Today, Sunday, October 6 (4th day of Tishri), we observe Tsom Gedalia, a fast day established to commemorate the assassination of Gedalia Ben Ahiqam, the governor of Israel during the days of Nebuchadnezzar, and the definitive exile of the Jews from the land of Israel during the time of the First Temple (Bet HaMikdash).
After the Destruction of the First Temple
When Nebuchadnezzar, the emperor of Babylon, destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E., he killed a large part of the population of the Kingdom of Judea (Yehudah). He also took tens of thousands of Jews captive to Babylon. Many others fled to the outskirts of Jerusalem or to neighboring nations like Ammon, Moab (modern-day Jordan), or Edom. Once Jerusalem was destroyed, the independent Jewish state ceased to exist, and Nebuchadnezzar declared Judea a province of the Babylonian Empire. The Babylonians allowed a small number of survivors — the wounded and the poorest farmers — to remain in Israel to work the land and prevent its desertification.
Gedalia Ben Ahiqam
To govern the Jews who remained in Israel, Nebuchadnezzar brought Gedalia Ben Ahiqam, a Jewish noble, from Babylon and appointed him governor of Judea. It was an unexpected event, a true miracle, that a Jew was appointed to govern Judea. Gedalia belonged to the Shafan family, Jewish nobles who had established themselves in Babylon during the exile of Jeconiah (597 B.C.E.) and enjoyed the emperor’s trust. Gedalia settled in Mitzpah, a town north of Jerusalem. The king of Babylon declared the war over and assured that the Jews who had fled could return to Israel and live there in peace as his subjects. The prophet Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) joined Gedalia. Together, they hoped that one day the emperor of Babylon would allow the exiled Jews to return and rebuild the Temple.
When the Jewish survivors who had fled Jerusalem heard that Gedalia had been appointed governor, they jubilantly returned to Israel. They settled the land, worked it, and harvested its fruits successfully. With Gedalia in charge, the hope of returning to a normal life and rebuilding the Bet HaMikdash was now a matter of time, and it seemed more real than ever.
The Assassination
Then, the unimaginable happened. Ba’alis, the king of Ammon, was an ally of Egypt, the principal enemy of Babylon. Ba’alis knew that with Gedalia as governor of Judea, it would be easier for Babylon to conquer his kingdom. Therefore, Ba’alis devised a plan to eliminate Gedalia and destabilize Judea. He found Yishma’el Ben Netania, a violent and ambitious man, a descendant of King David’s dynasty, and convinced him to assassinate Gedalia and claim the government of Israel. Ba’alis offered him logistical support and political backing, promising to recognize him as the new king of Judea.
Dangerous Naivety
At the beginning of the seventh Hebrew month, Tishri, Yishma’el and a group of armed men arrived in the city of Mitzpah, where they were warmly received by Gedalia, who gave them the honors due to a descendant of David’s dynasty. Despite having been warned by a Jewish general, Yochanan Ben Kareach, that Yishma’el planned to kill him, Gedalia naively dismissed the warning, convinced that no Jew would kill another Jew and that such rumors were absurd. However, the inexplicable happened: Yishma’el and his men assassinated Gedalia and the Babylonian officers with him. This assassination, carried out by a Jew, was seen as an act of war and insubordination against the emperor of Babylon.
The Second Exile
Yishma’el took all the Jews in Mitzpah as prisoners and headed to Ammon to proclaim himself king. Yochanan pursued him, but Yishma’el escaped with a small group of men and found refuge with Ba’alis. The Jews, now led by Yochanan, who were the last Hebrews remaining in the land of Israel, didn’t know what to do: staying would mean risking that the king of Babylon, without knowing who planned Gedalia’s assassination, would blame and kill all the Jews for insubordination. The other option was to flee to Egypt and ally with the enemies of Babylon.
Yochanan asked the prophet Yirmiyahu to pray and seek God’s guidance on whether to stay in Israel or flee to Egypt. After 10 days of prayer and meditation, Yirmiyahu received a clear divine message: “Stay in the land of Israel. The king of Babylon will not harm you. God will help you establish yourselves and rebuild the Jewish settlement. But if you escape to Egypt, the sword and famine you fear will reach you there.”
Inexplicably, Yochanan and the leaders of the Jewish refugees refused to listen to Yirmiyahu, accusing him of lying and falsely proclaiming to have received a divine message. Thus, they decided to flee to Egypt under Yochanan’s leadership.
As Yirmiyahu had anticipated, in Egypt they faced hunger, persecution, calamities, and death.
The land of Israel remained desolate and without an organized Jewish population for 52 years. The hopes of returning to Jerusalem and rebuilding the Bet HaMikdash vanished. It was as if the Temple of Jerusalem had been destroyed a second time, this time due to the actions of the Jewish people themselves: the assassination of Gedalia and Yochanan’s decision not to heed the divine word conveyed by the prophet Yirmiyahu.
The Fast of Gedalia
In memory of these tragedies that sealed our first exile, the prophets of Israel established Tsom Gedalia, a day of fasting observed the day after Rosh Hashanah. Generally, this fast is held on the third day of the Hebrew month of Tishri, unless Rosh Hashanah falls on Thursday or Friday, in which case the fast is observed on the fourth day of Tishri.
For the times of the fast see here: https://www.myzmanim.com
