The Four Fasts, Then & Now
The Gemara in Maseches Rosh HaShana (18b) says that there are three categories regarding the four fasts (of Asarah b’Teves, Shiva Asar b’Tamuz, Tisha b’Av, and Tzom Gedaliah) : 1) when there is gezeiras malchus (persecution) all four fasts are obligatory...
By Rav Mosheh Twersky HY"D
The Four Fast Days and Sefer Zechariah
Why do we fast on Tisha B’av? The primary answer, of course, is to remember the destruction of the Bet HaMikdash and Yerushalayim. Yet, according to the Navi Zechariah, not only...
By Rabbi Menachem Leibtag
Blurring the Boundaries
2 reasons are given for the fast of Asarah B’Tevet: 1 – because the siege of Jerusalem began and 2 – because the Torah was translated. Why does the beginning of the...
By Rabbi Yochanan Bechhofer
The Translation of the Seventy
At the beginning of the period of the Second Beit Hamikdash, the Second Temple, the people of Israel lived under Persian dominion. After the fall of the Persian Empire, Greece inherited...
The Miracle of Translation
This task which Ptolemy imposed on the 72 Elders was beyond human capacity. The Torah was written so that its content might be open to a great variety of possible interpretations....
An All-Expenses Paid Vacation to Alexandria
To understand why the translation of the Torah into Greek was a cause for fasting, we need to understand the ramifications of having the Torah translated. An Analysis of the translation...
Asara B’Tevet: The Fast of the 10th of Tevet
In the State of Israel, Kaddish (the Jewish prayer for the deceased) is recited on this day for people whose date or place of death is unknown. Consequently, many rabbis have...
