SHOVAVIM TAT

The words of the title of this piece are made up of the initial letters of the first eight sedras of the book of Sh'mot: Sh'mot, Va'eira, Bo, B'shalach, Yitro, and Mishpatim, and then T'ruma and T'tzaveh. In days gone by (and to some extent, even today) there are indiviuals who fast on the eight Thursdays of these weeklysedras. The original custom was to observe SHOVAVIM TAT only during a 13-month (double Adar) year; subsequently, the custom was extented to regular (12-month) years, as well, but only the first six of the eight.

To understand the origin of these "private" fast days, one must also know about two sets of three fasts each, known as BaHa"B. BaHa"B is BET-HEI-BET, which means Monday, Thursday, Monday, and refers to the first trio of those days after Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, and after Rosh Chodesh Iyar. These fast days were taken by individualswho did so on behalf of the community, as an act of Repentance (accompanied, of course, by Prayer, Tzedaka, and Acts of Kindness) for improper reveling and rejoicing during the Holidays of Pesach and Sukkot. In other words, on those Pilgrimage Festivals, which many Jews congregating in Jerusalem, and with the "order ofthe day" being SIMCHA (joy), there were many people whose joy was not of the spiritual kind appropriate to Yom Tov, but rather a physical joy to an excess and which often included improper behavior. Because of a sense of "All Israel are interdependent", pious individuals would fast on BaHa"B as a sober reminder that our concept of Festive Joy should be "for the sake of Heaven".

BaHa"B was seen as an atonement and "protection" for half of the year, the six months from Pesach to Sukkot and the six months from Sukkot to Pesach.

[Allow me to interject at this point, that we are not dealing with anything "magical" in the way of atonement. Atonement cannot be achieved without hard personal work in the form of T'shuva, T'fila, and Tzedaka. Fasting, be it Public or Private, is a means to remove us a bit from the physical side of our existence andhighlight our spiritual component.]

Back to SHOVAVIM TAT. During a double-Adar year, there is more than six months from Sukkot to Pesach. If the efficacy of BaHa"B was considered to be six months, then these additional fasts came to bridge the gap.

In that case, why would there be felt a need for eight fast days? That's a bit much to cover the extra month. There are a few possible reasons to explain the development of SHOVAVIM TAT. Some suggest that the original suggestion was fasting on Monday and Thursday for four weeks, to correspond to the extra month. Then, to ease the burden of fasting twice a week, the fasts were spread over an 8-week period, once a week. Others point to certain concepts and episodesin the eight sedras, and how they so nicely complement the fasting.

An interesting side-point illustrates this idea. If Rosh Chodesh Sh'vat falls on a Thursday, then one may not fast on that day, nor two weeks later on TU b'Shvat. The custom in such a year is to make up the fasts - not during the week of Ki Tisa, because of the Sin of the Golden Calf - but rather during the following two weeks of Vayak-hel and P'kudei, whose themes - the bulding of the Mishkan - serve as inspiration for the fasting (as would T'ruma and T'tzaveh).

Another idea that became attached to the fasts of SHOVAVIM TAT is the prayer that the fasting and davening and good deeds inspired by the fast days would find favor in G-d's eyes and He would keep our children healthy during the long winter months (psychologically, we feel a longer winter during a 13-month year. The lengthof seasons has nothing to do with the calendar, but it's the idea - and feelings - that count).

Even the name has meaning. SHOVAVIM are those who return via T'shuva. TAT, spelled TAV-TAV, can stand for TORAH, T'FILA, T'SHUVA.

And what does all this have to do with us today? Are we supposed to fast? Does anyone fast?

Well, some people do. But this is not meant as a recommendation or suggestion that we undertake additional fasts. The one from the Torah and the other five that our Sages marked on our calendar are just the right number for the majority of Jews. But the idea that there were - and are - individuals who would accept upon themselves the added burden of more fast days, not just for themselves, but for Klal Yisrael, is (or should be) inspiring. And because you read this piece on SHOVAVIM TAT, the days will have meaning to you, even if you don't fast. For the next 8 Thursdays we should just be AWARE of the ideas of caring for others, of prayingto G-d with the firm belief and utter confidence that prayer menas something.

We might want to take stock of what ails us this winter - the lack of rain, the government's plans to give part of Eretz Yisrael - part of the State of Israel - to our enemies, the attempts to stifle the voice of the opposition with violent attacks on Arutz-7 and its personnel (just to give one example), to name just afew of our problems.

Not a bad idea to restore SHOVAVIM TAT to our collective consciousness and let it help us become better Jews and better people. (Again, I say, that this does not necessarily mean that we should fast.) But at least we should THINK. And Ponder. And hopefully, the thinking and the pondering will lead to constructive, beneficialaction.

At the very least, when you next hear the phrase SHOVAVIM TAT, you won't say, "HUH?"