Many ancient cultures contain the legend of a phoenix. The story is of a bird that lives hundreds of years only to be self-immolated, then ultimately reborn from its own ashes. The book of Iyov [29:18] speaks of a bird called “chol” as a symbol of Iyov’s dashed hopes for longevity. Rashi explains that the chol lives a thousand years and then reverts to its youthful self. A symbol of immortality, triumph and renewal, how can the phoenix serve as a lesson for the cycle of the Jewish people’s exiles and redemption?
From the Mishneh Torah of Rabbi Moshe son of Maimon (1135-1204 CE), known by the acronym RaMBaM, a leading medieval Halachists, the first to author a complete compendium of Jewish Law in his 14-volume magnum opus Mishneh Torah. At the conclusion of the laws pertaining to the fast days he explains:
All these four fasts commemorating the tragic events surrounding the destruction of the Holy Temple will ultimately be nullified in the Messianic era. Not only will they cease to be days of sadness, they will be transformed into holidays and days of rejoicing and celebration. As the verse [Zechariah 8:19] states: “Thus declares the L-rd of Hosts, ‘The fast of the fourth month commemorated on the 17th of Tammuz, the fast of the fifth month known as Tishah B'Av, the fast of the seventh month known as Tzom Gedaliah, observed on the 3rd of Tishrei, and the fast of the tenth month kept on the 10th of Teves, will be times of happiness and celebration and festivals for the House of Judah. At that time the Jewish people and the population of the world will love truth and peace.'”
Days of Favor
In the aftermath of the catastrophic events that led to the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash, the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, and the banishment of the Jewish people from the Land of Israel, the Sages identified four turning points and designated them as times of mourning. Each of these days is marked by fasting and refraining from other common pleasures as a means of directing the heart to repentance and self-reflection.
As a book of comprehensive Halachah (Jewish Law), the Rambam’s Mishneh Torah deals not only with the observances of the present “exile” reality, but also with halachic matters pertaining to the era of Moshiach. These days of sadness and mourning will be abolished in the future, the Rambam confirms. With the return of the exiled Jewish masses and the building of the third Beit Hamikdash, the significance of the calamities leading to the exile will be defused, so the fast days will likewise no longer be observed.
But the Rambam takes it a step further, citing a prophecy that the fast days will be transformed into days of celebration. While the termination of the cause for mourning and grief is certainly a reason to cancel fasts, what accounts for transforming these days into festivals?
Our Sages teach that the sensibility at the root of the annual fast days is not sadness and mourning, but opportunity. Each fast is a yom ratzon, a day when we can call forth G-d’s favor, and it allows each person to deepen their relationship with G-d. In exile, this sense is dominated by feelings of loss, a pining for the return of the Beit Hamikdash, so these days are marked by fasting and lamentation. In the era of Moshiach, however, when the reunification between G-d and the Jewish people will be realized, these auspicious days lose their outward expression of fasting. The facade of distance and grief is lifted and the essential quality of these days will give rise to the joy and celebration of a relationship with G-d.
But it goes even deeper:
Talmud Bavli Tractate Makkot 24b
In Tractate Makkot 24b of the Talmud, the tribulations of exile and the feelings of hope for redemption are discussed. The following incident involves four prominent sages, Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya, Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Akiva, who lived during the time of the destruction of the second Beit Hamikdash.
On another occasion they were ascending to the ruins of Jerusalem. When they arrived at Mount Scopus from where they could view the destroyed Temple they rent their garments in mourning. When they arrived at the Temple Mount, they saw a fox that emerged from the site of the Holy of Holies. They began weeping, and Rabbi Akiva was laughing.
They said to him: Why are you laughing?
Rabbi Akiva said to them: Why are you weeping?
They said to him: The place concerning which it is written, “And the non-priest who approaches shall die” [Bamidbar 1:51], now has foxes walking in it; shall we not weep?!
Rabbi Akiva said to them: That is why I am laughing . . In the prophecy of Uriah it is written: “Therefore, because of your deeds, Zion shall be plowed as a field, (and Jerusalem shall become rubble, and the Temple Mount as the high places of a forest, where foxes are found)” [Michah 3:12]. Although this prophecy appears in the book of Michah, there is a rabbinic tradition that this was prophesied by Uriah. In the prophecy of Zechariah [8:4] it is written: “There shall yet be elderly men and elderly women sitting in the streets of Jerusalem.” Until the prophecy of Uriah with regard to the destruction of the city was not fulfilled I was afraid that the prophecy of Zechariah would not be fulfilled, as the two prophecies are linked by the prophet Yeshayah. Now that the prophecy of Uriah was fulfilled, it is evident that the prophecy of Zechariah remains valid.
They said to him, employing this formulation: Akiva, you have comforted us, Akiva, you have comforted us.
When observing a fast day in remembrance of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Beit Hamikdash, look deeper than the mourning. Train your mind on the potential, filling your heart with yearning and hope for the future reconstruction of our Holy Temple.
Sources & Further Reading
- Yeshayah 58:5
- Yalkut Shimoni, Yirmiyah Remez 259
- Likkutei Sichot Chelek 19, Shabbat Nachamu
Rebuilding Begins with Demolition
In the fifteenth blessing of the Amidah prayer we ask G-d to hasten the sprouting of the Moshiach. The illustration of vegetative growth in regard to redemption sheds light on the attitude that should be employed towards the tumultuous exile that precedes it. It is from the tear-drenched soil of exile that the magnificent redemption germinates. From the perspective of traditional Jewish thought, every moment of strife and struggle is a springboard to propel the nation to exponentially higher heights.
In the incident related by the Talmud quoted above, it was specifically Rabbi Akiva, the descendant of converts who altered the trajectory of their lives and entered into G-d’s covenant, who was uniquely equipped to see the light beyond the soot and rubble of the ruins. He saw not doom and destruction but the budding of renewal and reconstruction.
A day of fasting is an annual landmark intended to extract awareness and insight into the reality of exile. As the plow churns the soil to ready the field for sowing, so does the tumult of exile yield redemption. In the pre-Moshiach state, these days are experienced with pause and introspection, calling upon the person to tend to the unripened seedbed. In the era of Moshiach, these days will be celebrated, not only due to their transformation from past destruction to present construction, but as a demonstration of how the deep-rooted growth of the laborious exile was the beginning of redemption all along.
- Annual fast days are auspicious days intended to deepen one’s connection to G-d and will serve as days of rejoicing in the messianic era. Although currently painful moments signaling the exile, they are ultimately seeds of rebuilding and redemption.
Look beneath the surface and perceive in the exile the roots of redemption.
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