The Fast of Shivaa Asar BeTammuz Laws for this fast: • If the minyan is praying mincha within half an hour before sunset, the kohanim should The fast of Shivaa Asar BeTammuz this year • The fast of the 17th of Tammuz begins at recite birkat kohanim just as they do during is practiced on Sunday, June 27th, 2021. The dawn and ends half an hour after sunset. shacharit. Only kohanim who are fasting may fast begins at 4:13 AM and ends 9:00 PM • Only eating and drinking are prohibited on participate in birkat kohanim on a fast day. the 17th of Tammuz. It is permitted to take a (Great Neck Time). shower, wear leather shoes, and go to work. Customs of the Three Weeks: • Brushing one’s teeth or washing one’s mouth Why do we fast on Shivaa Asar is permitted as long as one is careful to avoid During the period from the 17th of Tammuz until the BeTammuz? swallowing any water. 9th of Av, we practice several customs to display mourning for the Bet Hamikdash. These practices get This fast is one of four fasts instituted by our Sages to Who is exempt from the fast? stricter as we enter the month of Av, and even stricter commemorate the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash & in the week of the 9th of Av. According to the Mashadi the events surrounding it. Five tragedies happened to • Boys under 13 and girls under 12 years old custom, the following customs begin starting on the th th the Jewish people on the 17 of the month of Tammuz: should not fast on the 17 of Tammuz. 17th of Tammuz: • Pregnant women are exempt from fasting on 1. Upon descending from Mount Sinai and seeing the the 17th of Tammuz. • It is customary to refrain from listening to Jews worshipping the Golden Calf, Moshe Rabbenu music for leisure purposes during the three broke the first set of tablets that carried the Ten • For 24 months after giving birth, a woman is th weeks. Commandments. exempt from fasting on the 17 of Tammuz, even if they are not actually nursing their • It is customary to refrain from purchasing 2. In the eighth century BCE, King Menashe, one of baby. new clothing for which one would say the most wicked sovereigns of the Kingdom of • Those who are sick or elderly should consult Shehechiyanu. If an item is currently on sale Yehuda, erected an idol in the Bet Hamikdash. with their physicians if the fast might and will be substantially more expensive adversely affect their health, and consult with later, it may be purchased but may not be 3. Around the year 587 BCE, in the time of the First a rabbi to see if they are exempt from fasting. worn until after the 9th of Av. Temple, the Kohanim (priests) were unable to • Otherwise, all healthy men and women • It is customary to refrain from getting continue offering the Korban Tamid (the daily should fast and remember the tragedies that haircuts during the three weeks. Shaving is sacrifices), which had been consistently offered for fell onto the Jewish people on this day. permitted until the week of the 9th of Av. several hundred years, due to the shortage of animals • It is customary not to have weddings during during the siege of Yerushalayim by the Babylonian Laws of prayer during the fast: the three weeks. Engagements may be army. celebrated without music until Rosh Chodesh Av. 4. In the year 68 CE, the walls of Yerushalayim were • In amida for this day, one who is fasting adds the prayer called anenu at shacharit and breached after many months of siege by Titus and the mincha. There are extra Tachanun prayers The purpose of fasting is not for one to suffer Roman army. Three weeks later the Bet Hamikdash after amida of shacharit. and starve. The purpose of fasting is to inspire was destroyed on the 9th of Av. (In the times of the self-reflection and change of attitude and first Bet Hamikdash, the walls were also breached in • The Torah is taken out and read both at this month but on the 9th of Tammuz. Today we shacharit and at mincha, and only those who behavior. We should use this time to better commemorate both events on the 17th of Tammuz.) are fasting may receive an aliya to the Torah. ourselves so that we do not make the same If none of the kohanim who are present are mistakes which caused these tragedies for our 5. Towards the end of the time of the second Bet fasting, they should step outside the ancestors. Hamikdash, a Roman official by the name Apostomus sanctuary and a Yisrael who is fasting should seized a Torah scroll and burned it in public, which receive the first aliya. It is not necessary that caused a mass desecration of the name of Hashem. a fasting person take out the Sefer Torah, perform Hagbaha, or open the hechal.