The fast of the 5th month, known in the pantheist/rabbanite calendar as 9th Av,
is both a landmark in Judaism
after the 1st temple and also a serious problem when to comes to the
prohibition to add to the Torah.
We see reference to it in the
Book of Zechariah:
Zechariah Chapter 7
1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king
Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the
ninth month, even in Chislev; 2 When Bethel-sarezer, and
Regem-melech and his men, had sent to entreat the favour of the LORD, 3 and to speak unto the priests of the house of the LORD of
hosts, and to the prophets, saying: 'Should I weep in the fifth month,
separating myself, as I have done these so many years?'
4 Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me,
saying: 5 'Speak unto all the people of the land, and to
the priests, saying: When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh
month, even these seventy years, did ye at all fast unto Me, even to Me? 6 And when ye eat, and when ye drink, are ye not they that
eat, and they that drink? 7 Should ye not hearken to the
words which the LORD hath proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was
inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, and the
South and the Lowland were inhabited?' {P}
8 And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying:
9 'Thus hath the LORD of hosts spoken, saying: Execute
true judgment, and show mercy and compassion every man to his brother; 10 and oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the
stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in
your heart.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Firstly, I shall attempt to
give a summary of what is written by Zechariah.
Bethel-sarezer, and
Regem-melech had approached the priests, and possibly Zechariah, to ask if they
should continue to fast for the 5th month (commemorating the
destruction of the 1st temple).
Zechariah hears the answer from the Lord, asking whether the fast was in
fact for Him? The answer to their
question, appears to be given in verses
7-10. These are clearly stating that the correct response is to act as was
instructed by the former prophets, and this is to practice true judgement, and not oppress each other. If the correct
behaviour was to fast, then it would have simply said yes. The fast of the 5th Month (av) and
the 7th Month , aka the fast
of Gedaliah, are human additions to the Torah, and not warranted even by the
prophet or the priests.
Ibn Ezra, the great Rabbinic
commentator, who was most involved in Karaite polemics, on good terms, was a
truly interesting character. See http://tanakhemet.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/rabbi-abraham-ibn-ezra-best-friend-of.html
His general Bible commentary
was very much an attempt to argue against the Karaite son their own terms,
although he often slips up in this brave challenge he set for himself. His commentary on Zech 7:5 is one of those
brilliant moments. He says that the meaning of “, did ye at all fast unto Me,
even to Me?” is that God, speaking in the first person, did not command these
fasts! That means, that he is assuming a
radical Karaite position here – since according to the Rabbinic halacha, these
fasts are of rabbinical status and must be observed. God is saying, He knows
nothing of this nonsense!
How can we explain this,
coming from a brilliant Rabbi, who spent most of professional career debating
and attempting to refute Karaism? It is
here that I turn to Sigmund Freud. In Freud’s psychoanalysis, there are
many subconscious mechanisms and
processes by which information can be repressed, and then expressed
unhealthily. When repressing the truth,
because its admission may be too costly, the act of repression can result in
uncomfortable tension for the psyche. One way out is a parapraxis or Freudian
slip, when a person simply lets out the truth instead of continuing with his
own lie. This is the only way once can
explain the slips that occasionally show on Ibn Ezra’s brave defence of
rabbanism, and the Fast of the Fifth month in particular.
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