Tomorrow, Thursday, July 9, 2020, we commemorate the 17 of Tamuz, a day of public fasting (תענית ציבור). This day we also inaugurate a period of 3 weeks, until the 9th of the month of Ab, dedicated to keeping a partial of mourning for the destruction of our Bet haMiqdash (= Temple of Jerusalem) and other tragedies suffered by the Jewish people.
Five tragedies happened to the Jewish people on the 17 of Tamuz
1. The Tablets of the Law were broken.
2. An idol was placed in the Bet haMiqdash.
3. The daily sacrifice offering was interrupted.
4. Apostomus publicly burned a Sefer Tora.
5. The walls of the city of Jerusalem were destroyed.
THE TABLETS OF THE LAW
Moshe ascended Mount Sinai on the 6th of Sivan, and remained there for forty days. On the 16th of Tammuz, when the people thought that Moshe was not going to return, they made a golden calf and worshiped it. The next day, 17th of Tamuz, Moshe descended from Mount Sinai, saw the Jews worshiping the golden calf, and broke the tablets containing the Ten Commandments. On this day, when we remember that the tablets of the law were destroyed, we also remember what caused this tragic event: the great sin of the golden calf.
AN IDOL IN THE TEMPLE
The rabbis disagree on when this exactly happened. Are we remembering an event that took place in the times of King Menashe, in the 7th century before the Common Era, or we remembering what happened in the time of Apostomus, the Roman general that around the year 50 of the Common Era burned a scroll of Tora publicly to offend and provoke the Jews?
Let’s explore the first opinion. In the middle of the 9th century BCE, the people of Israel divided into two kingdoms: Israel and Yehuda. The kingdom of Israel, also known as the 10 tribes, was destroyed in 722 BCE by the Assyrians. Yehuda’s kingdom survived. We are called Yehudim (Jews) because we descend from the kingdom of Yehuda (Judea).
Menashe (709-642 BC) was one of the kings of Yehuda. There are two particular elements that characterized his monarchy.
1. He was the monarch who reigned for the longest time in Jewish history: 55 years.
2. Menashe was probably the worst king in the history of the kingdom of Yehuda.
His father was a great Tsadiq, Hizqiyahu, and according to our tradition, his grandfather was the prophet Yesha’ayahu. But Menashe abandoned the path of his ancestors. And to achieve political stability, Menashe turned Yehuda into a vassal state of Assyria (אשור). The Jews became subjects of the king of Assyria and as a consequence they adopted their polytheistic religion. Menashe dedicated himself to the systematic elimination of Judaism, including the service in the Bet haMiqdash. He introduced Assyrian idolatry, worship to the Ba’al, Ashera, and all the constellations of heaven . He brought idolatrous soothsayers, astrologers, magicians, and sorcerers to Israel. Menashe ordered the killing of thousands of Yehudim who opposed his religious reform. According to some opinions, Menashe murdered his own grandfather, the prophet Yesha’ayahu. Menashe made the Tora completely forgotten for two generations, as it says in Melakhim II (21: 2-6) “Menashe did everything that offended HaShem: he practiced the abominable ceremonies [of idolatry] of the nations that HaShem had expelled [of Israel] … rebuilt the pagan altars that his father Hizquiyahu had destroyed. He erected altars in honor of Ba’al and made an image of the goddess Asherah…. He prostrated himself before all the stars in heaven and worshiped them… In both courtyards of the Temple of HaShem [Menashe] built altars in honor of the stars of heaven. He sacrificed his own son [to the god of fire], practiced magic and sorcery, and visited necromancers and spiritists. He continually did what offended HaShem, thereby causing His wrath. ”
The text also adds the following:
21: 7: “[Menashe] took the image of the [Assyrian] goddess Asherah, which he had himself commanded to make, and placed it in the [Temple Sanctuary] …”
Following the opinion that the introduction of an idol in the Temple took place on the 17th of Tamuz, on this day we are also lamenting and repenting for the wrongdoings of our ancestors in the time of King Menashe.
To be continued
