Question #1: International

Does the International Dateline have any halachic ramifications?

Question #2: Date

Can you change your date?

Question #3: Line

Did the Torah create a line where, if you crossed it, you could mysteriously leave Shabbos and then cross it back and return to Shabbos?

The International Dateline follows a path near the 180° longitude but deviates to accommodate national borders.

In part 1 of this article, I presented the first half of this article on the concept of whether there is a halachic international dateline, and if there is, where is it located. As I explained, two people starting from the same point anywhere on earth, one traveling eastward and the other westward, wherever they meet again on the globe, they will be observing different days of the week. The reason is that one has been observing sunset later each day as he moves west, whereas the other has been observing it earlier each day as he moves east. Eventually, the combined differences of their travels add up to a full day.

In the nineteenth century, nations decided to establish an accepted demarcation line, east of which would be considered the day earlier, and west of which would be the day later. This line is the International Date Line (IDL) and it runs from the North Pole to the South Pole, approximately halfway around the world from the prime meridian (0°  longitude), which runs through Greenwich, UK. However, the IDL is not straight, but curves around landmasses and national borders.

Our question is whether and where is the halachic dateline? Although halachic authorities have wrestled with this question for almost a thousand years, its relevance to practical halacha began in the nineteenth century, when Jews began populating Alaska, Australia, China, Hawaii, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, Siberia and similar areas. Literally, dozens of books and essays have analyzed the topic, and many different conclusions have been reached.

By the 1870’s, so many articles had been written on the subject of the dateline that seforim were published to anthologize the opinions. At least a dozen different shitos were presented concerning the halachic dateline, but they can be grouped into six major approaches:

Ninety degrees east of Yerushalayim

1. For the purpose of the laws of Shabbos and Yomim Tovim, the dateline follows what is written in the Kuzari, discussed in last week’s article, and follows a north-south line 90 degrees east of Yerushalayim.

Ninety degrees, with a twist

2. The Chazon Ish (Orach Chayim, Chapter 64) interprets the halacha similar to this approach, although he adds a very original and individualistic twist. In his opinion, when the imaginery line 90 degrees east of Yerushalayim goes through a landmass, the section of the landmass east of the 90-degree marker is treated as if it is west of it. In other words, in Eurasia and Australia, where the 90-degree marker runs through northeastern China, the extreme eastern part of Siberia, and western Australia, the halachic dateline border is the point at which the eastern border of these landmasses (Eurasia and Australia) touch the sea. Islands in the seas and oceans east of these landmasses date themselves as if they are the western part of the Americas.

Thus, in the Chazon Ish’s opinion, Sydney and Melbourne follow Asia, although the islands near them, including much of Indonesia, New Guinea, New Zealand and Tasmania observe Shabbos on Sunday, not Saturday. Take a boatride off most of the Australian eastern coast on a Sunday and you may be traveling into Shabbos.

A bit more than ninety

3. Aside from the Yesod Olam, numerous other authorities place the halachic dateline at different points “slightly” farther east than did Rav A. M. Lapidus (mentioned in last week’s article). Among those who wrote their opinions in the twentieth century, we can include Shu’t Benei Tziyon by Rav Dovid Shapiro, and Rav Shelomoh Goren.

Bering Strait

4. Some authorities place the halachic dateline at the easternmost point on the Eurasian landmass, which is the Bering Strait (Rav Yonah Merzbach in Noam volume 14; Atzei Sadeh). One practical advantage of this opinion is that this halachic dateline does not cross any landmass in which there is any notable Jewish population. Another practical advantage is that it does not vary significantly from the international dateline.

One hundred and eighty degrees

5. Rav Yechiel Michal Tukachinsky (Hayomam Bekadur Ha’aretz) holds that the halachic dateline is 180 degrees east of Yerushalayim and travels in an unbroken imaginary line from north to south. A disadvantage of this approach is that Hawaii, most of the Aleutian Islands and probably most of Alaska must keep Shabbos on their Friday.

First come, first served

6. Although in practical halacha this opinion is not too dissimilar from opinion #4, conceptually, it disputes completely the idea that there is any halachic dateline. This approach, which probably has the most rabbinic scholars following it, contends that the Torah never established a line, but that each individual, when traveling, counts six days from his last Shabbos and observes Shabbos on the seventh day. In theory, two individuals who started at the same place and arrived at the same destination could observe Shabbos on two different days, because one traveled eastward and the other westward. When a community is established in any new place, Shabbos is determined by the community’s count of seven days. Once a community established its Shabbos, anyone visiting observes Shabbos on the day that the community does, regardless of his individual seven-day count. Among the many luminaries who followed this approach, we can count the Radbaz (Shu’t Haradbaz 1:76), Rav Yaakov Emden (Mor Uketziyah, 344), the Sefas Emes and his son the Imrei Emes (the second and third Gerer Rebbes), Rav Yosef Shaul Natanson (Shu’t Sho’eil Umeishiv, Volume IV, Mahdura IV #2:154), Rav Shmuel Mohliver and Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank (Shu’t Har Tzvi, Orach Chayim #138).

International

At this point, let us address our opening question: Does the International Dateline have any halachic ramifications?

As we just noted, this will depend on which opinion we follow. Let us assume, for a moment, that someone concludes that there isn’t any way he can decide among these great authorities – therefore, he will follow all of the opinions in their strictest conclusions. He would need to consider fully 25% of the earth’s surface to be a safek as to which day it is and would need to observe two consecutive days of Shabbos when in 25% of the world. Fortunately for him, there are Jewish communities in only a few cities that are in that 25% section, but he still would be forced to observe two days of Shabbos in Melbourne, Sydney and in all of Alaska, Hawaii, New Zealand and virtually anywhere else in the Pacific.

The shaylah becomes practical

By the beginning of the 20^th century, there already were Jews and communities in the areas under question. Harbin, a city in China, had a frum community that grew until it numbered about 15,000 Jews and had a well-respected rav and posek, Rav Aharon Moshe Kisilav. He was also viewed as the posek for all the Jews who lived in the Far East, and, by this time, small Jewish communities were scattered throughout the area. The accepted ruling was to follow the local dating for Shabbos and Yomim Tovim. This situation continued with the increase of the Jewish community in Japan and China that developed during the First World War and then, in the 1930’s, as Jews fled Nazi Germany.

When the Mir Yeshiva escaped Europe during its miraculous flight from Poland through Lithuania, via the Trans-Siberian railroad to Vladivostok and then to Kobe, Japan, they were concerned when they should observe Yom Kippur. Among them were significant talmidei chachamim aware of the writings of the Kuzari and the Ba’al Hama’or that imply that they were now east of the halachic dateline. They were also presumably aware of the controversy among the more recent poskim whether one should observe Shabbos in Japan on the same day that was considered Friday night and Saturday on the local calendar (the opinion of the Radbaz, Rav Yaakov Emden [Mor Uketzi’ah, 344], Rav Shmuel Mohliver and many others) or a day later, which would follow the more obvious understanding of the Kuzari and the Ba’al Hama’or, and was the conclusion of Rav Alexander Moshe Lapidus. That year, Yom Kippur was on a Wednesday everywhere, and the question was whether they should observe Yom Kippur on the day that was considered Wednesday in Japan, or on the following day, which would synchronize the date with that observed in the United States. Among those in Kobe was Rav Dovid Kronglas, eventually to be the mashgiach and a reish mesivta in Yeshivas Ner Yisrael, who ruled that Jews in Japan should observe their date as if they were part of the United States, which was east of them, rather than according to mainland Asia, which was west of them. This position was different from that accepted by most authorities, but agreed with the psak of the Chazon Ish and the Brisker Rav, who contended that the halachic dateline is 90 degrees east of Yerushalayim.

Some of those in Japan sent a telegram to Eretz Yisrael asking what to do. Bear in mind that, by this time, the vast majority of halachic authorities had concluded that all parts of Asia and Oceania (Australia and other island nations of the western Pacific) should observe all dates as done in mainland Asia.

The Chazon Ish answered their telegram with his own, instructing them to eat on Wednesday – that it was Erev Yom Kippur, and that Wednesday night local time was when Yom Kippur commences. This was against the accepted psak halacha. Rav Herzog, then the Chief Rabbi of Eretz Yisrael, called a meeting to which he invited the Chazon Ish, all the major poskim and gedolim of Eretz Yisrael and those rabbanim who had published written opinions on the subject. The meeting was attended by over twenty rabbanim, including: Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank, the rav of Yerushalayim and the recognized posek hador; Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer, the recognizedgadol roshei yeshivos; Rav Yechiel Michel Tukachinsky, then considered the supreme authority on halachos involving calendars and astronomy; the Gerrer Rebbe, Rav Yonah Merzbach, Rav Menachem Kasher, Rav Dovid Shapiro, author of Benei Tziyon, and Rav Shelomoh Goren; the latter two had already published halachic articles on the topic. The Chazon Ish did not attend the meeting, but instead sent Rav Chayim Ze’ev Finkel, son of Rav Lazer Yudel Finkel, the rosh yeshiva of Mir in Yerushalayim, as his representative to present his position.

All the rabbonim at the meeting were intimately familiar with the entire halachic topic and all of them (I presume with the exception of Rav Finkel) agreed that Japan should observe Yom Kippur on Wednesday. Rav Herzog, who sent their collective response telegram to Japan, added, in a hint, that on Thursday they should eat less than the minimal shiur throughout the day. After all, this might be the opinion of the Kuzari, and one who is able should try to be machmir. Apparently, a total of over thirty rabbonim signed off on the psak that Japan should follow Asia.

Subsequent to this event, several of those who met at this conference wrote up the basis for their halachic conclusions.

A monumental work on the topic, entitled Agan Hasahar (the title is based on a pasuk in Shir Hashirim 7:3), was authored by Rav Chaim Zimmerman, at one point therosh yeshiva of Beis Medrash LaTorah in Skokie, Illinois. Rav Zimmerman noted a major discrepancy between the opinion of the Yesod Olam and how the Chazon Ish understood it. The Chazon Ish’s analysis is based on quotations of the Yesod Olam that he found in Hayomam Bekadur Ha’aretz (authored by Rav Yechiel Michal Tukachinsky), but he never saw the actual lengthy full text of the Yesod Olam. Rav Zimmerman himself, aside from acknowledging the approaches of the Kuzari and the Yesod Olam, suggests that the halachic dateline might be at the eastern edge of Siberia, where it touches the Bering Strait. Based on their understanding of the opinions of the Kuzari and the Yesod Olam, and in light of what we know today about the borders of the Eurasian landmass, others have also agreed with this border (Rav Yonah Mertzbach in Noam #14; Atzei Sadeh). Aside from the advantages that this approach has from a cohesive, logical approach to the sugya and the rishonim, it also is fairly close to the IDL, allowing that all major landmasses and virtually all islands observe Shabbos according to the accepted calendar days of Friday and Saturday.

A talmid chacham that I know well was offered to work for a few months in Japan doing kashrus work. He went to ask Rav Elyashiv, zt”l, whether he should take the job – is this an opportunity or a nisayon? – and if he did, what he should do for Shabbos. Rav Elyashiv told him that he could take the job. As far as Shabbos goes, Rav Elyashiv told him to keep Friday night and Saturday local time as Shabbos in regard to davening and seudos, and to be machmir not to perform melachos min haTorah on Saturday night and Sunday. This way, he would be stringent like the position of the Kuzari and those who follow his approach regarding Shabbos. When I showed this talmid chacham this article and asked him whether I had quoted Rav Elyashiv correctly, he responded, “Exactly.”

Halacha instructs us what to do when confronted by a situation in which there is no universally accepted ruling. Explaining the details that govern this arena is its own complicated topic that we will need to deal with at a different time.

Conclusion

The issue of the halachic dateline is perhaps the most original of any shaylos that have occurred in the modern era. According to most authorities, this is a question with no sources in Chazal. Therefore, we build our analysis on passages of Gemara based on people who became lost and did not know which day is Shabbos. Yet, there are others who contend that the rishonim had a mesorah that governs the halacha here. Certainly, an area in which we must accept the decisions of our rabbonim.

Question #1: International

Does the International Dateline have any halachic ramifications?

Question #2: Date

Can you change your date?

Question #3: Line

Did the Torah create a line where, if you crossed it, you could mysteriously leave Shabbos and then cross it back and return to Shabbos?

The International Dateline follows a path near the 180° longitude but deviates to accommodate national borders.

Foreword

Where, what and why is the International Dateline (IDL)?

From virtually every place on earth you can move east or west. If two people start from the same point, one traveling eastward and the other westward, wherever they meet again on the globe, they will be observing different days of the week. The reason is that one has been observing sunset later each day as he moves west, whereas the other has been observing it earlier each day as he moves east. Eventually, the combined differences of their travels add up to a full day.

There is no such thing as the easternmost “beginning” of world time or the “last” place to observe Shabbos, unless one establishes a point, line or boundary to be the beginning. When mankind began traversing the globe in the sixteenth century, the European colonizers usually established the day of the week according to which way they had traversed the globe and not with any regard to the location of the colony. Thus, Indonesia, which the Dutch colonized by circumnagiating Africa, followed the day of the week as it was observed in Europe, whereas the Spanish who colonized the Phillipines on their travels westward from the Americas used the next day. If you look at a map, you will see that the Phillipines lie due north of Indonesia.

In the nineteenth century, nations decided that it was a good idea to establish an accepted demarcation line, east of which would be considered as far as you can go west on the day later, and west of which is as far as you can go east and is on the day earlier. Once you cross that line eastward, you have “gained” a calendar day, and you repeat the calendar day you just lived through. Crossing it westward, you skip 24 hours ahead, i.e., you lose a calendar day. This line is the International Date Line (IDL). The IDL runs from the North Pole to the South Pole and is at the 180^th meridian, i.e., halfway around the world from the prime meridian (0° longitude), which runs through Greenwich, UK. The IDL is not straight, but curves around landmasses and national borders. It tilts east around Siberia at the Bering Strait, westward around the Aleutian Islands, and eastward in the central Pacific to allow countries that are composed of islands to keep the entire nation on the same date. The 180^th  meridian was selected as the basis for the International Dateline because it runs mostly through a very sparsely populatedarea in the vast middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Introduction

Since the time of the rishonim, there has been halachic discussion that revolves around the following: Except for the flat earthers (which no rishonim accept), all halachic authorities recognized the observable proofs that the earth is basically round and that, therefore, from virtually every place on earth you can move east or west.

As described above, an international dateline was established in the nineteenth century,  which follows 180 degrees from Greenwich Mean Time, with certain exceptions. The IDL passes almost exclusively through water – predominantly the Arctic, Pacific and Antarctic Oceans, going over land only in Antarctica, which affects only a few penguins and researchers.

Our question is whether and where is the halachic dateline? Although halachic authorities have wrestled with this question for almost a thousand years, its relevance to practical halacha began in the nineteenth century, when Jews began populating Australia, Siberia, China, Japan, the Philippines, Alaska, Hawaii, Korea, New Zealand and similar areas, as we will soon see. Literally, dozens of books and essays have analyzed the topic, and many different conclusions have been reached. As always, this article is to provide background, and any individual who intends to travel in the areas that will be discussed here should ask their rav or posek what to do.

Stopover in the Far East

I am going to pose a very curious shaylah that I was recently asked which most people would not even realize involves this issue. Someone who lives in Eretz Yisrael had a family emergency on the Pacific coast of the United States and quickly booked a ticket to leave Israel on Thursday and arrive at their destination on Friday morning. They were so appreciative of finding a connection that had them arriving before Shabbos that they did not realize that they had any shaylah until they settled in on their flight. Their flight connection was through Seoul, South Korea, but they could just as easily have made a booking that connected through Tokyo. As we will see in the course of our discussion, either of these stopovers might create a serious halachic shaylah.

Opinions of halachic authorities

Perhaps the earliest authority who discusses the ramification of where halacha might place a dateline was the Kuzari (Book 2, Section 20). This work is devoted to hashkafah and the beauty and importance of Torah, Jewish thought and values and it is not usually considered a halachic work. Yet, based on his explanation of a passage of Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 20b), the Kuzari concludes that halacha recognizes a dateline that is 90 degrees east and 270 degrees west of Yerushalayim. Any point east of this line follows the date of the Americas, and any point west of this line starts its day earlier than Yerushalayim.

The Kuzari’s approach to understanding both the topic and the passage of Gemara is followed by the Ba’al Hama’or in his commentary to the Rif’s Halachos on Rosh Hashanah. However, this is only one approach to explaining the passage of that Gemara. For example, according to Rashi’s approach, which is explained brilliantly by the Ben Aryeh (to Rosh Hashanah 20b) and Rav Henkin (Lev Ivra, pages 51-60), this passage of Gemara has nothing to do with the concept of a halachic dateline.

A disciple of the Rosh named Rav Yitzchak Yisraeli authored a work on astronomy entitled Yesod Olam, in which he discusses the contributions of the Kuzari and the Ba’al Hama’or on the subject and objects very strongly to their conclusions. Among the concerns that he raises is that their calculations assume that Yerushalayim is on the east-west midpoint of the Eurasian landmass and that the distance eastward from the easternmost point of the Eurasian landmass to its westernmost point is approximately the same as the east-west distance of Eurasia. He notes that neither of these calculations is at all accurate. He further notes that, according to the opinion of the Kuzari, two people could stand together and be observing two different days of Shabbos, because the imaginary line 90 degrees east of Yerushalayim stands between them. He objects to this possibility. He understands that the proper place of the halachic dateline should not be 90 degrees of Yerushalayim, but should be at the east-west midpoint of the Eurasian landmass, which is considerably to the east of Yerushalayim.

The Yesod Olam, himself, locates the halachic dateline 23.5 degrees further east than do the Kuzari and the Ba’al Hama’or. This places it east of most of Japan, although it still runs through Australia, placing both Sydney and Melbourne on the “wrong” side of the dateline, although the Yesod Olam would have had no way to know that. It is possible that, if the Yesod Olam had the geographic information that we currently have, he would have determined the line to be farther east, off the eastern coast of Siberia, and this is the conclusion of the Atzei Hasadeh (page 66) and several other authorities.

In the early 16^th century, the Radbaz (Shu’t Haradbaz 1:76), probably the greatest halachic authority of his era, also weighed in on the subject, concluding that there is no halachic date line. In his opinion, each individual should continue his count of the days of the week from where he left. When a community is established, it will determine when its Shabbos is, based on the starting point of most of its membership. The community will then have an established day for Shabbos that will be binding on all its members and visitors. Should two nearby communities be established, one of people who traveled from the east and the other of people who traveled from the west, we could indeed have the phenomenon of two nearby communities that observe Shabbos on different days. However, each community, and all members of that community, will always observe Shabbos on the same day each week, seven days after they did the previous week, which is seven days after the week before, going back to when their community first established itself.

Date

The second of our opening questions was: “Can you change your date?” What this question means is — can the date in a certain place be changed to a day earlier or a day later?

Indeed, I am aware of at least two times that this happened:

The first “westerners” to visit Alaska were fur trappers from Russia. Thus, Russia was the first state to place a claim on possessing Alaska.  When this claim was made by the czar of Russia, the date in Alaska was observed according to eastern Asia, as the earliest point – the easternmost point — of the world. When Alaska was sold to the United States in 1867, its date was changed so that it became the last time zone of the United States, that is, the westernmost point of the Americas, rather than the easternmost point of Asia. Suddenly, what had been considered Friday night and Saturday now became Thursday night and Friday.

A second place where this happened was the Philippines. Although these are islands off the eastern coast of mainland Asia, they were colonized by Spain who governed them as a sub-colony of Mexico, very far to the east. When the Spaniards did this, they counted the days in the Philippines as the westernmost point of the Americas, rather than part of the Far East. This is indeed strange, since Taiwan, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, all island nations lying far to the east of the Philippines, kept their days the same as mainland Asia. Thus, someone traveling from any nearby country to the Philippines found themselves a day in the week earlier.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Holland and Spain were frequently at war in the Far East. At the time, Holland controlled many east Asian islands that eventually became Taiwan and Indonesia. The Dutch repeatedly attempted to wrest the Philippines from Spain by attacking either Manila Harbor or the Spanish navy. Although the Dutch did not succeed in colonizing the Philippines, they did at times capture Spanish prisoners of war, who discovered that, not only were they now slaves, but they also had to change their days of the week to accomodate their new masters!

This situation existed in the Philippines from the sixteenth century until the 1820’s when Spain lost Mexico and almost all of its new world colonies. Once Spain no longer governed the Philippines from Mexico, they eventually changed its date to the same as the rest of the east Asian world.

There apparently was no Jewish community in the Philippines when this change occurred. Had there been one, they would have had to ask a shaylah whether they are now to observe Shabbos on Friday!

The Mid-19^th Century

Slightly past the middle of the 19^th century, such great luminaries as Rav Shemuel Mohliver and Rav Alexander Moshe Lapidus wrote works on the topic of the halachic dateline. They were well aware of the contributions on the subject by the Kuzari and the other rishonim that we have quoted. Most of these scholars contended that, notwithstanding that the Kuzari appears to be the only rishon who provided an opinion on the subject of the dateline, his approach was not accepted by the majority of rishonim and early halachic opinion. In addition, Rav Shemuel Mohliver noted that neither the Kuzari nor the Ba’al Hama’or ever expressly stated that they were ruling that there is a halachic dateline to determine when Shabbos begins. However, Rav Lapidus concluded that the dateline is 90 degrees east of Yerushalayim. Thus, he ruled that Japan, Korea, Kamchatka, Harbin, Melbourne, Sydney, New Zealand and eastern Indonesia should observe Shabbos, Yom Kippur and other Jewish laws as if they are part of the Americas, a day later than mainland Asia.

See part 2 of this article for the continuation of this discussion.

Question #1: Reign Date — The First of Nissan

How can the first of Nissan be Rosh Hashanah? Is there a halachic concept of a new half-year, as in, the world is now 5784½ years old?

Question #2: The Birthday of Elsie the Cow

“Can Rosh Chodesh also be Rosh Hashanah?”

Question #3: The First of Tishrei

Why does the Mishnah refer to this date as “The first of Tishrei,” rather than its more popular moniker, Rosh Hashanah?

Question #4: Is it the First or the Fifteenth of Shevat?

Or, a more basic question — why do the trees need a new year? Do they have a birthday party or shoot off firecrackers to celebrate?

Foreword

Mesechta Rosh Hashanah begins by declaring that there are four “new years” in the Jewish calendar year:

1. The first of Nissan is the new year for “kings and holidays.”

2. The first of Elul is the new year for tithing animals. This particular new year is disputed by the tanna’im Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon, who rule that the new year for tithing animals is the first of Tishrei.

3. The first of Tishrei is the new year for “years, shemittah, yoveil, planting, and vegetables.”

4. The first of Shevat is the new year for trees in Beis Shammai’s opinion, whereas Beis Hillel contends that it is on the fifteenth of Shevat.

Cutoff point

The word Rosh Hashanah is used by this Mishnah to mean a “cutoff point,” the date that separates one year from the next, germane to the particular laws mentioned. Each of these cutoff points has a halachic ramification. Let us look at these various categories.

Kings and holidays

In what way is the first of Nissan the “new year for kings?”

This requires an introduction, having to do with the needs of society to have efficient and reliable business practices. For a free-enterprise economy to function properly, it needs an established and accepted rule of law and a means for enforcing that law. This is axiomatic to economists and businessmen, and, indeed, the Torah established an efficient and reliable system for society to function properly. Among the requirements necessary are an effective system whereby debts can be collected and a means to enforce violations of contract law. These usually rely on written documentation, in halacha called shetaros. Should an individual or a business default on its obligations, halacha usually prioritizes outstanding financial commitments on a “first come, first served” basis. This means that an earlier debt is satisfied in full before a later one is dealt with. This makes it important to know the date that each obligation was created, so shetaros must be dated.

Establishing “reign dates”

Today, we use a standard accepted calendar, which makes it very easy to determine whose obligation was established first; however, that was not always the case. In the times of Chazal, dating of documents was usually performed according to the year of reign of the local monarch. This meant that, to know whose obligation was earlier, we needed to know the order of the monarchs. This is sometimes very easy to establish, since it is unlikely that Charles the 3^rd reigned before Charles the 2^nd. However, what might easily create confusion is when did the second year of Charles’ reign begin and when did it end? Using an actual date that Charles the 3^rd assumed the throne, let me show you the difficulty that will result. If Charles assumed the throne on the 19^th day of September, that date is now the 19^th of September of the first year of the reign of Charles 3^rd. But we now need to keep track that the 18^th of September is the end of the first year of his reign, and that the 19^th begins the second year of his reign. It is easy to see the problems that this creates.

Chazal avoided this problem by following an arbitrary date to begin the second year of a king’s reign. That means that, in the above example, the first year of Charles’ reign is only a few months long, and then the second year of his reign begins.

What date do we use as the arbitrary date for bumping a king’s reign to the next year? Chazal used the following approach: for Jewish kings they used the first of Nissan; after all, Pesach is the beginning of the Jewish calendar. This means that a Jewish king who ascended to the throne on the 29^th of Adar reigns for only one day before contracts are dated “the 1^st of Nissan of the 2^nd year” of his reign. In other words, the “reign date” may have little to do with the actual number of months, days and hours that he has been king. Although this might (and at times certainly did) create confusion for historians, it keeps the contract and commerce world simplified and clear, which is why this system was established. After all, although historians are valuable, they are not that necessary for commerce.

For non-Jewish kings, Chazal used the first of Tishrei, the day we usually call Rosh Hashanah, as the cut-off date, and this explains the later statement of the Mishnah that the first of Tishrei is the new year for “years.”

For holidays

What does it mean that the first of Nissan is the “new year for holidays?”

Someone obligated to offer a korban must bring it in a timely fashion. There are two different mitzvos, each with its own timetable. The first is a mitzvas aseih that we should offer our korbanos before the first regel — that is the three yomim tovim of Pesach, Shavuos and Sukkos — passes. There is also a mitzvas lo saaseh of bal te’acheir, not to delay the offering of a korban (see Devarim 23:22). How much time does one have to offer the korban without violating this mitzvah?

Pesach, Sukkos and Shavuos, when we conduct pilgrimages to the Beis Hamikdash, provide an opportune time to satisfy any korbanos obligations. Although there are several tanna’ic opinions to the contrary, the Mishnah rules that one violates the lo saaseh only when one did not bring his korban before the three yomim tovim of Pesach, Shavuos and Sukkos have passed in that order. This makes Nissan the beginning of the year “for holidays” — if he could have offered the korban on Pesach, he violates bal te’acheir when the following Sukkos passes. However, if he first became obligated to offer this korban after Pesach, he will not violate bal te’acheir until the second time the festival of Sukkos goes by, after Pesach has come in the interim, which starts the bal te’acheir clock running.

We now have the answer to our opening question: “How can the first of Nissan be Rosh Hashanah? Is there a halachic concept of a new half-year, as in, the world is now 5784½ years old?” The answer is that we are using the word “new year” to mean an annual cut-off point, and the first of Nissan functions as such for two distinct areas of halacha: determining the way legal documents are dated when we have a Jewish king, and when we must bring korbanos.

Elsie the Cow

At this point, let us examine the second of our opening questions: Rosh Chodesh Elul is the day we begin reciting LeDavid Hashem Ori in preparation for the Yomim Nora’im. Isn’t this a month too early to be Rosh Hashanah?

Indeed, this question is the subject of a dispute among tanna’im and the cause of a change of mind of the Rambam. As I mentioned above from the Mishnah, the first of Elul is the new year for tithing animals. This particular new year is disputed by the tanna’im Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon, who rule that the new year for tithing animals is the first of Tishrei.

Let me provide background on this mitzvah: In Parshas Bechukosai (Vayikra 27:31), the Torah teaches about the mitzvah of ma’aser beheimah, tithing animals. When the Beis Hamikdash is standing, a farmer’s newborn calves are gathered together and sent through a narrow passageway or opening. The owner counts his animals, one at a time, marks the tenth one with a red dye and declares the animal to be ma’aser beheimah. Counting the tenth animal is what makes it kodosh as a korban. Until and unless the farmer counts his animals in this procedure, there is no kedusha on any of the animals in his herd (Mishnah Bechoros 58b). The farmer performs the same procedures with his newborn kids (baby goats) and lambs (together).

Just as one is required to separate terumos and ma’asros on produce each year separately, counting and designating ma’aser beheimah is only within each year’s “crop” of newborn animals, not from one year on the previous or following year (Mishnah, Bechoros 53a; Gemara ibid. 54a-b). How do we determine the difference in “crop years” of animals? That is the dispute between the first tanna in the Mishnah and Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon. The Tanna Kamma rules that the annual cutoff point for ma’aser beheimah is on Rosh Chodesh Elul, whereas Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon rule that it is on the first day of Tishrei, the day that we usually call Rosh Hashanah. What is very interesting is that the Rambam and the Bartenura in their respective commentaries on the Mishnah rule like the Tanna Kamma. However, in the Mishneh Torah, the Rambam rules like the second opinion, that of Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon, that the cut-off date for ma’aser beheimah is the first day of Tishrei. This means that, although the Mishnah opens by stating that there are four Rosh Hashanahs, we rule, like Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon, that there are only three.

Years

Above, I quoted the Mishnah’s statement that the first of Tishrei is the new year for “years, shemittah, yoveil, planting and vegetables.” What is meant by years, when I have already explained that the equivalent of our calendar year was expressed in terms of the number of years of the king’s reign and was increased automatically on the first of Nissan (in order to avoid confusion)?

As I mentioned above, for Jewish kings, Chazal used the first of Nissan; after all, Pesach is the beginning of the Jewish calendar. For non-Jewish kings, however, they used the first of Tishrei, the day we usually call Rosh Hashanah.

Shemittah

As we know, every seven years we are required to observe the mitzvah of shemittah in the land of Eretz Yisrael, a topic whose details I have written about in the past, prior to and during shemittah years. There is also a mitzvah that comes at the end of shemittah year that applies both in Eretz Yisrael and in chutz la’aretz: the mitzvah of shemittas kesafim, releasing debts. As the Torah teaches, in parshas Re’eih: “At the end of seven years you shall ‘make shemittah.’ And this is the ‘word’ of the shemittah: Every creditor must release his hand from what his fellow owes him. He may not demand payment from his fellow, his brother, because he has declared a release for Hashem” (Devarim 15:1-2). These verses teach that, rather than Rosh Hashanah of the eighth year ending shemittah with a whimper, the shemittah year ends with a bang. And the date of this mitzvah is determined by the first of Tishrei, the day that we usually call Rosh Hashanah.

Yoveil

The Torah establishes a fifty-year yoveil cycle: the year after the seventh shemittah is yoveil. During yoveil, the land that was given to every family in Benei Yisrael, upon our conquering the holy land in the days of Yehoshua ben Nun, returns to its original family, every Jewish slave (eved ivri) goes free and all the laws of shemittah apply. The annual calculation of the yoveil year uses Tishrei as its cutoff point.

This mitzvah applies only when all twelve tribes live in their original areas as determined by Yehoshua. Therefore, unfortunately, it does not apply today until we again return to that configuration of Eretz Yisrael.

Planting and vegetables

Produce grown in Eretz Yisrael and the lands nearby must have several portions, called terumos and ma’asros, separated from it before it may be consumed. As we learned above, one cannot separate the terumos and ma’asros from one year for the crop of a different year, and therefore we need to know when the cut-off date is for each crop. The cut-off date for grains and vegetables is on Rosh Hashanah, the New Year for these agricultural products.

During the 1^st, 2^nd, 4^th, and 5^th years of the seven-year shemittah cycle, one of the separations is called ma’aser sheini. During the other years — that is, the 3^rd and 6^th years of the shemittah cycle — this second ma’aser is given to poor people and is called ma’aser ani.

When in its growth cycle

Although the first of Tishrei, our Rosh Hashanah, is the agricultural new year for all crops other than tree fruits, another factor determines which year applies to the particular crop: the point in the plant’s growth cycle. This is a highly complicated topic that requires at least an entire book to explain in detail. I will mention now only that the years for some species are based on when they are planted, some by the first appearance of fruit, others by when the fruit is considered “one-third grown,” and still others not until they are ready for harvest.

Rosh Hashanah

Of course, as we all know, the first of Tishrei is the Day of Judgment for all of humanity. This halacha is not mentioned in the first Mishnah of Maseches Rosh Hashanah (the Mishnah I quoted and have been explaining), but in a later Mishnah of that chapter, in which it states: At four times of the year the world is judged… on Rosh Hashanah, all who have entered the world pass before him… (Rosh Hashanah 16a).

Tu Bishvat

The Mishnah states that, in Beis Shammai’s opinion, the new year for trees is the first of Shevat , whereas Beis Hillel contends that it is on the fifteenth of Shevat. We follow Beis Hillel’s ruling and therefore Tu Bishvat is the “Rosh Hashanah” for trees. But what does that mean? Do the trees ignite fireworks on their New Year? Do they coronate Hashem as their King on their Rosh Hashanah? Does Hashem judge their deeds and misdeeds and grant them a fruitful year or otherwise, chas veshalom? As an aside, the “judgment” for trees is on Shavuos, not Tu Bishvat (Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 16a.) This means that on Shavuos, mankind, both in general and individually, is judged regarding what his trees will produce in the coming year.

Obviously, since trees have no free choice, the Heavenly Tribunal does not judge them on their Rosh Hashanah, yet the arboreal new year does have major halachic ramifications other than the popular custom of eating fruit. Tu Bishvat functions as the cutoff point between two crop years. As we learned above, one cannot separate terumos and ma’asros of one year for a different crop year. For tree fruits, the cutoff point is not the first of Tishrei but Tu Bishvat. In addition, Tu Bishvat determines which year of the shemittah cycle the fruit is from and therefore whether it is obligated in ma’aser sheini or in ma’aser ani. As I mentioned above, what stage of development the fruit is at on Tu Bishvat depends on the particular species. Again, some species depend on the first appearance of fruit, others by when the fruit is one third grown, and still others by when it is ready for harvest.

It is also usually the cutoff point for determining whether a tree is producing forbidden orlah fruit and for determining the halachos of revai’i. The fruits appearing after Tu Bishvat of the fourth year of the life of this tree are not forbidden as orlah, and the fruits of the fifth year of a tree’s life do not have the sanctity of revai’i.

Conclusion

We discussed several mitzvos that apply only in Eretz Yisrael. Most generations of our forebears had to be content with reading about Eretz Yisrael and imagining what it might be like to visit. We are fortunate to live in a time when visiting and living in Eretz Yisrael is a reality, and we should be filled with hakoras hatov that we can traverse the land that was promised to our forefathers. Inhabiting our native land includes many special laws that apply within its borders; we should all be familiar with these special laws, whether or not we live in Eretz Yisrael, because its special mitzvos create a direct relationship with Hashem.

Question #1: Fasting on Friday

May we fast on a Friday?

Question #2: An Unusual Year

In what ways is this year different from most other years?

Question #3: Who Stole the Date!

Why do some years miss having Asarah Beteiveis?

Question #4: Unusual Presidents

What did Teddy Roosevelt and Richard Nixon have in common?

Introduction

In a previous year when the Tenth of Teiveis fell on Friday, Moshe, one of my students where I taught at the time, came to me, rather incredulously, “I heard that Asarah Beteiveis falls on a Friday this year—but I thought that we cannot have fast days on a Friday? I don’t remember ever fasting on Friday!”

Answer

Although Moshe’s halachic assumption is inaccurate — there is no halacha banning fast days on Fridays — it is easy to comprehend why he thought so. In our current, fixed calendar, the only fast day that ever falls on a Friday is Asarah Beteiveis, and indeed it happens this year. Asarah Beteiveis last coincided with Friday seven years ago, and the time before was three years prior, which was the year that Moshe posed his observations.At the time, ten years had transpired since Asarah Beteiveis had fallen on a Friday, certainly way before Moshe was old enough to fast.

To explain why Asarah Beteiveis is the only fast that falls on a Friday requires a bit of complicated explanation about our calendar, but it is well worth it to have a deeper understanding of this very important institution. So find a relaxing place to do some entertaining calculations.

First, we need some historical background.

When the Torah commands us to create a calendar, it includes two different responsibilities: First, that Rosh Chodesh and the length of each month are determined on the basis of when the new moon appears, and, second, to have the holiday of Pesach fall in the spring and the holiday of Sukkos in the autumn (in the northern hemisphere). Thus, we have two separate and very different requirements, one of having the months determined by the moon, which is a little more than every 29½ days, and the second of having years that coordinate with the seasons, which follow the solar year, which is a bit less than 365¼ days.

Sanhedrin calendar

To accomplish having the dates and holidays fall according to the seasons, the halacha is that some years have 12 months, or approximately 354 days, and others have 13 months, or approximately 384 days. Since 12 Hebrew months is shorter than a solar year, unless we occasionally add another month, Pesach would fall approximately 10 days earlier each year until, eventually, it would be in the winter. Adding an extra month periodically adjusts that Nissan remains in the spring.

The mitzvah of the Torah is that the Sanhedrin is responsible every month to decide whether a month is 29 or 30 days long, and of deciding whether a year should have an extra month. In the latter case, the head of the Sanhedrin appointed a special committee to review the relevant information and determine whether the year should be 13 months or only 12.

Hillel’s calendar

Initially, these decisions were made by the heads of the Sanhedrin, and, indeed, when Moshiach comes, we will again have this procedure. This was the system in place for thousands of years – from the time of Moshe Rabbeinu until almost 300 years after the destruction of the second Beis Hamikdash. At that time, the head of the Sanhedrin, Hillel Hanasi (often called Hillel II or Hillel III by historians, to avoid confusion with his better-known ancestor, Hillel Hazakein, usually simply called “Hillel”), realized that, because of Roman persecution, the Sanhedrin’s days were numbered, and it would be necessary to switch to a different method for determining the calendar. Hillel Hanasi implemented a temporary Jewish calendar, which is the one that we currently use. Although many people refer to it as a “permanent calendar,” it will be in use only until we again have a Sanhedrin, which will then be in charge of the calendar.

Hillel’s calendar kept the same, basic structure of 29- and 30-day months and 12- and 13-month years, but it is based purely on calculation and not on observation or changes of circumstance. The two major changes in this new calendar are:

A leap of fate

The leap years occur following a regular pattern of seven leap years and 12 non-leap (usually called “common”) years in a 19-year cycle. The third, sixth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth, seventeenth and nineteenth years of the cycle are always leap years, and the rest are common years.

The new calendar bases itself on an estimate, an average time that it takes the moon to revolve around the Earth. This molad calculation is that each new moon appears 29 days, 12 hours, and 793 chalakim (singular: chelek) or 793/1080 of an hour after the previous new moon. Once one knows when the new moon, called the molad, occurred on the previous Rosh Hashanah, one could now add either 12 or 13 times the above figure and determine the time of the molad in the next year, which is the most important factor in determining the date of the next Rosh Hashanah. (The term chelek, used on Shabbos Mevorchim when announcing when the molad is, equals 1/1080 of an hour, or 3 and 1/3 seconds.)

The haves vs. the have-nots

In Hillel’s calendar, most months have a determined number of days, either 29 or 30, and only in two months, Marcheshvan and Kislev, does the number of days vary. Furthermore, whether those two months are 29 or 30 days long has nothing to do with the appearance of the new moon, which was the most critical factor under the Sanhedrin calendar, but is determined by two Rosh Hashanos (Rambam, Hilchos Kiddush Hachodesh 8:5), the Rosh Hashanah of the coming year and thatof the year following.

A year in which both Marcheshvan and Kislev have only 29 days is called chaseirah, lacking or defective; one in which Marcheshvan has 29 days and Kislev has 30 is called kesidrah, as expected or regular; and one in which both Marcheshvan and Kislev have 30 days is called sheleimah, full or excessive.

The terms chaseirah, kesidrah, and sheleimah apply in both common and leap years. Thus, in Hillel’s calendar, all common years are either 353 days (if both Marcheshvan and Kislev have 29 days), 354 days (if Marcheshvan has 29 days and Kislev has 30) or 355 days (if both Marcheshvan and Kislev have 30 days)

In a leap year, Adar Rishon always has 30 days, and Adar Sheini always has 29 days. Thus, the addition of an extra month of Adar in a leap year always adds exactly thirty days, and leap years are either 383 days (if both Marcheshvan and Kislev have 29 days), 384 days (if Marcheshvan has 29 days and Kislev has 30) or 385 days (if both Marcheshvan and Kislev have 30 days)..

Another major innovation

Did you ever notice that Yom Kippur never falls on Friday or Sunday? If it did, we would observe two consecutive days that both have the stringency of Shabbos. Indeed, when the calendar was based on observation, this could and did happen (She’iltos of Rav Acha’ei Geon, #67; Ha’emek She’eilah ibid, Note 22; Rambam, Hilchos Shabbos 5:21). However, Hillel’scalendar does not allow Yom Kippur to fall on either a Sunday or a Friday, and does not allow Hoshana Rabbah to fall on Shabbos, which would cause the cancellation of the Hoshanos ceremony. As long as the calendar was determined on the basis of eyewitness testimony, it was halachically more important to have Rosh Chodesh fall on its correct day than to be concerned about the difficulties created when these holidays fall on or next to Shabbos (Ha’emek She’ailah ibid; Gri”z, Hilchos Kiddush Hachodesh). Once we fulfill the mitzvah in a less-preferred way with Hillel’s “permanent” calendar, keeping Yom Kippur from falling on Friday or Sunday and keeping Hoshana Rabbah from falling on Shabbos are factors to be included in establishing the calendar.

To accommodate these innovations, Rosh Hashanah must fall only on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Shabbos. Were it to fall on Sunday, Hoshana Rabbah would be on Shabbos; on Wednesday, Yom Kippur would be on Friday; and on Friday, Yom Kippur would be on Sunday. When Rosh Hashanah in the coming year would naturally fall on Sunday, Wednesday or Friday, an extra day is added to the calendar to move Rosh Hashanah to Monday, Thursday or Shabbos (Rambam, Hilchos Kiddush Hachodesh 7:1). This is the predominant reason why Marcheshvan and Kislev are sometimes 29 days and sometimes 30 — to make the exact length of the years flexible.

There is one other factor: Sometimes, Rosh Hashanah takes place not on the day of the molad, but the next day, because the molad occurs on the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah and is not visible until the next day. When Rosh Hashanah was determined by the observation of witnesses, this information was important not only in determining when Rosh Hashanah falls, but also for interrogating potential witnesses testifying to the appearance of the new moon. Hillel’s calendar also does not allow Rosh Hashanah to be established on a day when the molad falls on its afternoon.

In order to accomodate all these various calendar requirements, Hillel Hanasi established four rules, called dechiyos, which, together with the astronomicalcalculation used and the 19-year leap year rotation, form the basis for determining our calendar. (Because these dechiyos are extremely technical, I will not explain them.)

Because the nineteen-year cycle synchronizes the lunar calendar with the solar year, the Hebrew and English dates of births, anniversaries and other occasions often coincide on the nineteenth anniversary of the event. If yours does not, but is off by a day or two, do not fret. Your record-keeping is accurate, but the cycle of nineteen years only relates to whether it is a leap year, not to whether the years are of the exact same length. As explained above, the lengths of Marcheshvan and Kislev are determined by other factors, and the secular year also varies in length, with the occasional addition of the 29^th of February, which influences this also. These factors affect whether your 19^th, 38^th or 57^th birthday or anniversary coincides exactly with its Hebrew/secular counterpart, or whether it varies slightly.

Fourteen types of years

Based on all these calculations, there are seven prototype years for a common year and seven for a leap year that fulfill the calendar rules. Each of these fourteen template “years” is called by a three-letter acronym, called a kevias hashanah, in which the first letter identifies the day of the week of the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the second letter denotes whether the year is chaseirah, kesidrah, or sheleimah, and the third letter identifies the day of the week of the first day of Pesach.

Let’s use this year as our example: Rosh Hashanah fell on Thursday. Both Marcheshvan and Kislev are 30 days this year; therefore, this year’s kevias hashana is השא, meaning that Rosh Hashanah fell on the fifth day of the week (ה), the year is sheleimah (ש), and the first day of Pesach is on Sunday, the first day of the week (א).

No letter is used to denote whether the year is a common or leap year, because this is understood by knowing how many days of the week Pesach follows Rosh Hashanah. In a common year that is kesidrah, Pesach falls two days later in the week than Rosh Hashanah, and in a leap year, it falls four days later, the two additional days being the extra two days that the extra month of Adar Rishon, thirty days long, adds to the day of the week count. Of course, these calculations must be adjusted one day in either direction, if the year is chaseirah or sheleimah. Either way, the number of days between Rosh Hashanah and Pesach (and whether it is chaseirah or sheleimah) tells us whether it is a common or leap year, so there is no need to include this in the acronym.

Back-to-back

During the Hebrew calendar years 5784 and 5785, we discover the fairly unusual situation of having back-to-back years with Asarah Beteiveis falling on Friday, both in 5784 (2023) and in 5785, (when it falls on January 10, 2025), each for a different reason: In 5784, which was a leap year, Rosh Hashanah fell on Shabbos and the year was a chaseirah — both Marcheshvan and Kislev had 29 days. 5785 is a common year in which Rosh Hashanah fell on Thursday and it is a sheleimah, because both Marcheshvan and Kislev have 30 days. When this happens Asarah Beteiveis of the second year falls exactly 385 days after the previous Asarah Beteiveis. Since the number 385 is perfectable divisible by seven, the number of the days of the week, the dates will fall on the same weekday.

At this point, we can explain another of our opening questions: What did Teddy Roosevelt and Richard Nixon have in common?

The last time Asarah Beteiveis fell on Friday in two consecutive years was in 5733 (on December 15, 1972, when Richard Nixon was president) and 5734 (on January 4, 1974). No one reading this article was fasting the previous time that Asarah Beteiveis occurred on Friday in back-to-back years, since this was on December 20, 1901 and January 9, 1903. Both of these fasts occurred when Teddy Roosevelt was president, having succeeded to the office on September 14, 1901, when William McKinley succumbed to his wounds inflicted by Leon Frank Czolgosz. Thus, Teddy Roosevelt and Richard Nixon were the only two people in the twentieth century to have Asarah Beteiveis fall on Friday in two consecutive years while they were President of the United States!

The next wait for back-to-back Friday Asarah Beteiveis observances after 5784 and 5785 is not quite as long. Someone blessed with good health and longevity can look forward to fasting on two Fridays of Asarah Beteiveis in the years 5831 (on December 12, 2070) and 5832 (January 1, 2072 — providing an auspicious way to celebrate the secular New Year).

You presumably have noted that the secular, or solar, years 1902, 1973, 2024 and 2071 all miss having Asarah Beteiveis. This is, in itself, not particularly significant. Almost every halachic leap year causes the pushing of Asarah Beteiveis into the next secular year. As a result, seven of nineteen secular years miss out on Asarah Beteiveis. (Actually, it is slightly less, since, about twice a century, Asarah Beteiveis after a leap year falls on December 30 or 31.)

Biblical Source

Although it would appear that the reason no other fast occurs on a Friday is simply a coincidence of the fixed calendar, one early authority contends that observing Asarah Beteiveis on Friday has a Tanach basis and deep halachic significance. The Avudraham explains this on the basis of the following pesukim in the book of Yechezkel: “And the Word of Hashem came to me in the ninth year in the tenth month (Teiveis) on the tenth of the month, saying, ‘Son of man, write the name of this date, this very day (etzem hayom hazeh); the king of Bavel has surrounded Yerushalayim, on this very day, be’etzem hayom hazeh’”(Yechezkel 24:1-2). Since Yechezkel identifies the Tenth of Teiveis as etzem hayom hazeh, this very day, and then even repeats this assertion, these words require that Asarah Beteiveis be observed on the date that it occurs and may not be moved.

The Avudraham expressly states that if Asarah Beteiveis were to fall on Shabbos, we would be required to fast on Shabbos, just as we are required to fast when it falls on a Friday. This means that, in his opinion, prior to the establishing of our calendar by Hillel Hasheini, whenever Asarah Beteiveis fell on Shabbos (during the period after the Churban), Klal Yisrael fasted on Shabbos, similar to the fasting we do when Yom Kippur falls on Shabbos! This ruling of the Avudraham seems unusual – particularly, since there is no record in the Gemara of such a halacha.

The Beis Yosef (Orach Chayim 550) takes strong issue with Avudraham’s approach, and questions why Asarah Beteiveis should be treated differently from any other rabbinically ordained fast. In addition, Avudraham’s position conflicts with Rashi (Megillah 5a s.v. aval)and the Rambam (Hilchos Taanis 5:5), both of whom mention that when Asarah Beteiveis occurs on Shabbos, the fast is postponed to Sunday.

Nevertheless, we must understand the conceptual basis on which the Avudraham, himself a well-respected Spanish rishon, understands Asarah Beteiveis to be a stricter fast than the others. It would seem that its significance is because it is the beginning of the tragedies that resulted in the churban.

Conclusion

The pasuk promises us that the “Fast of the Fourth (month, the Seventeenth of Tammuz, the fourth month counting from Nissan), the Fast of the Fifth (Tisha Be’av), the Fast of the Seventh (Tzom Gedalyah) and the Fast of the Tenth (Asarah Beteiveis) shall be for celebration and happiness for the household of Yehudah” (Zecharyah 8:19). May we use the fast days and other days of mourning for reflection and teshuvah, so that the words of the prophet are fulfilled speedily and in our days!