Torah Community Connections

Week 42 - Wednesday - 13 September 2000

GLOSSARY
KEHATI MISHNAH TRACTATE TA'ANIT

Alot ha-Shahar the rise of dawn.

Erusin a formal betrothal which bestows upon the betrothed the status of a married woman, and which cannot be annulled without a bill of divorce.

Heikhal inner Sanctuary

Kohen a member of the priestly tribe - descendent of Aaron, a priest (v. Lev. 21, 22).

Minhag a religious custom, often as binding as a law

Minhah 1) meal offering; 2) afternoon prayer.

Musaf 1) additional offering brought on the Sabbath, New Moon and Festivals; 2) the additional prayer recited on these days.

Nasi Prince, Patriarch; the chief of the Great Sanhedrin (q.v.) in Jerusalem; after its abolition, the head of Palestinian Jewry.

Nazir one who has taken a nazirite vow (to abstain from wine and let the hair grow (v.Num 6).

Ne'ilah the concluding service of the Day of Atonement.

Nisuin the ceremony of home-taking, which completes the marriage.

Pesah 1) the Passover sacrifice; 2) the pilgrimage Festival of Passover.

Sanhedrin the Great Sanhedrin - The Council of State and Supreme Tribunal of the Jewish People at the time of the Temple of Jerusalem which consisted of seventy-one members. "Small" Sanhedrin - a minor court (for judicial purposes only) of twenty-three members.

Se'udah Mafseket the last meal before beginning a fast.

Shaharit the morning prayer (service).

Shavuot the pilgrimage Festival of Weeks (Pentecost).

Sheliah Tzibbur reader or cantor who leads the prayer service.

Shemini atzeret Festival of the Eighth Day - after the seven days of Sukkot.

Shemoneh esreh the prayer of eighteen blessings recited three times daily on weekdays.

Shofar ram's horn used as a trumpet for military and religious purposes, particularly in the service of the New Year and the conclusion of the Day of Atonement.

Shofarot part of the New Year prayer service which contains ten verses from the Bible which refer to the sounding of the shofar.

Sukkot the pilgrimage Festival of Tabernacles.

Tamid the daily burnt-offering offered up every morning and afternoon.

Tefillin Phylacteries; small cases containing passages from the Scriptures and affixed to the forehead and arm during the recital of morning prayers (except on the Sabbath and Holy Days), in accordance with Deut. 6:8.

Zikhronot part of the New Year service which contains ten verses from the Bible which refer to G-d's remembering the World and the Jewish People

INTRODUCTION

"And when you go to war in your land against the adversary that oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets; and you shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies." (Num. 10:9) "When Heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, when they do sin against You; if they pray toward this place, and confess Your name, and turn from their sin, when You do afflict them; then hear You in Heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, and of Your people Israel, when You teach them the good way wherein they should walk; and send rain upon Your land, which You have given to Your people for an inheritance." (I K. 8:35-36)

"It is a Torah obligation to cry out and to sound an alarm with the trumpets for every calamity that befalls the public, as it is written, 'against the adversary that oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets,' i.e., concerning every cause, e.g., drought, plague, locusts, etc., cry out and sound the alarm.

"This procedure is one way to repentance, for when in distress they cry out and sound the alarm, all will realize that the adversity was because of their evil deeds, as it is written, 'Your iniquities have turned away….' (Jer. 5:25), and it is this which will remove the affliction from you. But if they fail to cry out and will not sound the alarm, but attribute the adversity to natural causes and chance, then this is the way of cruelty, which causes them to adhere to their bad deeds, adding to their misfortunes. This is what the Torah means by 'but walk contrary (keri) to Me; then I will walk contrary to you in fury (be-hamat keri), (Lev. 26:27-28), i.e., when I afflict you so that you might repent, and you say that this is a mere accident (keri), I will add to you the fury provoked by this 'accident.' The Soferim enacted fasting for any calamity that befalls the public until mercy is granted from Heaven; on these fastdays we cry out in prayers and sound the alarm with trumpets alone, and in the Temple with trumpets and with the shofar; the shofar is sounded briefly, and the trumpets continuously, since the obligation of the day is to sound trumpets, and they blow the trumpets and the shofar jointly only in the Temple, as it is written, 'With trumpets and sound of the shofar, shout you before the King, the Lord' (Ps. 98:6). These public fastdays, decreed because of adversity, are not instituted on consecutive days, for most of the public cannot endure this. Initially fasts are declared only for a Monday, the following Thursday, and the following Monday; this order of Monday-Thursday-Monday continues until Heaven has mercy" (Rambam, Hil. Ta'aniyot 1:1-5).

This Tractate discusses the laws concerning fasts; it deals especially with the fasts decreed by the Sages because of drought. Hence the Tractate opens with the laws specifying the mention and request of rain in the Shemoneh Esreh prayer.

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