{"id":79440,"date":"2020-08-30T15:55:42","date_gmt":"2020-08-30T12:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=79440"},"modified":"2020-08-30T15:55:42","modified_gmt":"2020-08-30T12:55:42","slug":"getting-the-question-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/getting-the-question-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting The Question Right"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cShall I continue to weep and fast in the fifth month?\u201d So asks the delegation of Jews who have returned to Jerusalem to begin rebuilding the Holy Temple after 70 years of exile in Babylonia.<\/p>\n

During the time the Jews were in exile, four fast days were established in memory of the destruction of the First Temple: the seventeenth of Tammuz to mourn the day the walls of Jerusalem were breached; the ninth of Av (Tisha B\u2019Av) mourning the loss of the Holy Temple itself; the fast of Gedaliah in Tishrei in memory of the assassination of the leader Gedaliah; and the tenth of Tevet mourning the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though our sages agree that implicit in the question posed by this delegation was the inclusion of all four of these fasts, they also question why Tisha B\u2019Av was the fast specified in this question to Zechariah. Abarbanel suggests the uniqueness of the source of mourning on Tisha B\u2019Av from the other three fasts. While all four mourn the loss of something physical, Tisha B\u2019Av mourns more than the loss of the Temple structure. Says Abarbanel, the people recognized that this Second Temple would be different from the First, with the most significant difference being that, indeed, the divine presence would not be apparent as it was previously. So, their question makes some sense. Will the Second Temple really make up for the loss of the First Temple or have we lost something that will remain forever irreplaceable such that we should continue mourning its loss?<\/span><\/p>\n

God\u2019s response, in true Jewish form, is to answer the question of continued fasting with another question: Why have you been fasting? To this reply, Zechariah adds a reminder of what God has said all along He wants from His people: execute true justice, deal loyally and compassionately with one another, look after the disadvantaged and marginalized and don\u2019t plot against each other (7:9-10).<\/span><\/p>\n

The fact that the question had to be asked was indicative of the answer they already knew. If they were fasting on Tisha B\u2019Av to remember what happened, then the question makes sense. But if they were fasting to remember <\/span>why<\/span><\/i> it happened, as they should be, then they were asking the wrong question. Rather than \u201cshould we stop fasting\u201d the question should have been: \u201cW<\/span>hat should we do differently this time around to ensure our redemption is deserved?\u201d That was the question God answered.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"Getting The Question Right","main_caption":"Rather than \u201cshould we stop fasting\u201d the question should have been: \u201cWhat should we do differently this time around to ensure our redemption is deserved?\u201d","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79440"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79440"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79441,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79440\/revisions\/79441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}