Fasting in Jewish tradition is a religious discipline involving abstention from food, drink, and physical pleasure, for the purpose of intensifying spiritual experience in atonement for sin, in commemoration of national tragedies, or as part of a personal petition to God when seeking His help.
The best-known example of fasting for the first of the above reasons is the biblical fast of the Day of Atonement, which is commanded to atone for sin. While fasting is not explicitly mentioned, the Bible ordains for this day that "You shall afflict your souls" (Lev. 16:31), and from early times the rabbis interpreted this to mean fasting (Yoma 11a, 73b ff). Part of the "affliction of the soul" also involves a prohibition against bathing, anointing, wearing leather footwear, and engaging in conjugal relations. The gratification of such bodily appetites is seen as a prime source of sin. In biblical times, rending one's garments and putting on sackcloth and ashes were further signs of distress accompanying abstention from food (Jonah 3:6ff; Ezek. 9:5). In other cases, fasting is clearly implied (Josh. 7:5-13; Jer. 6:26; Lam. 2:10).
The second category of fasts commemorates tragic events in Jewish history. These are the four fasts mentioned in the Bible:10 Tevet (see
With the exception of Tishah be-Av these historical fasts are usually described as "minor." Two halakhic stipulations underscore this distinction. First, the fast begins at dawn on the day itself and not at sunset on the previous evening as is the case with the Day of Atonement and Tishah be-Av. Secondly, the additional four prohibitions (bathing, anointing, leather shoes, and sexual relations) are not added to the prohibition against eating and drinking as on the Day of Atonement and Tishah be-Av.
The Bible records other instances of fasting with sackcloth and ashes at times of national crisis. Thus, after the defeat at Ai (Josh. 7:5-13) and in the tribal war against Benjamin (Judg. 20:23-26), the leaders of the people proclaimed a fast.
The third category of fasting, the fast of petition, is illustrated by Esther's call to her fellow Jews to observe a three-day fast as she prepared to plead with the king for her people (Est. 4:16-17). The fast of petition is represented in enactments by the rabbis proclaiming fasts in times of national danger. Just as in biblical times leaders called the people to a fast and a special assembly (Joel 2:14), so in the rabbinic tradition fast days were proclaimed by the rabbis when the people were exhorted to fast and pray for God's help in times of severe drought or plague (Ta'an. 3:5-8). An entire tractate of the Talmud, Ta'Anit (Fast), is devoted to the subject.
Various rabbinic laws are associated with fasting. The obligatory fasts have to be observed by all males over the age of 13 and females over the age of 12. In order to train the religious loyalty and self-discipline of younger people, the rabbis encouraged youngsters below these ages to observe partial fasts. Sick people and women in an advanced stage of pregnancy, as well as nursing mothers who have recently given birth, are not required to fast. Where there is a danger to health, the rabbis ruled that fasting is not only excused but prohibited.
With the exception of the Day of Atonement, any fast that falls on the Sabbath is postponed to Sunday. The Fast of Esther cannot be postponed to the next day since that day is the Festival of Purim, and as it cannot be predated to Friday because fasting on the day before the Sabbath is not permitted, the fast is put back to Thursday.
Laws and customs also established additional penitential prayers, such as Avinu Malkenu and Torah readings for certain fast days like the story of the intercession of Moses when he prayed for God's forgiveness of the people after they had sinned with the Golden Calf (Ex. 32, 34). The same passage is read both during the Morning and Afternoon Services. The prophetical reading for the Afternoon Service is Isaiah 55:6-56:8, which tells of God's forgiveness of the sinner who repents.
The Bible also records cases of individuals undertaking a private fast, usually a fast of petition. David fasted when his first child by Bathsheba was near death (II Sam. 12:16) and the Book of Psalms testifies to individually imposed fasting (Ps. 35:13, 69:11-12). In much later periods individual fasts were undertaken or traditionally observed for a variety of reasons, such as to avoid the imagined effect of a bad dream. Some mourners would fast on the day of the burial of a parent, or on the observance of a Yahrzeit (anniversary) of the death. More widely observed is the custom for a bride and bridegroom to fast on the day of their wedding before the ceremony. This is in token of their desire for forgiveness for any sins as they are about to start a new life.
Various other non-obligatory fasts were observed mainly by extremely pious individuals rather than by the general community.
For example, in the months following the festivals of Passover and Sukkot, i.e., in Iyyar and HÌ£eshvan, it became a special mark of piety to fast on the Monday, Thursday, and the following Monday after the conclusion of the festival (known as Ta'anit BeHaB). The observance is not known before the 13th century and the reason generally given is that it was a special gesture to seek atonement for any superfluous jollification indulged in during the festival period. The same class of pietistic fasts includes Yom Kippur Katan, the "little Yom Kippur" observed on the day before New Moons. This was introduced by the 16th century kabbalist Moses Cordovero of Safed as a penitential fast for any sins committed in the previous month. Also of kabbalistic origin is the period of fasting in the winter months of January and February known as SHoVeVVIM TaT from the initial letters of the first eight weekly Bible portions of the Book of Exodus read during this period. Some very pious Jews fast every Monday and Thursday throughout the year.1
The Fast of the Firstborn on 14 Nisan, the day before Passover, is the only fast which is neither an atonement for sin nor a fast of petition. It is in a class of its own and is placed in the calendar as a reminder of the death of the Egyptian firstborn and the miraculous escape of the Israelite firstborn. However, it is observed only symbolically by firstborn male Jews, with provision made to avoid the obligation of fasting by participating in a siyyum---the study of a concluding passage of a Talmud tractate, which permits the participants to eat and drink.
In spite of, or perhaps because of, the accumulation of many additional kinds of private or communal fast days for various reasons, some outstanding rabbinic leaders opposed self-inflicted fasts and strongly criticized them. They taught that the spirituality of Judaism is not necessarily best experienced through the exercise of self-mortification, but rather through the practice of charity and good deeds.
The prophet Isaiah castigated fasting without an inner religious and charitable spirit. Isaiah 58, part of the prophetical reading for the Day of Atonement, teaches that great moral good can be derived from a fast; but only if it is sincerely observed, when it can remake man's character by arousing his sympathy for the plight of the needy and his fellow man.
