The Lived Mishnah·A Zeman Nakat Project
Tisha B'Av Series
Mishnah 6 of 41
אִם אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ יְרוּשָׁלָיִם
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MoedSederסדרמוֹעֵד
TaanisMasechtaמסכתתענית
2Perekפרקב׳
10Mishnahמשנהי׳
נושא · Topicתַּעֲנִית הַמִּתְנַגֶּשֶׁת עִם יוֹם מוֹעֵדA fast that collides with a festive day
Mishnah תענית ב׳:י׳ · Taanis 2:10
אֵין גּוֹזְרִין תַּעֲנִית עַל הַצִּבּוּר בְּרֹאשׁ חֹדֶשׁ, בַּחֲנֻכָּה וּבְפוּרִים,
וְאִם הִתְחִילוּ, אֵין מַפְסִיקִין,
דִּבְרֵי רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל.
אָמַר רַבִּי מֵאִיר,
אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁאָמַר רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל אֵין מַפְסִיקִין, מוֹדֶה הָיָה שֶׁאֵין מַשְׁלִימִין.
וְכֵן תִּשְׁעָה בְאָב שֶׁחָל לִהְיוֹת בְּעֶרֶב שַׁבָּת.
One does not decree a public fast on Rosh Chodesh, Chanukah, or Purim;
and if they had already begun, one does not interrupt —
these are the words of Rabban Gamliel.
Said Rabbi Meir:
although Rabban Gamliel said one does not interrupt, he conceded that one does not complete the fast.
And so too Tisha B’Av that falls on erev Shabbos.
case/objectrestrictive rulingpermissive rulingTannacondition
Transcript
Summary Chart
A fast that collides with a festive day▾
CaseRulingReason
May a public fast be decreed on Rosh Chodesh, Chanukah, or Purim?Rabban Gamliel: No — one does not fast on them—
And if the fast-sequence already began?Rabban Gamliel: One does not interrupt it — one fasts—
Does one complete such a fast?Rabbi Meir (in Rabban Gamliel's name): No — one breaks the fast before nightfall—
And Tisha B'Av that falls on erev Shabbos?The same — one need not complete the fast—
All Meforshim
Mishnah Insights
When a decreed fast lands on a day we don’t mourn▾
עֲשֵׂה לְךָ רַב
Rabban Gamliel · Dor 2 · Yavneh — רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל

Rabban Gamliel of Yavneh was the first nasi to lead Klal Yisrael after the Churban — son of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, who fell in the war with Rome, and grandson of Rabban Gamliel the Elder. From Yavneh he rebound a shattered nation: he closed the long rift between Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel, and he anchored the authority of the calendar in the beis din. When R’ Yehoshua disputed his reckoning, he charged him to appear with staff and money on the day R’ Yehoshua held was Yom Kippur (Rosh Hashanah 2:8–9) — teaching that the moados are whatever the beis din proclaims, in their time or not.

Why these three days block a fast

The mishnah bars starting a fast-series on Rosh Chodesh, Chanukah, or Purim — and each holds its ground for a different reason. Rosh Chodesh counts because the Torah calls it a moed, with its own Korban Mussaf, though Scripture never names it a day of feasting. Chanukah and Purim are the two days that outlived Megillas Taanis after the rest of it was nullified: Chanukah because it publicizes the miracle — mefarsem nisa — and Israel held it as firmly as a Torah obligation, and Purim because kiyemu v’kiblu haYehudim, the nation took it upon itself for all time (Tosafos Yom Tov, drawing on his comment at mishnah 8).

Fast, but don’t finish it

The halacha does not follow R’ Meir: once a fast-series has begun, you fast on such a day and finish it out (Bartenura, Rambam). His view — you fast, but break just before shkiah, to leave the day some of its yom-tov character — lives on in the case the mishnah adds at the end: Tisha B’Av that falls on erev Shabbos, where you eat before nightfall so as not to enter Shabbos famished. Under our fixed calendar Tisha B’Av can no longer fall on Friday — it always shares the weekday of the first day of Pesach — yet Asarah B’Teves still can, and there we do finish the fast into Shabbos.

שְׁאֵלַת חָכָם

Rabban Gamliel rules that once the fasts ‘have begun’ one does not interrupt them for Rosh Chodesh, Chanukah, or Purim. But how much counts as having begun — a single fast already kept? Two? Three? (See the Yerushalmi and Melechet Shlomo.)

— Yerushalmi; Melechet Shlomo
Series Insights
Series context▾
← Previous
Megillah 1:3
Which days move up, and which wait
Mishnah 6 of 41
Taanis 2:10
The days that resist a fast
Next →
Sotah 9:14
The ordinances that curbed our rejoicing

Where this sits

Still within the laws of the fast, the mishnah asks what happens when a decreed fast collides with a day the calendar won’t let us mourn. Its closing case — Tisha B’Av that falls on erev Shabbos — folds the day of the Churban into that very sugya, and carries the series’ fast-day focus toward the next turn: the ordinances the Chachamim laid on our simcha once the Bayis was gone.

‹PreviousMegillah 1:3 ›NextSotah 9:14