yumim tobim and the answer is to a large degree redemption comes into the world based on the degree of our yearning and our desire to have the revelation of god's shina in our midst. So in effect the crying, the mourning, the introspection, the chuva, the nephesh are the very things that bring gula into the world. So when gula finally comes, all of the days that we suffered and agonized, I mean how that we do have that attitude. I'm unfortunately we don't always get there but all of those days in which we grieved over the beta mikdash will become the stepping stones of ga they will be the yamim to yeah >> what happened during >> I'm going to get to it in a second I will actually address that in a second it's a very good question now uh that's the meaning says of the famous statement that mashiach is born on the 9th of A. So says Mar that does not mean the birthday of the human being that will be Mashiach happened to be on the 9th of A that's good for Kabad because the Reby's birthday was not on the 9th of A. Uh but whatever it would be the moral himself says that we don't know when Mashiach's birthday will be. It depends who Mashiach is. It could be any day of the year, but rather it means the birth of the koak, the spiritual force that brings redemption comes from the grieving and mourning of tishab and to some degree all of the all of the tan. Okay. So now the question becomes based on Zakaria's answer what did they do during the 420 years of the Bay Shading. So the simple understanding of the Gmorrah's interpretation in Masak's rashashana is that hey for the 420 years of the bay sheni they had a beta mikdash as a result these four days these four calendar days they became days of son and simra meaning there was a 420year interruption in the observance of these fast days and then unfortunately after the bay chain they got uh reinstituted. However, there's a fascinating comment of the Rambam in the perishayas to mas Roshashana where the Rambam asserts that although it's true that three out of the four days a Shivas or whatever nativas and Sadalia were not observed at all during the Bay Sheni. There were days of Son and Simha. The ninth of A was observed even in the Bay Sheni. The Rambam says the fast of Tisha Ba was observed for the four in the even during the 420 years of the Bay Sheni. So the question although this is not tish up it's at least peripherally corrected. I connect and I will go back to base shortly. Uh the question is uh why why would there be a point of fasting on the 9th of A when we have a beta mikdash? So there are a few possibilities to keep in mind. One possibility is that even when we were zoha to abas sheni there was never a full restoration of the glory of the bias reishon there were things we lost in the bayas rishon that we never ever regained in the bay sheni and we're not going to regain until the bay shalishi bhra viamu for example most notably We didn't have the orinha kodes and the lis if if when the coen guttle walked into the keshakim on yum kipper in the bay sheni for the yum kipper service it was an empty room there was nothing there there was no arakodesesh because yoshio hamelik was a very righteous king he knew that the babylonians are coming he knew they're going to eventually destroy the base of mikdash he had The aurin removed from the keshakshim and hidden. Supposedly it is still hidden under the harabayats somewhere. Um in the 19th century in particular uh there were Christian archaeologists who were searching for the arena kodesh. Who knows? Uh as far as we know the Vatican whatever they took possession of they did not get they never got possession of the arodesesh uh that remains where it remains. Uh number two, we lost nua other than the very last prophets. But after they died, there was no nva in the bay cheni. Num and nvua symbolizes the most intimate connection that god has with human beings is the gift of prophecy. Number uh three, the coen god did not have the orum. Now here here I I need to clarify a very common mistake that people make. People often think the urbim is the breastplate that the coen god wears with the 12 jewels upon which are engraved the 12vatim. That is not the or in that is called Hamishpat the breastplate of judgment and the jewels are called but the orim you might call is the software that activates the hardware. The orbit, which means the perfect light, refers to a piece of parchment upon which are inscribed certain names of Hashem. And when this piece of parchment was placed in the folds of the koshv because that was a folded garment that made the kosha vehicles for communicating divine prophecies by asking the orbitum questions and the letters would light up which means it's pro it's a form of prophecy. Okay. So, so when we say they did not have the orim vumim in the bayeni that does not mean the coen god did not have the koshish with jewels. First of all, even if the original one got lost, you make another one. That's that's it. You can't make another aura because the aura had so we were stuck with that. But anything else, anything in the BA mikdash other than the oresh itself, anything that gets lost, you just remake. So if for whatever reason uh the koshish had been taken by the Babylonians, you can make another one. But the thing that was lost was either it means the parchments were lost and we didn't know the shame or what's actually more likely is we had the parchments but it stopped working and that makes perfect sense because shame that we lost prophecy we lost the communication of again I I I I repeat this point because many many many people make a mistake by confusing with the they are not the came and it was only the orbit between him that was lost. By the way, those of you that u might be graduates of Yale University undoubtedly know that Yale University's motto which certainly is not matim to it in any way. Uh but Yale University's motto are the Hebrew words, Hebrew words in Hebrew letters because they have the ubris to claim that they are the source of perfect knowledge. Of course, I would say this is lashon sag no just like we call the the very small kdish that we make shabas morning. It's called kush raba the great kdish. It's called a euphemism. So I guess in that spirit Yale can call itself. Okay. Um so that's the um idea. Ah so therefore going back to teach therefore since the second temple never gave us back which we had in the first temple we could still mourn the first beta mikdash even when we had the second beta mikdash and inami when we have the third beta mikdash no tish or tish will be now a second explanation is actually given by ravik the rav and the rav says the following idea he says It was known that the second temple was going to be destroyed. Remember this was denil. Dneal had a vision which used the number 70 weeks of years. A week is seven years. There are 70 weeks of years decreed on the city and this was understood to mean that between the rishon and the bay sheni will be 490 years. But they knew this. They knew this upfront. They knew that the Bay Sheni was not going to endure. Now they also knew that the day of its destruction would be the ninth of A. So every ninth of Av was a day of great pad, a great a day of great terror because the 490 was not understood by everybody. So really every tishabove they thought that this might be the year of destruction. So as a result the rav suggests tishabove in the bay sheni had a different purpose than tishabove today or during the 70 years. Tishabove during the 70 years and today is mourning what we don't have. He suggests the tishabove of the bay sheni was a prayer that you're fasting that a calamity should not occur. That's a very interesting point meaning he's saying it was not a fast of mourning. It was not a tinus of aos. It was a tinus that piranios catastrophe should not come. Now I'm going to come back to that because this may be very very interest. I'm going to say a a kdish that I think although I don't have any proof of it all but it's based on on the following idea. You know on one level is a very lenient fast starts in the morning. Uh if you're not feeling well we're much more lenient than than other fast days. But does have some peculiarities. One peculiarity we even have even today. Well, well, there's a secular peculiarity which is not relevant to to but I'll mention it because occurs either in December or in January depending on the leap here. So, it's actually possible you can have two Assaures in one Gregorian year. So, for example, if Assures was in January one year, it might be at the end of December the next year. So it's the only I believe it's the only Jewish event in which you can have two within a Gregorian year. But again that's as far as I know that is notically significant. But okay but one thing that is interesting is we know that you're not allowed to fast on Shabas. And yet just like you don't fast on Shabas you're also not supposed to fast on Araf Shabas. Why aren't you allowed to fast on Friday? Because we don't want you to enter Shabas in a state of being uncomfortable because if you're going to fast on Friday so you're not going to eat until kdish at that point you're not going to be feeling well we don't want even the first minutes of shabas uh to be in distress but to this very day can be can occur on Friday and when occurs on Friday you might remember this if you're if you're able to fast we actually fast until after Mariff and the first thing that we do is the first thing that we eat is the wine of kdish which is not the best thing that to have in your stomach uh after a fast but indeed can be observed on Friday that's an unusual thing but the aburaam one of the great great reishonimil says even a bigger the abuham makes the argument that if could fall on Chabas, we would even fast on Chabas just like Yom Kipur. Uh now the reason why he says if it could fall on chabas is this is an untestable proposition because based on the Jewish calendar it happens to be impossible for a surve to ever fall on shabas. It can't happen. Basically, it's because of Rashashana, right? Rashashana, out of the seven days of the week, there are three days that the first day of Rashashana cannot fall out on. It cannot fall out on Sunday, Wednesday, Friday. So, rashashana can be Monday, can be Tuesday, can be Thursday, can be shabas. But it cannot be Sunday, Wednesday, Friday. This is the famous uh say saying of the Jewish calendar, lo adu roshashana cannot be on Sunday, Wednesday, Friday. So even if the astronomical new moon is one of those days, rashashana is pushed off to the next day. The whole calendar, I mean, you don't have to worry about this per se. It's built into the calendar. But the whole Jewish calendar is based on load ro. That's the most important principle in how the calendar was set up. Now you understand that once you've limited the days of Roshashana, then all the other holidays and all the other events automatically are going to be affected by that in terms of when they can fall out. So it's not intrinsic that a cannot be on chabas but because of the rashashana rules it cannot be on chabas but says the raham theoretically you fast even on chabas now the question is very very obvious even if the nth of a falls out on chabas the day of itself we don't fast on chabas we push it off to moai shabas so how Could Assara bet? Yes, Assures commemorates the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem. But how could it be stricter than the ninth of a if the nth of a doesn't override chabas? So why would override chabas? So the arsame gives a very important difference between tish and he brings a an interesting shita of the mabit. Mabit is an abbreviation Mosha ben yoseph trani. Mosha ben yoseph tran lived invat with ysef kara. In fact, Kairo was the RV ofat in the 1500s and the mabit was the avast ofat. Uh they did not get along on a lot ofic matters and sometimes there were harsh words between them. It's hard to imagine this but nevertheless they were both considered to be great great kadollum. The mitch wrote many many shulos and the like. And the mabids posits that although there's an issa and the other type of fast is only an issan and he says the dorisa prohibition of fasting is to have a 24-hour fast on chabas any fast that is less than a 24-hour duration is prohibited is prohibited but it is only prohibited rabbitically. Now based on this the arsame writes the au can be understood it would be impossible to have the fast of the nth of a on shabas because since the nth of a is a 24-hour fasting on shabas would be an iser d o risa. Now tishabove is a rabbitic fast. So obviously you can't have a rabbitic fast that would violate a da unlike yamipper. Kipper is a Torah fast. So that could override no fasting on Shabas etc. Uh but but but ninth of A is rabbitic fast. So the 10th of Tes precisely because it's not a 24-hour fast is only an is deran to fast and as a result the rabbitic fast of the 10th of Tes can override that prohibition. Now, that's a very ingenious answer, but that only explains part of the question. That explains why you would be allowed to fast on Shabas. But that doesn't explain why is stricter than Shiva or its own. In in other words, yeah, you've technically removed the problem of fasting on chabas, but you haven't explained why is given a distinction that is not given to the 17th of Thomas. Remember whenever tisha falls out on chabas, the 17th of Thomas falls out on chabas three weeks earlier and there we do fast on Sunday. Meaning the mabit is not an answer why the 10th of Tes is different. It simply shows why the 9th of A is different. Meaning we can't fast on the 9th of A when it falls out on Shabas. We could fast on a less than a 24-hour fast because that's raan and a rabbitic fast could override it. So here there's a thought from theam cipher that says the following. Although rabbitically you're not allowed to fast on Shabas even if it's less than 24 hours, right? Rabbitically for sure. There is actually one fast that you are allowed to fast on Shabas. Interesting. And that is you're allowed to fast a fast for a bad dream. Let's say a person had a bad dream, a dream that somebody died or a dream of a calamity or a tragedy. Now this is not mandatory. No one says you have to do this and many people don't and they give stuck instead and sometimes we actually discourage people from extra fasting. But there is an institution within the that is called tanit fasting to avert an evil decree that might be in a dream. Of course, these paras of the Torah, although we're now finished with it, but mikes is all about dreams. And obviously, one of the one of the things you walk away with is that dreams do carry divine messages. On the other hand, we also have the other idea that just as all grain has chaff that you throw away, dreams are filled with dvarim betalum. So it's not certainly not the case that every dream and everything in the dream in a dream carries a divine message. Sometimes it may just be your reaction to something you ate or it might be anxieties that you have. Okay? So, we're not saying all dreams are messages from God. Nevertheless, they might be. And especially when a dream is repetitive, meaning you have it over and over again, there might be cause for concern. So there is something called tinetum and tinetalum even though it's not even though it's not mandatory is so significant that if you had a dream Friday night you could fast even on shabas tinus shalom even on shabas fact they say the whose dreams were probably prophetic based on his madrega often faster than chabas there are many many occasions where People observed the fasting on Shabas. But here's the funny thing. You're allowed to fast on Shabas, but because you committed the sin of fasting on Shabas, you must have another fast during the week to be for the sin of fasting on Shabas. I would just caution you, don't do the second fast on Shabas because then then you're going to get into infinite uh infinite sequencing here. Um okay, it's a very odd thing. You're allowed to fast on Shabas and you have to have a tinus as a so why is tinusal different? Why do we allow Tus? So theam cipher says the following. He says, "When we say you're not allowed to fast on Shabas, it means you don't fast for calamities that have already occurred. But when you're afraid a calamity is going to occur, like right, you're not fasting because of what did happen. You're fasting over what might happen." So that fast to to remove your anxiety and your pad you can do even on Shabas that almost becomes on Shabas because it's not a fasting over the past is a fasting to avert a tragedy of the future and that of Tinus. So it says theam sair this might be what the means because we know on rash every rash. So it says that right that's when hashem decides who will live and who will die with the final judgment on yum kipper for middle of the road people. Uh yomadin rashan is a yaden says theam so a bet is also a yaden bet is when hashem decides will we merit the building of the b mikdash this year. So the fast of says theam is not simply mourning an event that occurred but it is fasting to get a favorable yomad that we should be zoka to the rebuilding of the b mikdash this year. And therefore theamifer says the same way you can have a tanalum on shabas you could have the abu says theoretically you could have the fast of on chabas because it is the yomadin for binan b hamed. That's an amazing idea which makes this day especially important. It's the yo mad hashem decides are we worthy of having a beta mikdash. So meaning even tishabove is not that tishabove is memorializing the past. Now here though I wanted to add a littleish that I think I have and that is if you remember what I said around 20 minutes ago I know I'm not I don't expect you to but I had mentioned the the Rambam who said that they fasted during the 9th of A during the Bay Sheni and if you remember I mentioned Raf Salvik's explanation that in the Bay Sheni they were fasting not because it was morning but they were fasting to aver avert calamity. So it turned out that tishab in the bayeni had the function that theam cipher assigns to. So I'm wondering I'm just wondering therefore based on that when they observe the nth of a during the bay sheni did they in fact fast on shabas but now that I said this I think they didn't because you still have the mabitz problem that a 24-hour fast is an isa so with all of that. Okay. So, I I I retract my my with all of that uh you could not have a 24-hour fast on Shabas because that is a Torah prohibition and that cannot be set aside uh by by the na. But now, so one might think the following. If this is the day where God decides are we going to be za for mikdash or not. So once this day passes, why why do we keep on praying for the bas mikdash? It was either decided or not decided. Well, if you think about it, you have the identical problem after Rashashana and Yamipper, right? Rashana, Yam Kipper. Okay, good. There are extensions, Hosan Raba. Some even give you an extension to Khaneka. Okay, when is the last time that God gives you a definitive judgment? But I tell you, I really think Kaneka is as late as we go with all of the extensions. Kaneka is last extension. So what's the point of domining? What's the point of praying? What's the point of asking for mercy? It's all been decided. Obviously, that's not the case. Even after Hashem has made a judgment in Shayim, whatever the finality of that judgment, in fact, look at the phrase here. This is important. They remove the evil decree. That means the following. This is important language. It removes a decree that was already made. Meaning even if in shamayim it was decreed already, it can be changed. Meaning there really is no such thing as absolute finality. Finality. The only thing is it's much easier to try to get a favorable judgment in the first place than it is to get an unfavorable judgment changed. So it behooves us to try to get our felos and our chuba in before Hashem makes the judgment rather than after Hashem makes the judgment. That's true. Nevertheless, even after final judgment, hope is not abandoned. And therefore, same thing with BA mikdash. It is true that according to the sofare is the yomad mikdash. But even after that yomad can change things and bring the ba mikdash very very soon. Yeah. I always thought that roah means that Hashem still will bring the zerra but in a different way. Let's say it's still bringing floods. He'll bring little >> No, that that's a that's a very good shot. Yeah, that that indeed is a very good shot. The evil part of the gazer. Uh but what it still means is that even after finality, things can be modified, things can be changed, things can be implemented in a different way. Meaning one should not make the assumption that after Yam Kipper or after Kaneka whatever whatever whatever your terminus is uh at this point you know whatever happens happens and I have no ability to turn to Hashem. Of course that's not the case. I mean that's why we dive I mean why do I dive in after Yamiper? I mean basically well so some people say well I'm domining for next year this year uh is for a problem. That's not the case. Obviously you davin uh every single day because every single day there can be a a Yeshua a Yeshua gdola. Okay. So this is um the uniqueness of betas uh that this is a yong dinyan beta mikdash. Now as you know I I don't know how commonly this is done uh after the holocaust where many many people did not know the yard sites of their family their parents their spouses their children so they didn't know what day to observe the yard site so init that would be the yomite for people who don't know the yard site to say kadesh and and the like I'm not sure how commonly that's followed I'm not even sure how many people are aware of it. Um in fact in earlier post him it was brought down that yam kipper uh can be treated as the yard site for unknown yard sites or some say tishab uh right so but be this may the rabbut's practice has been uh that is the is the >> announced last night the >> this was the raman in kata >> oh yeah yeah Right. Right. Right. Right here. Yeah. Yeah. >> Were were there like specific were there like people who were were saying kadesh because of them? Many >> many many people. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. It's important uh whatever the day but it's important that there be a day and there be important be it be a way that this a can be acknowledged and uh the the hashem should be given the kavot of observing their observing their their yard sites. Okay. Now uh the says the following. How much time do I have? Okay. I'll have to be quick on this. But the says the following. Although is the only mandatory fast but sadikim have a three-day fast. They fast on the eth of tves. They fast on the 9th of tase. They fast on the 10th of t although they eat on the nights in between obviously. All right. So what's going on? So the eth of tes nothing to do with the basa mikdash. That was the day that the 70 elders in Alexandria completed the translation of the Torah into Greek that was commissioned. This is during the second B mdash commissioned by Talmay Talmay who wanted a a copy of every book in the world. In those days there were fewer books than today but every book he wanted a copy of the Torah. He commissioned 70 elders to be matar the Torah. Uh we don't know how long it took. Maybe it took two years. We don't really know. But it was finished. The sem was the eighth of tes. Uh and this is known as the tarum shim or the septuagent which means the same thing or in scholarly literature it is abbreviated LXX. So when you see LXX which is Roman numeral that's the septuagent. the translation of the Torah into Greek. Pho of Alexandria, who was somewhat of an observant Jew, I guess we would call him Sorati, uh, and a great philosopher who knew the Torah, actually writes that the eighth of Tbase was a Yam in Alexandria because they were celebrating the fact that they got a translation of the Torah into Greek. And yet our kahim called that a day of darkness, a day of sadness and sadikim fasted on the eth of tesol. So the question is what's so bad? I mean we have art scroll, we have all of these great translations. What's so bad? So there's a lot of things we could say. Uh one is it was done under coercion. Uh, number two, there were distortions that were introduced not to antagonize the melik. Number three, translations were considered dangerous because they gave non-Jews access to the Torah, which they could then distort and misinterpret. And number four, it was a kaval that most of the Jews in Alexandria, which was a huge, huge city, were not literate in Hebrew and certainly were not able to understand it. So really, it goes back to the idea that translations are blessings, but they're also curses. uh even today uh if a person has two broken legs and they're given a pair of crutches or a walker that is a great blessing which we're tremendously grateful for but on the other hand it would have been better we think if the legs wouldn't be broken so a translation is exactly the same thing a translation is a tremendous gift we owe art scroll or all the all the other translators tremendous tremendous this is not going to knock a magnificent accomplishment of making the Torah accessible to people on all levels. That's a great that's a great thing and that's a great braha. On the other hand, there's a certain sadness that our generation needs it. Uh because first of all every translation by definition you know um every translation is actually a commentary in the sense that a given word can have many many meanings and the translator is picking one of them which is fine but as a result any learning through translation is you're not getting the other nuances that that might be there. So again this may be a talk for another time more brios uh but nevertheless it is recorded that the eth of tes was a fast day because of the completion of the mashim then we come to the nth of tves fast day so here the gives you a tantalizing reme the didn't want to give you the reason righteous people fasted we're not going to tell you why Well, I can tell you that that certainly excites curiosity. You read a statement like that. Yeah, some people fast on this day, but we're not going to give you the reason. Now, the standard reason that's given that appears in the sleos actually that were that some of you might have recited this morning is that the ninth of tes was the yard site of Ezra. Ezra was the spiritual leader at the time of the beginning of the second temple. Ezra established the anessa sagdollah. Ezra is what's considered by khazal to be a second mosha raenu adak that the gmorrah says had mohea not already received the Torah Ezra would have been great enough to be mabel the Torah. So, one could understand that the anniversary of his death would be a tragedy, a sadness that we would still remember. But the problem with that is that's no reason to keep it secret. That can't be what the shar is referring to. Why would we keep it a secret that this is the yard site of Ezra Hassof? Why not? So because of this there are other reasons that have been unearthed that are connected to Christianity and there are reasons that we didn't want to publicize it. We didn't want the Christians to hear about it. Reason number one is that the 9th of Tes may have been the actual birthday. Like last week uh the Christian world had a very important day that they celebrate on December 25. Whether it's accurate or not, who knows? But according to some of our traditions, the 9th of Tes, yesterday was the actual birthday of Jesus of Nazareth of Yesha. Uh and uh even though he of course was Jewish and we're not even talking about what he intended. That's an interesting question. What did he intend? But nevertheless, it is the fact that uh Christianity has inflicted tremendous tremendous harm over Jews over 2,000 years. Uh it created many many sorrows, many many deaths, torturings, and as a result uh sadikim would fast on the birthday, the Hebrew birthday of Jesus of Nazareth. Uh and obviously we keep it secret. We don't want the Christians, don't tell anybody, uh to know that we fast on the day that their savior was born. That looks like a pretty much of an insult. So that's reason number two. Uh Ezra, as I say, there's no reason why that would be secret, but reason number two is birthday of Yashka. But reason number three is especially wild, and it is based on a late medieval, it's called Midash, which may or may not be accurate. Okay, this is not an authoritative medish, but this was a folk medish. The word medish is not even appropriate, but but but they are called midrashim. Don't confuse them with the medish rabba, the medish tantum that I would call canonical midrashim that are part of kazal. These are kind of folk midrashim that were widely studied and were publicized and did enter the consciousness even of rishonim and aonim but they are not necessarily authoritative. And this folk medish says that the ninth of tves is the yard site the yard site not the birth the yard site of a man called Shimon Kipa. Shimon Keipa mean Kipa is Aramaic for rock. Shimon Keipa is Simon the rock or Simon Peter which means rock and this is none other than the apostle Peter Yashka's closest disciple the one who was his successor the first bishop of Rome i.e the pope, right? Peter is the first pope, bishop of Rome. And Yoshka called him Peter, meaning rock, Petra, rock, because he said, "You are the rock upon which I will establish my church." So we are mourning the death of Shimona. Why would we be mourning the death of Shimonipa? If anything, you know, maybe celebrate or just ignore it. Why would we mourn? Like, you know, you observe the yard sight of Ezra, you observe the yard sight of Shimon Kipa. Why? So, this is what the medra says. This is a very wild story. The early Christians were all Jews. Obviously, Yashk himself was a Jew. The early Christians were domining in Scholes, putting on like Messianic Jews today. Uh, wearing sites, keeping chabas, keeping kosher. Shimon Keipa was a righteous man and he saw this as a tremendous danger to Judaism because if Christians live within Jewish communities and practice Jewish rituals they will be very easily able to influence people to follow those beliefs. So Shimon Kipa went to the Sanhedrin and he proposed the equivalent of a spiritual suicide mission. He said, "I know I may lose my olaba. I will separate myself from the Jewish people. I will become a follower of Jesus and I will create Christianity as a separate religion that rejects Judaism instead of living within Judaism. And therefore he left. He moved the church from Jerusalem to Rome. He created a rejection of Judaism, a disparagement of Judaism in order that all Christian influences would be taken out of the Jewish religious environment. And it is said in this medish that privately he was observant. He was keeping the mitzvot but publicly he was denouncing Jews and this was his suicide mission to get Christianity out of Judaism and to commemorate his righteous self-sacrifice. There were sadikum who observed the art side of his death. They didn't want to publicize it but this is what this folk medish says. And it goes even further and it says his last request was he composed a prayer and he asked to incorporate that prayer in the liturgy. So he has some shayim and that prayer is none other than the beautiful prayer nishmat that we recite on chabas that this medish asserts that shimon kipa is the author of nishmat. Now the maker vitri written by one of rashi's great of vitri so he's a rishon actually records y om that shimonipa is the author of nishmat but then says absolutely not so this is a big mistake a lot of times scholarly literature will say shimonipa is the author of nishmat and it'll cite vitri got to check your footnotes maker vitri does record that tradition. It's true. But Maku Vitri says it's incorrect. So is any of this story true? I have no idea. I I have my suspicions it might not be true. But nevertheless, it did permeate consciousness and I know uh professor Schneer layman some of you might know him a great great brilliant both Tom and scholar of Jewish history wrote a whole article on this and he asserted that the true origin of the mysterious fast of the 9th of Tes was not Ezra's yard site and was not Yoska's birthday but it was this folk medish observing the yard site of Shimon Shimon Kipa. So this is an example where even if the history was wrong, it did influence the consciousness of segments of our people to adopt certain practices.