The Fast Days in the Future to Come - Rabbi Menachem Cohen shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to “Lema’an Yishme’u,” a podcast from Machon Halacha Chabad.

00:09 Speaker 2 Hello, everyone. Good Yom Tov, and blessings and success to each and every person listening. We’re going to talk now about something interesting: what the fast days will be like in the true and complete Geulah, in the future, immediately. First, we should note that at present we are obligated to observe six fasts. Someone once gave a way to remember them. It’s a bit of a joke, but it’s a nice one: black, white, long, short, man, and woman. Black is Tisha B’Av, when fasting is obligatory. White is Yom Kippur, when we must also fast. Long and short: long is 17 Tammuz, which falls during the longest part of the year, and fasting is obligatory then too. Short is 10 Teves, which falls during the shortest part of the year, and fasting is obligatory then as well. Man and woman: the man is the Fast of Gedaliah, on 3 Tishrei, when fasting is obligatory; and the woman is the Fast of Esther, when we must also fast. So those are six fasts: one from the Torah, Yom Kippur, and the rest instituted by the Rabbis. Of course, we should point out that today, even with all the special qualities of the time we are living in, when Moshiach is about to come—and as the Rebbe shlita, Melech HaMoshiach, explains, the force of the fast has weakened—the fast itself remains. We must fast, as stated by our Sages and in the Shulchan Aruch. The Shulchan Aruch rules that all Jews are obligated to fast on these four fast days and that one must not breach this boundary. We must observe all these fasts; it is forbidden to breach this boundary. Now, the Gemara does say, “If they wish, they fast; if they wish, they do not fast.” And there really was a period when the other fasts, apart from Yom Kippur and Tisha B’Av, were not obligatory: if people wished,

02:36 Speaker 2 they fasted, and if they wished, they did not. That was how it was. But it then says that the Jewish people accepted these fasts upon themselves, and they are obligatory for all Jews until the Beis Hamikdash is built. That is what the halachic authorities say, and the explanation is really very simple. All the fasts are because of the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. Once the third Beis Hamikdash is built in a rebuilt Jerusalem, as we will soon see, there will be special laws governing the fast days. But at present, everyone is obligated to fast, apart from those who are ill and, in certain circumstances, pregnant and nursing women. Of course, anyone who is ill or does not feel well should ask a rabbi and find out whether they may break their fast. But in principle, all Jews are obligated to observe these fasts until the Beis Hamikdash is built. We can also say that through these fasts, we get a taste of what will be in the future. As we will soon see, the fasts will become days of joy and celebration. But at a later stage of the true and complete Geulah, at the time of the Resurrection of the Dead, it says that in the World to Come, after the dead are brought back to life, there will be neither eating nor drinking. Eating and drinking will not be needed at all. The soul will be nourished by the body. Today, we need to eat and drink because the soul does not want to remain in the body; it wants to leave it. Only eating and drinking—and the spiritual refinement involved in them—cause it to remain in the body and keep living. But in the future, the soul will be nourished by the body. The body’s great quality will be revealed, and the soul will not need to leave or want to leave the body. It will remain in the body even without eating and drinking. So on the fast days we have a foretaste of this. The Rebbe often mentions

04:34 Speaker 2 this regarding Yom Kippur: it is a foretaste of the World to Come, where there is neither eating nor drinking. And as one of the chassidim said—I think it was Rabbi Hillel of Paritch, or Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev—he could do away with all the other fasts. But Yom Kippur and Tisha B’Av? Absolutely not. Because on Tisha B’Av, who could eat? And on Yom Kippur, who needs to eat? So we do need to fast today, but at the same time, we should know that we are joyful. It is an inner joy, because we know that Moshiach is coming any moment and the Geulah is almost here. The Rebbe will come and redeem us all, and soon the fasts—once the third Beis Hamikdash is built—all the fast days will become festivals and days of joy and celebration. So, as we said, today we must fast; it is obligatory for all Jews. Shulchan Aruch, section 550, paragraph 1: it is obligatory, and one must not breach this boundary. We know how serious that expression is: “One who breaches a boundary will be bitten by a snake.” The halachic authorities explain that this emphasis is necessary because, originally, “if they wish, they fast; if they wish, they do not fast.” That is why the Shulchan Aruch saw fit to stress just how obligatory it is for every Jew to fast, and that one must not breach this boundary—except, as we said, for those who are ill and, in certain circumstances, pregnant and nursing women. But all of this applies at present. In the true and complete Geulah, when the Beis Hamikdash is built immediately, the fast days will become festivals and days of joy and celebration. Here is the source for that. In Zechariah, chapter 8, verse 19: “Thus says Hashem Tzevaos: The fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth month”—that is 17 Tammuz and Tisha B’Av—“and the fast of the seventh month and the fast of the tenth month”—the Fast of Gedaliah and 10 Teves—“will become for the House of Judah days of joy and celebration and festive occasions; therefore, love truth and peace.”

06:44 Speaker 2 And the Rambam rules this way as well. All these fasts connected with the destruction are destined to be abolished with the coming of Moshiach, when the Beis Hamikdash is built. What is more, they are destined to become festivals and days of joy and celebration, as it says: “Thus says Hashem Tzevaos: The fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth month, the fast of the seventh month and the fast of the tenth month, will become for the House of Judah days of joy and celebration and festive occasions.” Now, this refers to the fasts we mentioned: 17 Tammuz, Tisha B’Av, the Fast of Gedaliah, and 10 Teves. The Pesikta also says: “Joy will come only on Tisha B’Av.” Because it was established as a day of mourning at present, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will make it a festival in the future, as it says: “I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them and gladden them after their sorrow.” More than that, the Rebbe explains that in the first period, when there is peace in the world after the Beis Hamikdash is built, the fasts will be abolished but will not yet turn into days of celebration. They will simply cease to be fasts. This is what the Rambam means when he says that these fasts are destined to be abolished with the coming of Moshiach. But in the second period of the days of Moshiach, the fast days themselves will turn into days of joy and celebration. That is what he means by, “What is more, they are destined to become festivals and days of joy and celebration.” At a more advanced stage, they will be days of joy and celebration. Simply put, the very days that used to be times of sadness over the absence of the Beis Hamikdash, as they are today—times when we pray and recite Selichos and fast because we want the Geulah already, we want the third Beis Hamikdash already, we want Moshiach already—that is what all those prayers are about. You can see it throughout these days, in the Selichos and everything else: they express our plea for the true and complete Geulah. Once the true and complete Geulah is here in actuality, in its fullness, and the third Beis Hamikdash is built, it will be the opposite. On those very days we will celebrate with the greatest intensity, because we

08:40 Speaker 2 We’ll see how, on these very days, the purpose of the entire destruction is revealed: it was for the sake of building, for what we will have in the true and complete Geulah—the third Beis Hamikdash, which will be so much greater. Yes, “I will thank You, Hashem.” We’ll be able to thank Hashem for all the troubles, because we’ll understand how all of it actually brings us to a far greater ascent than anything we had in the past. More than that, the Rebbe points out that it says Purim will never be abolished, yet the fasts that will become days of joy and gladness will be even loftier than Purim, because they will be festivals newly established in the future. These days that are fasts now will be days of joy and gladness. They’ll be an even greater celebration than Purim, which will remain and will not be abolished. But these fasts—yes, in the Rebbe’s words: “The fasts that will become Yom Tov days will be loftier even than the days of Purim, which will not be abolished in the future.” It says, “These days of Purim shall not pass from among the Jews, nor shall their remembrance cease from their descendants.” So what is distinctive about them is that they will not be abolished. That means that even in relation to the great revelations of the days of Moshiach, the special quality of Purim will still be apparent. But the Yom Tov days that will be newly established in the days of Moshiach—the days that are fasts now—will become Yom Tov days, even loftier than Purim. Now we’ll look a little more closely. That was about the fasts in general, which will become days of joy and gladness. As the Rebbe says, special offerings will even be brought on those days. Now we’ll see what happens with the other days. That is, we were talking about 17 Tammuz and 9 Menachem Av, the Fast of Gedaliah and 10 Teves. What about Ta’anis Esther? So, as we mentioned, “the fast of the fourth month” and “the fast of the fifth month” are 17 Tammuz and 9 Menachem Av. The fasts of the seventh and tenth months are the Fast of Gedaliah

10:35 Speaker 2 and 10 Teves. But what about Ta’anis Esther? Regarding Ta’anis Esther, it appears that we will continue to fast on it even in the Geulah. This is brought in the sefer Harerei Kedem. It says that the days of Purim will not be abolished. That implies that the remembrance of the troubles associated with Purim will not be abolished either, and Ta’anis Esther will not be abolished in the future. It will remain. And the Rebbe also brings, regarding Ta’anis Esther, page 300b, that the special quality of Ta’anis Esther as a day of Divine favor remains even in a state of Geulah, including the future Geulah: the days of Purim will not be abolished, and neither will Ta’anis Esther. So Ta’anis Esther actually reveals a very, very special Divine favor—the supreme will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu concerning this fast—regardless of whether we are in galus or Geulah. We have to remember that Ta’anis Esther was not instituted because of the destruction, so it will remain the same in the future, similar to Yom Kippur, which will also remain in the future. And here’s something very interesting: not only will the fast days become days of happiness, but the entire Three Weeks, from 17 Tammuz to 9 Menachem Av, will also become days of happiness, corresponding to the degree of sadness they held during galus. The Rebbe says: “The great joy that will be present in the Three Weeks in the future is well known, particularly in the Nine Days. The joy of these occasions is greater than the joy of festivals in the usual sense.” So at present we fast, and we must fast, and every single person has to observe all the halachos as written in Shulchan Aruch. But we have to know that the purpose of all this is to bring that about. Since the entire purpose of the fast is for us to merit the true and complete Geulah already, when all of these will become days of joy and gladness. And of these days it says, “Love truth and peace.”

12:34 Speaker 2 They will be Yom Tov days. May we merit this very soon, immediately, right now. Truly. Let’s mention another interesting point about 9 Menachem Av. It is brought that there was a certain period when 9 Menachem Av was actually a Yom Tov. This is why it is customary to eat—people make a point of eating. After all, we eat a meal very close to the fast. But so that this won’t be the only meal—we want to eat a little more than a meal of bread, ashes and an egg—we eat another meal beforehand, at which we eat whatever we want apart from meat and wine. The Magen Avraham brings, or writes, that the reason for having two meals is to commemorate the fact that during the time of the Second Beis Hamikdash, people celebrated on 9 Menachem Av. The destruction of the First Beis Hamikdash took place on 9 Menachem Av, and when the Second Beis Hamikdash was built, it became a day of joy and gladness. So they celebrated on that day. And even today, the Magen Avraham says, we commemorate this by eating two meals on the eve of 9 Menachem Av. Now here’s the question: What happens when a fast day falls on Shabbos? We know that 17 Tammuz often falls on Shabbos, and 9 Menachem Av often falls on Shabbos. The third of Tishrei, the Fast of Gedaliah, can fall on Shabbos. 10 Teves cannot fall on Shabbos; it can only fall on a Friday. But all the other fasts can fall on Shabbos. We know what we do today: we postpone the fast. We don’t fast on Shabbos; we fast on Sunday. The question is: when the true and complete Geulah comes, immediately, right now, suppose there’s a year when 9 Menachem Av falls on Shabbos, for example, or 17 Tammuz or the Fast of Gedaliah falls on Shabbos. During galus, the fast would be postponed to the following day, Sunday.

14:42 Speaker 2 We would have to fast the following day, Sunday. There is Rebbi’s opinion, a minority opinion that was not accepted as halachah. He maintains that in such a case, there is no need to fast at all, but in practice that is not the halachah. We know that the fast is postponed. Rebbi said, “Since it has been postponed, let it be postponed altogether.” In other words, he held that there is no need to fast at all. That is Rebbi’s opinion, a minority opinion, but according to him, in such a case we do not fast. In halachah, however, the opinion of the Sages is the ruling in practice: one must fast the following day. That is during galus. The question is: when will we celebrate 9 Menachem Av? Say 9 Menachem Av falls on Shabbos. Let’s take that as an example. As we said, it will become a Yom Tov, a day of joy and gladness. So now that it becomes a Yom Tov, a day of celebration, when will we celebrate it? Will we celebrate on the original 9 Menachem Av? If the ninth falls on Shabbos, it would be Shabbos and Yom Tov together—a Yom Tov that falls on Shabbos. The Yom Tov of 9 Menachem Av in the future would fall on Shabbos. Or would we say no: since the fast day is actually on 10 Menachem Av, the Yom Tov it becomes will also be on 10 Menachem Av? That would be a Yom Tov falling the day after Shabbos: Shabbos, and then Yom Tov. That’s the question. Do we say it becomes a Yom Tov on Shabbos itself, or is the Yom Tov after Shabbos? Now, according to the Chasam Sofer, it appears that in the future they will celebrate this Yom Tov specifically on 10 Menachem Av, the day after 9 Menachem Av. Why? The Chasam Sofer says that this can be inferred from the wording of the verse. He says: “At first glance, this is difficult. Why does the verse say ‘the fast of the fourth month’ and ‘the fast’”

16:48 Speaker 2 The fifth? Why doesn’t it simply say that 17 Tammuz and 9 Av will become days of joy and celebration? The Chasam Sofer says: It must be that, in the future, the date will not determine the festival; the fast will. Therefore, says the Chasam Sofer, when the Beis Hamikdash is rebuilt, if the fast falls on Shabbos, the day of joy and celebration will also be on the following Sunday—the day on which people would have fasted during exile. That day, too, will become a celebration. Why? That is why it says “the fast of the fourth month” without specifying a date in that month, and “the fast of the fifth month” without specifying a date. Because it depends on when the fast was observed. If the fast was on 17 Tammuz, then 17 Tammuz will become a day of joy and celebration. If the fast was postponed to 18 Tammuz, then the eighteenth will be a day of joy and celebration. If the fast was on 9 Av, then 9 Av will be a day of joy and celebration; if it was on 10 Av, then 10 Av will be. That is what the Chasam Sofer says. But from the words of the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, it appears that the celebration will always be on 9 Av itself. As the Rebbe says in the sicha on Parshas Balak 5751, Shabbos postpones only the fast. The Rebbe says that when a fast falls on Shabbos, only the fasting is postponed, not the good aspect of the day. On the contrary: since Shabbos is a time of favor—“You called it the most cherished of days”—and there is a mitzvah to delight in it, and it is a day connected with the Geulah, the auspiciousness of the fast day is present with even greater strength and intensity. So the fast day becomes a Yom Tov, a day of joy and celebration, something like what it will be in the days of Moshiach. The Rebbe says that even today, when we do fast, if the fast falls on Shabbos, the good in the fast remains. Only the negative aspect—the fasting—is postponed. But the good aspects of the fast, its foretaste of the Geulah, remain on Shabbos, when there is a mitzvah to delight in it and it is a day

18:47 Speaker 2 connected with the Geulah. So it seems that, in the future too, the good aspect of the fast—its becoming a day of joy and celebration—will remain on Shabbos. Accordingly, we will always celebrate on 17 Tammuz and 9 Av. Even if they fall on Shabbos, only what was negative during exile—the fasting—is postponed. The good aspects remain. What could be better than its becoming a Yom Tov? That will remain on Shabbos. So, seemingly, we have the Chasam Sofer saying on the one hand that it will be postponed to Sunday, and on the other hand, the Rebbe saying that it will remain on Shabbos. How do we decide? Of course, there are questions and difficulties here. We will see the answers to these questions very soon, with Hashem’s help, in their fullness in the true and complete Geulah, immediately. But one could suggest that it will be two days. In that case, we will have a second day of Yom Tov, like the second day of Yom Tov in the Diaspora: a second day of Yom Tov of the Geulah, a second day of Yom Tov for the fasts. The fasts will become not one day of Yom Tov, but, when one falls on Shabbos, we will celebrate for two days. One day will be on Shabbos, a Yom Tov because the good aspect of the day is present on Shabbos—Shabbos does not postpone the good aspects—and we will celebrate again the following day. Why will we celebrate then? Because that is when we would have fasted during exile, and now all the negative things will have turned into good things. It will become clear that, indeed, “I will thank You, Hashem, for You were angry with me.” It will become clear that even the things that seemed bad were actually for our benefit and for our sake. Today we do not understand that, but in the future Geulah we will understand, rejoice, and thank Hakadosh Boruch Hu for it. So

20:33 Speaker 2 on the following day as well, when we would have been meant to fast, we will celebrate. We will have two days of Yom Tov at the time of the fast, when it would have been a fast. The main thing is that we truly merit this very soon, immediately, and that these days truly become days of joy, celebration, and festivals. Long live our master, our teacher, and our Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, forever and ever.