Public(?) Fast Days
What is the status of the fasts of י"ז תמוז, ג' תשרי, and י' טבת nowadays?
We see a number of disputes regarding the laws and customs of these fasts:
- ספרדים formally announce these fasts in shul on the previous שבת, and אשכנזים do not (שו"ע או"ח תקנ:ד).
- אשכנזים read a הפטרה at מנחה, while ספרדים do not.
- While the prevelant custom is to permit eating in the morning before dawn as long as one went to sleep with the stipulation that he was not accepting the fast, the מהר"ם is doubtful that this stipulation works.
- Some ראשונים hold that the fasts end at sunset, while others maintain that they end later, at nightfall.
I think that these disputes may all reflect two different approaches to these fasts.
Based on זכריה ח:יח, we learn (:ר"ה יח) that in a time of peace (understood as when the Temple is standing), these are days of joy, and in a time of persecution, they are fast days. In a time of neither peace nor persecution, such as nowadays, "if they so desire, they fast, and if they so desire, they don't fast."
The רמב"ן and the ר"ן point out that these are all inherently full תעניות ציבור, with all 5 of the restrictions that we observe on ט' אב and יום הכיפורים in force in a time of persecution. It's just that when כלל ישראל accepted to observe these fasts nowadays, we said, "we desire -- but only to a certain extent. We'll obstain only from eating and drinking, and only during the daytime." The ריטב"א and ריב"ש, on the other hand, see these days as "communal תעניות יחיד" (oxymoronic as that sounds), on which, in recognition of the events that led the נביאים to institute תעניות ציבור on these days in a time of persecution, we all observe individual fasts (with all of the usual leniencies of individual fasts).
The דברי יציב raises the question of whether the provision of a situation of neither peace nor persecution was part of the original תקנה of the נביאים. I think that the first approach above assumes that they are, so our observance of a fast on these days, even with its leniencies, is a partial קיום of "if they so desire, they fast," and of the original תעניות ציבור instituted by the נביאים. The second approach, on the other hand, might note that the verse from זכריה only addresses a case of them being either full fasts or days of joy, and assume that the question of what to do in a "regular" era was only addressed later. "If they so desire, they fast" means that the nature of the day is not covered by the תקנת נביאים at all, but individuals may choose on their own to observe a fast on this day (and our מנהג is that every individual should make this choice).
How these two approaches are reflected by the 4 disputes listed at the top of the post will be saved for the comments, if anybody's reading...
May our individual and communal introspection this עשרה בטבת help us to be זוכה to celebrate it next year as a day of ששון ושמחה.
