Taanit

: You desired to destroy the Temple, but I have handed over your hand to Him.1 ON THE NINTH OF AB IT WAS DECREED THAT OUR FATHERS SHOULD NOT ENTER THE [PROMISED] LAND. Whence do we know this? For it is written, And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up.2 And [regarding this verse] a Master said: In the first year Moses built the Tabernacle, in the second year Moses erected the Tabernacle and sent out spies. Further 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 testimony.3 And it is further written, And they set forward from the mount of the Lord three days’ journey,4 and R. Hama b. Hanina explained this means that on that day they turned aside from after the Lord. And it is further written, And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a-lusting; and the children of Israel also wept on their part etc.5 And it is further written, But a whole month etc.6 That brings us up to the twenty-second of Sivan. And it is further written, And Miriam was shut up [without the camp] seven days.7 That brings us up to the twenty-ninth of Sivan. And it is further written, Send thou men.8 And it has been taught: Moses sent out spies on the twenty-ninth of Sivan. And it is further written, Add they returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days.9 But is not this forty days less one?10 — Abaye replied: Tammuz of that year was a full month [of thirty days],11 for it is written, He hath called a solemn assembly against me to crush my young men.12 And it is further written, And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.13 Rabbah said in the name of R. Johanan: That night was the night of the ninth of Ab. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: You have wept without cause, therefore I will set [this day] aside for a weeping throughout the generations to come. [ON THE NINTH OF AB] THE TEMPLE WAS DESTROYED THE FIRST TIME. For 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 the captain of the guard, a servant of the King of Babylon, unto Jerusalem. And he burnt the house of the Lord etc.14 And it is further written, Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon into Jerusalem etc.15 With reference to this it has been taught: We cannot say that this happened on the seventh, for it has already been stated that it was ‘in the tenth’; and we cannot say that this happened on the tenth, for it has already been stated that it was ‘on the seventh’. How then are these dates to be reconciled? On the seventh the heathens entered the Temple and ate therein and desecrated it throughout the seventh and eighth [of Ab] and towards dusk of the ninth they set fire to it and it continued to burn the whole of that day, as it is said, Woe unto us! for the day declineth, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.16 And this is what R. Johanan meant when he said: Had I been alive in that generation I should have fixed [the mourning] for the tenth, because the greater part of the Temple was burnt thereon. How will the Rabbis then [explain the contradiction]? — The beginning of any misfortune is of greater moment. AND [THE TEMPLE WAS DESTROYED] THE SECOND TIME. Whence do we know this? For it has been taught: Good things come to pass on an auspicious day, and bad things on an unlucky day. It is reported that the day on which the First Temple was destroyed was the eve of the ninth of Ab, a Sunday, and in a year following the Sabbatical year, and the Mishmar of the family of Jehoiarib17 were on duty and the Levites were chanting the Psalms standing on the Duchan.18 And what Psalm did they recite? — [The Psalm] containing the verse, And He hath brought upon them their own iniquity; and will cut them off in their own evil.19 And hardly had they time to say, ‘The Lord our God will cut them off’,19 when the heathens came and captured them. The same thing too happened in the Second Temple. BETHAR WAS CAPTURED. This is a tradition. AND THE CITY WAS PLOUGHED UP. It has been taught: When Turnus Rufus the wicked destroyed20 the Temple, R. Gamaliel was condemned to death. A high officer came and stood up in the Beth-Hamidrash and called out, ‘The Nose-man21 is wanted, the Nose-man is wanted’. When R. Gamaliel heard this he hid himself. Thereupon the officer went up secretly to him and said, ‘If I save you will you bring me into the world to come?’ He replied: Yes. He then asked him, ‘Will you swear it unto me?’ And the latter took an oath. The officer then mounted the roof and threw himself down and died. Now there was a tradition [amongst the Romans] that when a decree is made and one of their own [leaders] dies, then that decree is annulled.22 Thereupon a Voice from Heaven was heard declaring, This high officer is destined to enter into the world to come. Our Rabbis have taught: When the First Temple was about to be destroyed bands upon bands of young priests with the keys of the Temple in their hands assembled and mounted the roof of the Temple and exclaimed, ‘Master of the Universe, as we did not have the merit to be faithful treasurers these keys are handed back into Thy keeping’. They then threw the keys up towards heaven. And there emerged the figure of a hand and received the keys from them. Whereupon they jumped and fell into the fire. It is in allusion to them that the prophet Isaiah laments: The burden concerning the Valley of Vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the house tops, thou that art full of uproar, a tumultuous city, a joyous town? Thy slain are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.23 Of the Holy One, blessed be He, also it is said, Kir shouting, and crying at the mount. 24 WITH THE BEGINNING OF AB REJOICINGS ARE CURTAILED. Rab Judah the son of R. Samuel b. Shilath said in the name of Rab: Just as with the beginning of Ab rejoicings are curtailed, so with the beginning of Adar rejoicings are increased. mourning, as the Talmud goes on explaining. Hence he called out, oyujv kgc = vir nasi.