Shiva Asar B’Tamuz.  The 17^th day of Tamuz.

“So?”, you ask.   It’s when the destruction of the two Great Temples were effected.  (Some folks will add that it’s the day when Moshe broke the tablets and when an idol was placed in the Holy of Holies of the Temple.) But, it’s  simply the day the walls of Jerusalem were breached by both the Babylonians and the Romans- which led to the destruction of both of the Temples.  (The other things ascribed to the 17^th of Tamuz can be found in the mishna of the final chapter of Ta’anit.)

It is one of the four fast days where we mourn the loss of the Great Temples in Jerusalem.  The “greatest” (or most sorrowful) is the one that comes in 3 weeks- the 9^th of Av (when the Temples fell- TWICE!).  The other two are Tzom G’dalia (the Fast of Gedalia, who was murdered because he was trying to keep the Jews together after the Great Destruction) and Asara B’Tevet (the 10^th of Tevet, when Nebuchadnezzer (the Babylonian) began his siege of Jerusalem).

Today is actually 40 days after the holiday of Sh’vuot.  (Now, you know why some folks say it was the day the Moshe broke the tablets.  He was up on Mount Sinai [Sh’vuot] for 40 days- and when he came down, he was mortified upon seeing the Golden Calf being worshiped by the Jews.)

But, today, the 17th of Tamuz, is the start of the 3 week period- the time between when the walls were breached and the Temples destroyed (that happened on the 9^th of Av).

The good thing- this is just a minor fast.  No food, no drink from dawn to dusk.  (Not like Yom Kipur which lasts for more than a day.)  But, we can wear leather shoes and take a shower.

Eminently doable.

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