Mishnat Taanit

And when ye go to war in your land against the adversary that attacks you, then ye shall sound an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.

It is a positive Torah commandment to cry out and to sound trumpets in the event of any calamity that comes to the community, as [Numbers 10:9] states: "When you go out to war... against an enemy who attacks you then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets...."
That is to say, whenever you are afflicted by anything - famine, plague, locusts, or the like - cry out because of them and sound the trumpets.

This practice is one of the paths of repentance, for when a calamity arises, and the people cry out and sound the trumpets, everyone will realize that it occurred because of their evil conduct, as [Jeremiah 5:25] states: "Your sins have turned away [the rains and the harvest climate]."

This will cause the departure of the calamity.

And it is a rabbinic ordinance to fast whenever calamity comes upon the community until there is pity on them from Heaven.

From when do they mention the powers of rain?

Rabbi Eliezer says: from the first day of the hag. Rabbi Joshua says: from the last day of the hag.

Rabbi Joshua said to him: Since rain on the hag is none other than a sign of a curse why should he mention it?

Rabbi Eliezer said to him: I too did not say to request it but to mention, “He causes the wind to blow and the rain to fall” in its due season.

He replied to him: if so one should at all times make mention of it.

From when do they mention the powers of rain? – Since the Mishnah teaches in the Tractate Rosh Hashanah that we are judged for the water on the hag, the Mishnah teaches here “from when do we mention God’s power to cause rain?”

From the last day of the hag – But not during the seven days of the holiday [of Sukkot], for rain during the days of the sukkah is a sign of a curse.

There is a parable telling of a servant who came to mix a cup for his master and the master spilled the pitcher on his face, that is to say, I don’t need your service (Sukkah 2:9).

They only request rain when close to the rainy season.

Rabbi Judah says: Someone who passes before the ark on the last day of the hag, the last one mentions, the first does not mention; on the first day of Pesah, the first mentions, the last does not mention.

Up until when do they request rain? Rabbi Judah says: Until Pesah is over. Rabbi Meir says: Until Nissan is over, as it says, “He makes the rain fall for you in the first month, early rain and late rain” (Joel 2:23).

On the third of Marheshvan they request rain.

Rabban Gamaliel says: on the seventh, fifteen days after the hag so that the last of Israel reaches the river Euphrates.

If the seventeenth of Marheshvan [November 1 this year] came and no rain had fallen, individuals begin to fast three fasts.

They eat and drink after dark and they are permitted to do work, to bathe, to anoint themselves with oil, to wear shoes, and to have sex.

Individuals – these are the talmidey hahamim [the sages].

And these fast days are Monday, Thursday and Monday.

If Rosh Hodesh Kislev arrived [November 14 this year] and no rain had fallen, the court decrees three fasts on the community.

They eat and drink after dark and they are permitted to do work, to bathe, to anoint themselves with oil, to wear shoes, and to have sex.

If these passed [middle of Kislev] and were not answered, the court decrees three more fasts on the community.

They may eat and drink [only] while it is still day; they may not work, bathe, anoint themselves with oil, wear shoes, or have sex, and they close the bathhouses.

If these passed and were not answered [it's now Rosh Hodesh Tevet], the court decrees upon the community a further seven, making thirteen public fasts.

These are more than the first ones, for on these they blow the shofar and lock the shops. On Mondays they are opened a little when it gets dark, but on Thursdays they are permitted the whole day for the honor of Shabbat.

If these passed [it's now Rosh Hodesh Shevat] and were not answered then they restrict business, building, planting, betrothal and marriage, and greeting one another, as if they were people undesirable to God.

The individuals go back to fasting anew until the end of Nisan. If Nisan passes and rain falls this is a sign of a curse, as it is written, “It is the season of the wheat harvest. [I will pray to the Lord and He will send thunder and rain; then you will take thought and realise what a wicked thing you did in the sight of the Lord when you asked for a king” (I Samuel 12:17).

The building and planting that are prohibited on these fasts are building of joy and planting of joy, as for example, the doorways and paintings that the rich make when they lay out their buildings and the planting of fragrant trees and the gardens that kings make.

But a building for a dwelling and planting to eat of its fruits and to be supported from it are not prohibited and we don’t prevent this at all.

What is the order for fast days?

They take the ark out to the city square. And they put wood-ashes on the ark and on the head of the Nasi and on the head of the Av bet Din, and everyone puts ashes on his own head.

The elder among them says in front of them words of admonition, “Brothers, it does not say of the people of Nineveh, ‘And God saw their sackcloth and their fasting,’ but, ‘And God saw their deeds, for they turned from their evil way. (Jonah 3:10)’ And in the prophets it says, ‘And rend your heart and not your garments” (Joel 2:13).

They stand to pray and bring down before the ark an old, fluent man, one who has children and whose house is empty, so that his heart is perfect in the tefilla.

And he recites before them twenty-four benedictions, the eighteen of every day, to which he adds six.

These are they: zikhronot, shofarot, “In my distress I called to the Lord and He answered me” (Psalm 120), “I turn my eyes to the mountains” (Psalm 121).“Out of the depths I call you, O Lord” (Psalm 130), “A prayer of lowly man when he is faint” (Psalm 102).

Rabbi Judah says: he need not recite the zikhronot and shofarot, but he should recite instead of them: “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence” (I Kings 8:37), “The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts” (Jeremiah 14), and he recites their concluding blessings.

For the first he says: He who answered Abraham on Mt. Moriah, He shall answer you and hear the voice of your cry on this day. Blessed are You Lord who redeems Israel.

For the second he says: He who answered our fathers at the Sea of Reeds, He shall answer you and hear the voice of your cry on this day. Blessed are You Lord who remembers all forgotten things.

For the third he says: He who answered Joshua in Gilgal, He shall answer you and hear the voice of your cry on this day. Blessed are You Lord who hears the teruah.

For the fourth he says: He who answered Samuel in Mitzpah, He shall answer you and hear the voice of your cry on this day. Blessed are You Lord who hears a cry.

For the fifth he says: He who answered Elijah on Mt. Carmel, He shall answer you and hear the voice of your cry on this day. Blessed are You Lord who hears prayer.

For the sixth he says: He who answered Jonah in the belly of the fish, He shall answer you and hear the voice of your cry on this day. Blessed are You Lord who answers in time of trouble.

For the seventh he says: He who answered David and Shlomo his son in Jerusalem, He shall answer you and hear the voice of your cry on this day. Blessed are You Lord Who has mercy upon the land.

And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a whole burnt-offering unto the LORD; and Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel; and the LORD answered him. And as Samuel was offering up the burnt-offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel; but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten down before Israel.

It happened in the days of Rabbi Halafta and Rabbi Hanina ben Teradion that a man passed before the ark and completed the entire benediction and they responded, “Amen. Sound a tekiah, priests, sound a tekiah.”

"He who answered Abraham on Mt. Moriah, He shall answer you and hear the voice of your cry on this day" . . .

"Sound a teru'ah, sons of Aaron, sound a teru'ah."

"He who answered our fathers at the Sea of Reeds, He shall answer you and hear the voice of your cry on this day."

And when the matter came up before the sages, they said: they only practiced in this way at the eastern gate.

They were lenient on them with regard to the fast because of the Service in order that their bodies are not weakened. And the halakha is like the Sages.

On the first three fasts the men of the guard fast but do not complete their fast, and the men of the father’s house do not fast at all.

On the second three fasts the men of the guard fast and complete their fast and the men of the father’s house fast but do not complete their fast.

On the last seven both fast and complete their fast, the words of Rabbi Joshua.

The sages say: on the first three fasts neither fast at all. On the second three, the men of the guard fast but do not complete their fast, and the men of the father’s house do not fast at all. On the last seven, the men of the guard fast and complete their fast and the men of the father’s house fast but do not complete their fast.

The men of the guard are permitted to drink wine at night but not during the day, but the men of the father’s house may not, neither during the day nor at night.

Both the men of the guard and the men of the ma'amad may not cut their hair nor wash their clothes. And on Thursday they are permitted in honor of Shabbat.

Our teachers taught, Who wrote Megillat Ta’anit? They said, "Ḥananya ben Ḥizkiya and his helpers, who held dear the troubles.

Everyday about which is written “One may not eulogize” in Megillat Taanit (the Scroll of Fasts), on the preceding day it is prohibited but on the following day it is permitted.

Rabbi Yose says: it is forbidden both on the preceding day and on the following day.

“One may not fast” on the preceding day and on the following day it is permitted.

Rabbi Yose says: on the preceding day it is forbidden but on the following day it is permitted.

They do not decree a fast on the community to begin on a Thursday, in order not to inflate market prices. Rather the first three fasts are Monday, Thursday, and Monday; the second three are Thursday, Monday, and Thursday.

Rabbi Yose says: just as the first ones should not begin on a Thursday, so too neither should the second, nor the last.

They do not decree a fast on the community on Rosh Hodesh, on Hanukkah, or on Purim.

If they had already begun, they do not interrupt, according to Rabban Gamaliel.

Rabbi Meir said: even though Rabban Gamaliel said "they do not interrupt" he agrees that they should not complete their fasts.

And the same applies to the Ninth of Av should it fall on Friday.

This order of fasts is enacted because of the first rain.

But if the crops have changed they sound a blast for them immediately. Similarly, if the rain stopped for forty days between one rainfall and the next, they sound a blast immediately, because it is a plague of drought.

They sound a blast for them immediately – on the first fast, for all the stringency related to the later fasts are practiced immediately on the first ones.

If it fell for plants but not for the trees, for the trees but not for plants, for both of these but not for cisterns, ditches and caves they sound a blast immediately.

And so too a city, upon which no rain has fallen as it is written, “And I caused it to rain upon one city, and I caused it not to rain upon another city; one area was rained upon and an area that was not rained on dried up" (Amos 4:7) that city fasts and they sound a blast, and those around it fast but do not sound a blast.

And Rabbi Akiva says: they sound a blast but do not fast.

And I have no doubt that the town or the area and the field that will be rained on are through the merit of its owners or through the teshuva of those living in the town or the owner of the land.

And Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: Both (the area that receives rain and the area that does not receive rain) are cursed.

And so too a city which has a plague or a collapse: that city fasts and they sound a blast, and all those around it fast but do not sound a blast.

Rabbi Akiva says: they sound a blast but do not fast.

What is a plague? In a city that can muster five hundred foot-soldiers, three deaths occurred on three consecutive days.

The Lord will strike you with consumption, fever, and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with shidafon and with yerakon and they shall hound you to your death.

For these they sound a blast in all places: for the drying up of crops (shidafon), for plant blight (yerakon), for locusts, and for the hasil (a type of locust), for wild beasts and for the sword.

They sound a blast for these are blows that spread.

It once happened that elders went down from Jerusalem to their cities and ordered a fast because there was seen in Ashkelon a shidafon like the mouth of an oven.

They also decreed a fast because wolves devoured two children on the other side of the Jordan.

Rabbi Yose says: not because they devoured but because they were seen.

For these matters they sound a blast even on Shabbat: for a city surrounded by Gentiles or by a river, and for a ship foundering on the sea.

Rabbi Yose says: for help but not for an outcry (for the sake of prayer).

Shimon the Yemenite says: also for a plague, but the sages did not agree with him.

For any disaster which comes to the public they sound the shofar, other than for too much rain.
Once they said to Honi the Circle-Drawer, “Pray that rain should fall.” He said to them, “Go out and bring in the Pesach ovens so that they shouldn’t get wet.”

He prayed but no rain fell.
What did he do? He drew a circle, stood inside it, and said, “Lord of the world, your children have turned their faces to me because I am like a member of your household. I swear by your great name that I will not move from here until you have mercy on your children.

Rain began to drip. He said, “I have prayed for rain which will fill cisterns, pits and caverns, not for rain like this.” It began to rain violently.
He said, “I have prayed for rain of goodwill, blessing and graciousness, not for rain like this.” Normal rain then fell until the people of Israel went out from Jerusalem to the Temple Mount to get away from it.

They came to him and asked, “As you have prayed for rain to fall, pray for it to stop. He asked, “Go and see whether the Rock of the Lost Things is washed away.”
Shimon ben Shetach sent to him and said, “You should be banned. But what can I do to you? You act up before God and he does your will like a child acting up before his father.

About you is written, ‘May your father and mother be happy, and let your parents rejoice.’” (Proverbs, 23:25)

Abba Hilkia was the grandson of Honi the Circle-Drawer. Whenever the world needed rain the Sages sent word to him and he asked God's mercy and the rain fell.

Once, when there was need for rain, the Sages sent a pair of scholars to ask him to ask God's mercy. They came to his house and did not find him. They went to his field and found him hoeing. They greeted him but he didn't look round. In the evening, he took fire-wood and the hoe on one shoulder and his cloak on the other shoulder. . . .

Then Abba Hilkia said to his wife, “I know that the scholars have come on account of the rain. Let us go up to the roof and ask God's mercy. Perhaps the Holy One will be reconciled and rain will fall, and if that happens you and I won't take credit for it.”

They went up to the roof. He stood in one corner and she stood in another, asking God's mercy, and a cloud first appeared over the corner where she stood.

When he came down, he said to the scholars: “Why have my masters come?”. “The sages sent us to ask the master to plead for mercy for rain”, they said. “Blessed be He who is everywhere who has not made you dependent on Abba Hilkia”.

They said, “We know that the rain has come because of your merit. . . . . But explain to us these things that surprised us today.” “Why didn't the master greet us?” “Because I was hired for the day and didn't want to stop work.” “Why did the master put the wood on one shoulder and the cloak on another?” “Because the cloak was borrowed for one purpose [to warm me], not for the other [to protect my shoulder].” . . . .

“Why did the cloud appear first from the corner where your wife stood?”

“Because my wife, staying at home, gives bread to the poor that they can enjoy immediately, while I give them money, which they cannot benefit from immediately.”

Or, because when there were robbers in the neighbourhood, I prayed that they should die and she prayed that they should repent, and they did.

If they are fasting and rain falls: before sunrise, they do not complete it, after sunrise, they do complete.

Rabbi Eliezer says: before noon they do not complete, after noon they do complete it.

It happened that they decreed a fast in Lod and rain fell before noon. Rabbi Tarfon said to them: go, eat and drink and make a holiday. They went and ate and drank and made a holiday and at dusk they came and recited the Great Hallel.

What is the Great Hallel? “Praise the God of Gods, for His love is eternal, Praise the Lord of Lords, for His love is eternal, ”

The Great Hallel is from, “Praise the LORD; for He is good, His love is eternal” until "By the waters of Babylon" (Psalm 137).

And the reason that they didn’t recite the Great Hallel until they ate and drank is because the general principle among us is that we don’t recite the Great Hallel other than with a satiated nefesh and a full stomach.

And the halakha is according to Rabbi Eliezer.

Three times during the year the priests lift up their hands four times during the day--at Shaharit, at Musaf, at Minhah and at Neilah: on fast days, on ma’amadot, and on Yom Kippur.

Similarly, they instituted a prayer after the Minchah Prayer close to sunset on a fast day only, its purpose being to increase supplication and pleading because of the fast.

This is called the Ne'ilah prayer, as if to say that the gates of Heaven are closed behind the sun, which becomes hidden, since it is recited only close to sunset.

Until when is Ne`ilah? The rabbis of Caesarea say: Rav and Rebbi Joḥanan disagree.

Rav said, when the gates of Heaven are locked. Rebbi Joḥanan: when the gates of the Temple are locked.

Rebbi Yudan Antordaya said, the Mishnah supports Rebbi Joḥanan: “On three occasions do the Cohanim lift their hands four times in one day, mornings, Musaph, Minḥah, and at the locking of the gates.” Can you say that the gates of heaven are locked while it is still daytime?

What are the ma’amadot?

Since it is said, “Command the people of Israel, and say to them, My offering, my bread for my sacrifices, a sweet savour to me, you shall guard to offer to Me in its season.” (Numbers 28:2).

Now how can a man’s offering be offered and he is not present? But the former prophets instituted twenty-four mishmarot (guards). For each mishmar there was a amud in Jerusalem consisting of priests, Levites and Israelites.

When the time came for the mishmar to go up the priests and Levites went up to Jerusalem and the Israelites of that mishmar assembled in their cities and read the story of creation.

[The men of the maamad fasted on four days of that week, from Monday to Thursday; they did not fast on Friday out of respect for Shabbat or on Sunday in order not to switch from rest and delight to weariness and fasting and die.]

On Sunday, “In the beginning,” and, “Let there be a firmament;”

On Monday, “Let there be a firmament,” and, “Let the waters be gathered together;”

On Tuesday, “Let the waters be gathered together,” and, “Let there be lights;”

On Wednesday, “Let there be lights,” and, “Let the waters swarm;”

On Thursday, “Let the waters swarm,” and, “Let the earth bring forth;”

On Friday, “Let the earth bring forth,” and, “And the heavens [and the earth] were completed.”

For a long section two people read and for a short section one person, at Shaharit and at Mussaf.

And at minhah they assemble and read the section by heart, as they recite the Shema. On Friday at minhah they did not assemble out of respect for Shabbat.

On any day when there is Hallel there is no maamad at Shaharit; when there is a Musaf-offering, there is none at Ne'ilah; when there is a wood-offering, there is none at Minhah, according to Rabbi Akiva.

Ben Azzai said to him: Thus did Rabbi Joshua teach: when there is a Musaf-offering, there is none at Minhah; when there is a wood-offering, there is none at Ne'ilah. Rabbi Akiva retracted and taught like Ben Azzai.

“We will not give our daughters in marriage to the peoples of the land, or take their daughters for our sons.

The times of the wood of the priests and the people were nine.

On the first of Nisan the family Arah of Yehudah.

On the twentieth of Tammuz the family of David of Yehudah.

On the fifth of Av the family of Parosh of Yehudah.

On the seventh of the same month, the family of Yonadav of Rechav.

On the tenth of the same month, the family of Snaah of Benjamin.

On the fifteenth of the same month, the family of Zattu of Yehudah, and with them were the priests and Levites and all those who were not certain of their tribe and the "pestle stealers" and the "fig packers".

On the twentieth of the same month the family of Pahat Moav of Yehudah.

On the twentieth of Elul the family of Adin of Yehudah.

On the first of Tevet the family of Parosh of Yehudah a second time.

On the first of Tevet there was no maamad for there was Hallel, Musaf and the wood-festival.

Five things happened to our ancestors on the 17th of Tammuz and five on the 9th of Av.

On the seventeenth of Tammuz: The tablets were shattered; the tamid (daily) offering was stopped; the the city was breached; and Apostomos burned the Torah, and placed an idol in the Temple.

On the 9th of Av it was decreed that our ancestors should not enter the land; the Temple was destroyed the first and the second time; Betar was captured; and the city was plowed over.

When Av enters, we reduce rejoicing.

And it is written: “And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried and the people wept that night” (Numbers 14:1). Rabba said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: That night was the night of the Ninth of Av. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to them: You wept needlessly, and I establish for you weeping in future generations.

During the week in which the ninth of Av falls it is forbidden to cut the hair and to wash clothes but on Thursday it is permitted in honor of Shabbat.

On the eve of the ninth of Av one should not eat a meal of two cooked dishes, nor should he eat meat or drink wine.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says: one should make a change. Rabbi Judah obligated turning over the bed, but the sages did not agree with him.

And the Sages say: Whoever performs labor on the Ninth of Av and does not mourn for Jerusalem will not see her joy, as it is stated: “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad with her, all who love her; rejoice for joy with her, all who mourn for her” (Isaiah 66:10). From here it is stated: Whoever mourns for Jerusalem will merit and see her future joy, and whoever does not mourn for Jerusalem will not see her future joy. This is also taught in a baraita: Whoever eats meat or drinks wine on the Ninth of Av, about him the verse states: “And whose iniquities are upon their bones, because the terror of the mighty was in the land of the living” (Ezekiel 32:27).

Why on the Fifteenth of Av? Rebbi Jacob bar Aḥa in the name of Rebbi Yasa: For this is the good time to cut wood, because any wood cut on this day does not develop worms; as we have stated there, “any wood containing a worm is disqualified from the altar.” . . .

Rebbi Abun said, digging stopped on it, as Rebbi Levi said, on every eve of the 9th of Av, Moses had proclaimed in all the encampment and said, go out for digging, go out for digging.

They went out, dug graves for themselves, and slept. In the morning they would get up and found themselves missing 15’000 or so.

And in the last year they did that, got up, and found themselves whole. They said, maybe we made a mistake in the calculation. The same on the 10th, the 11th, the 12th, the 13th, the 14th, and 15th.

Since the moon was full they said, it seems that The Holy One, has nullified this hard judgment against us.

And they got up and declared a holiday.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel said: There were no days of joy in Israel greater than the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur.

For on these days the people of Jerusalem would go out in borrowed white garments, in order not to shame anyone who had none. All these garments required immersion.

And the daughters of Jerusalem come out and dance in the vineyards.

What would they say? Young man, lift up your eyes and see what you choose for yourself. Do not set your eyes on beauty but set your eyes on the family. “Grace is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman that fears the Lord, she shall be praised” (Proverbs 31:30).

And it says, “Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her works praise her in the gates” (ibid, 31:31).

Similarly it says, “O maidens of Zion, go forth and gaze upon King Solomon wearing the crown that his mother gave him on his wedding day, on the day of the gladness of his heart” (Song of Songs 3:11).

“On his wedding day” - this is the giving of the Torah. “And on the day of the gladness of his heart” - this is the building of the Temple.

May it be His will that it is rebuilt speedily in our days.

We will return to you, Tractate Taanit, and you will return to us; our mind is on you, Tractate Taanit, and your mind is on us; we will not forget you, Tractate Taanit, and you will not forget us – not in this world and not in the next world.