{"id":70037,"date":"2020-02-11T13:45:29","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T11:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=70037"},"modified":"2023-09-07T16:11:26","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T13:11:26","slug":"when-is-a-fast-not-a-fast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/when-is-a-fast-not-a-fast\/","title":{"rendered":"When Is A Fast Not A Fast?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Fasting to seek relief from drought is, unfortunately, a time-honored practice. Indeed, an entire tractate of the Babylonian Talmud\u2014<\/span>Masekhet Ta’anit<\/span><\/em>\u2014is devoted to it. Prayers would be recited in the public square, and an additional prayer service, called <\/span>Ne’ilah<\/span><\/em> (closure), was added to the daily order.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this chapter, God warned Jeremiah not to pray on behalf of the people, despite their dire circumstances, because they had renounced their right to His intercession. <\/span><\/p>\n

When they fast, I will not listen to their outcry; and when they present burnt offering and meal offering, I will not accept them. I will exterminate them by war, famine, and disease (12).<\/span><\/p>\n

Shadal* offered an important insight into the concept of fasting, connecting the word <\/span>tzom<\/span><\/em> to the action of gathering.<\/span><\/p>\n

It appears to me that the word <\/span>tzom<\/span><\/em> (fast) does not truly indicate the abstinence from food and drink, but the gathering of the people before God for penitence\u2026 Here, too, God says, \u201cWhen they fast, I will not listen to their outcry,\u201d implying that they had gathered for prayer. The word signifies intersection (<\/span>tzomet<\/span><\/em>)\u2026 and in my opinion this is its essential meaning, but it was subsequently borrowed to signify the abstinence\u2026 However, the main purpose of fasting is spiritual affliction and it is called \u201ca fast day\u201d only metaphorically (see Shadal to Isaiah 58:3.)<\/span><\/p>\n

A textual support for that insight may be drawn from Joel 1:14, where \u201cfast\u201d is used synonymously with assembly and gathering: “Solemnize a fast (<\/span>tzom<\/span><\/em>), Proclaim an assembly; Gather the elders\u2014all the inhabitants of the land\u2014 In the House of the Lord your God, And cry out to the Lord.”<\/span><\/p>\n

We, too, tend to get caught up in the physical elements of our fast days, often more so than their spiritual dimensions. We would do well to bear Shadal\u2019s keen philological insight in mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

*For an explanation of our objectives in studying Shadal\u2019s commentary,<\/span> see this introductory essay.\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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