Seventeenth of Tammuz
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Seventeenth of Tammuz (שבעה עשר בתמוז Hebrew: Shiva Assar BeTammuz) is the seventeenth day on the Hebrew month of Tammuz. It is a half-day (dawn to dusk) fast in Judaism.
Background
The Mishnah (Taanit 4:6) lists five calamities that befell the Jewish people on this date:
- Moses broke the two tablets of stone on Mount Sinai;
- The daily korban tamid ceased to be brought during the Siege of Jerusalem, as no more sacrificial animals were available;
- The walls of Jerusalem were breached, which proceeded to the destruction of the Second Temple;
- Prior to the Bar Kokhba's revolt, Roman military leader Apostamos burned a Torah scroll;
- An idol was erected in the Second Temple.
Place among the fasts
It is the second in the Four Fasts commemorating the destruction of the Temple and the Jewish Exile. It is preceded by the fast of Tenth of Tevet seven months earlier, begins the three weeks before full-day fast of the Ninth of Av. The last of the four fasts is the Fast of Gedalia immediately following Rosh Hashanah.
Bein hametzarim
The three weeks between the Seventeenth of Tamuz and the Ninth of Av are in themselves known as the Three Weeks, also known as bein hametzarim ("between the straits"), of a mounting sense of mourning for Jerusalem's and the Temples' destructions.
| Jewish holidays | |
|---|---|
| Shabbat | Rosh Hashanah | Fast of Gedalia | Yom Kippur | Sukkot, Hoshanah rabbah and Shmini Atzeret | Simchat Torah | Hanukkah | Tenth of Tevet | Tu Bishvat | Fast of Esther & Purim | Fast of the firstborn | Pesach (Passover) | Counting of the Omer | Lag Ba'omer | Shavuot | 17th of Tammuz, The three weeks & The nine days | Tisha B'Av | Tu B'Av | |
| National holidays of Israel | |
| Yom HaShoah | Yom HaZikaron | Yom Ha'atzma'ut | Yom Yerushalayim | |