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Week 44 - Thursday - 28 September 2000

TA'ANIT: CHAPTER 4: MISHNAH 5

The times of the wood of kohanim and the people are nine: on the first of Nisan - the children of Arah ben Yehudah; on the twentieth of Tammuz - the children of David ben Yehudah; on the fifth of Av - the children of Parosh ben Yehudah; on the seventh in it - the children of Yonadav ben Rekhav; on the tenth in it - the children of Sena'ah ben Binyamin; on the fifteenth in it - the children of Zattu ben Yehudah, and with them kohanim and Levites and whoever erred in his tribe, the sons of the pestle deceivers, the sons of the packers of dried figs. On the twentieth in it - the children of Pahat-Moab ben Yehudah; on the twentieth of Elul - the children of Adin ben Yehudah; on the first of Tevet the children of Parosh returned a second time, on the first of Tevel there was no ma'amad on it, for there was on it Hallel and a Musaf sacrifice and a wood offering.

Kehati

The Gemara quotes a baraita: "When the Israelites came up to Eretz Yisrael from the Exile they did not find wood in the Temple Chamber, and these (the families listed in this mishnah) contributed from their property. And the prophets among them enacted a condition that even if the Temple Chamber were filled with wood, these families will be permitted to contribute from their property, as it is written, 'And we cast lots, the kohanim and the Levites, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God…as it is written in the Torah' (Neh. 10:35)' (Ta'an. 28a). The mishnah lists the fixed times at which these eight families brought wood for the woodpile for the fire on the Altar. The mishnah calls this wood the "wood of kohanim and the people."

The times of the wood of kohanim and the people - the times at which the following families would bring wood for the woodpile are nine - fixed times:

On the first of Nisan - it would be brought by the children of Arah ben Yehudah - i.e., a certain family from the tribe of Yehudah (Ezra 2:5; Neh. 7:10); on the twentieth of Tammuz - the children of David ben Yehudah - from the family of King David (Gemara); on the fifth of Av - the children of Parosh ben Yehudah - from the tribe of Yehudah (see Ezra 2:3; Neh. 7:8); on the seventh in it - Av, the children of Yonadav ben Rekhav - from the family of Jethro (see Jer. 35:6); on the tenth in it - the children of Sena'ah ben Benjamin - a family from the tribe of Benjamin (see Ezra 2:35; Neh. 7:38);

On the fifteenth in it - the children of Zattu ben Yehudah - from the tribe of Yehudah (see Ezra 2:8; Neh. 7:13), and with them - it would be brought by - kohanim and Levites and whoever erred in his tribe - who did not know to which tribe he belonged, the sons of the pestle deceivers, the sons of the packers of dried figs - a baraita in the Gemara explains the terms, "the sons of the pestle deceivers, the sons of the packers of dried figs": "The authorities issued a decree against Israel…prohibiting the bringing of the firstfruits to Jerusalem, and placed guards on the roads, in the manner that Jeroboam ben Nabat had done, so that Israel would not make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. What did the worthy ones in that generation do? They brought baskets of the firstfruits and they covered them with dried figs, and they put them and a pestle on their shoulders, and when they came to the guards, the latter would ask, 'Where are you going?' They would tell them, 'To make two figcakes in the mortar before us (which was located in a nearby place) and with the pestle on our shoulders.' When they passed them (the guards), they decorated the baskets and they brought them to Jerusalem." They were called "the sons of the pestle deceivers, the sons of the packers of dried figs" because they deceived the guards by means of the pestle on their shoulders and the dried figs with which they covered the firstfruits. It is also told about them, that once the authorities issued a decree prohibiting the bringing of wood for the woodpile for the fire on the Altar; what did those who feared sin in that generation do? They took their pieces of wood, made ladders out of them, placed them on their shoulders and they went. When they came to the guards, the latter said to them, "Where are your going?" They said to them, "To bring young pigeons form the dovecote before us, with the ladders on our shoulders." When they had gone past the guards, they broke up these ladders and went up to Jerusalem. They therefore were called 'the family of Salmi [from the same root as sulam, ladder] Netofah. All these would bring wood on the fifteenth of Av, together with the children of Zattu.

On the twentieth in it - the children of Pahat-Moav ben Yehudah - according to one opinion in the Gemara, they are from the family of Yoav ben Zeruiah (see Ezra 2:6; Neh. 7:38);

On the twentieth of Elul - the children of Adin ben Yehudah (see Ezra 2:15); Neh. 7:20);

On the first of Tevet the children of Parosh returned a second time - they brought wood a second time, after they had already brought on the fifth of Av, on the first of Tevet - which is always Hanukkah, there was no ma'amad at all on it, for there was on it Hallel - for on Hanukkah the complete Hallel is read, which supersedes the ma'amad of Shaharit (see the preceding mishnah), and a Musaf sacrifice - for Rosh Hodesh, and a wood offering - which was brought by the children of Parosh; these two sacrifices suspend the other ma'amadot of Musaf, Minhah, and Ne'ilah. The Gemara explains that only Hallel of Hanukkah, which is by Rabbinic law, suspends the ma'amad of Shaharit, but Hallel of Rosh Hodesh, which is only a minhah (lit., custom - see Glossary), and was not instituted by force of law, does not supersede a ma'amad. It is for this reason that the mishnah does not mention the first day of Nisan, for even though Hallel is recited, there is a Musaf sacrifice and the wood offering, it nevertheless has ma'amad in Shaharit.

TA'ANIT: CHAPTER 4: MISHNAH 6

Five things befell our ancestors on the seventeenth of Tammuz, and five on the ninth of Av. On the seventeenth of Tammuz the Tablets were broken and the tamid ceased, and the city was breached, and Apostomos burned the Torah and placed an idol in the sanctuary. On the ninth of Av it was decreed against our ancestors that they would not enter the Land, and the Temple was destroyed the first time and the second time, and Betar was taken, and the city was ploughed up. When Av enters they reduced rejoicing.

Kehati

After the previous chapters taught of the fastdays instituted for lack of rain, as well as the fasts instituted by the Court because of other calamities (see the beginning of chap. 3), this mishnah discusses fasts of the seventeenth of Tammuz and the ninth of Av (Tisha BeAv), and the calamities which befell them.

Five things befell our ancestors on the seventeenth of Tammuz, and five on the ninth of Av. On the seventeenth of Tammuz the Tablets were broken - by Moses, because of the sin of the Golden Calf, for on the seventh of Sivan (after the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai), Moses ascended on high to receive the Tablets, as it is written, "and on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud" (Ex. 24:16), and "And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud, and went up into the mount; and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights" (ibid., v. 18);

And the daily tamid sacrifice ceased - during the siege of Jerusalem, because the inhabitants of the city had no sheep to be offered. The Gemara explains that tradition teaches that the seventeenth of Tammuz was the date on which this occurred. Rambam writes that the reference is to the siege of Jerusalem during the time of the First Temple;

And the city - Jerusalem, was breached - in the time of the Second Temple; in the time of the First Temple, however, the city was breached on the ninth of Tammuz, as it is written, "In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month…Then a breach was made in the city" (Jer. 52:6-7);

And Apostomos burned the Torah - the Gemara explains that this is known from tradition, and - this same Apostomos, during the Second Temple placed an idol in the sanctuary - another version reads, "and an idol was placed in the sanctuary," and this is interpreted in the Jerusalem Talmud as referring to the idol of Menasheh (during the time of the First Temple - see II K. 21).

On the ninth of Av it was decreed against our ancestors that they would not enter the Land - the Gemara explains that it is written, "And it came to pass in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, that the cloud was taken up from over the Tabernacle of the Testimony" (Num. 10:11) - i.e., on the twentieth of Iyar; and it is written, "And they set forward from the mount of the Lord three days' journey" (ibid., v.33) - the twentieth through the twenty-second of Iyar; and "Therefore the Lord will give you flesh, and you will eat…a whole month" (Num. 11:18-21) - i.e., until the twenty-second of Sivan; and "And Miriam was shut up outside the camp seven days" (Num. 12:15) - until the twenty-ninth of Sivan; and afterwards it is written, "Send you men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan" (Num. 13:2) - a baraita teaches that Moses sent out the spies on the twenty-ninth of Sivan; and "And they returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days" (Num. 13:25) - according to tradition, Tammuz during that year was a "full" month (containing thirty days) - it therefore follows that the forty days ended on the eighth of Av: two days during Sivan, thirty days during Tammuz, and eight days during Av, for a total of forty days; and "And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night" (Num. 14:1), i.e., on the night of the ninth of Av. This then is the meaning of the passage in the Gemara: "This night was the night of the ninth of Av. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them, 'You engaged in gratuitous crying, and I will establish for you a crying for all time to come.'"

And the Temple was destroyed the first time - as it is written, "Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan…And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house" (II K. 25:8-9), and "Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Bablyon, came Nebuzaradan…And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house" (Jer. 52:12-13); a baraita teaches: "We cannot say, 'on the seventh,' because it has already been stated, 'on the tenth,' and we cannot say, 'on the tenth,' because it has already been stated, 'on the seventh.' How can this be? On the seventh of Av the non-Jews entered the Sanctuary and ate and desecrated it on the seventh and the eighth, and on the ninth, close to nightfall, they ignited the fire in it, and it burned the entire day"; and the Temple was destroyed the second time - this is what was taught in a baraita: "Good things are devolved on a meritorious day, and bad things on an unfortunate day";

And Betar was taken - during the time of the Bar Kochba rebellion against the Romans. Rambam writes: "A large city, named Betar, was captured, and it contained thousands and tens of thousands of Israelites, and they had a great king, and all Israel and the greatest of the scholars imagined that he was the anointed (Messiah) King, and it fell to the Romans, and they all were killed, and it was a great disaster, as the destruction of the Temple" (Hil. Ta'anit 5:3);

And the city - Jerusalem, was plowed up - the Gentiles turned it all into one plowed field, as it is written, "Zion shall be plowed as a field" (Jer. 26:18); according to a tradition, the last three events also took place on the ninth of Av.

When Av enters they reduce rejoicing - because of the enormity of the disasters which occurred during this month. The Gemara explains that people reduce their activities in conducting transactions, building, and planting, and women may be betrothed but not wed. The Jerusalem Talmud states that the Sages' prohibition of building and planting applies only to building and planting which evoke joy.

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