The four fasts in the time to come

[A] (Halacha 321)

The Abolition of the Fasts in the Future Era

Question: With Hashem's help, when the Beis Hamikdash is rebuilt speedily in our days, what will be the status of the four fasts?

Answer: It is stated by the prophet Zechariah¹: 'כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת צוֹם הָרְבִיעִי וְצוֹם הַחֲמִישִׁי וְצוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי וְצוֹם הָעֲשִׂירִי יִהְיֶה לְבֵית יְהוּדָה לְשָׂשׂוֹן וּלְשִׂמְחָה וּלְמֹעֲדִים טוֹבִים וְהָאֱמֶת וְהַשָּׁלוֹם אֱהָבוּ' ("So says Hashem of Hosts: the fast of the fourth, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah for joy and gladness, and for good festivals; therefore love truth and peace").

The Rambam² wrote: 'All these fasts are destined to be abolished in the days of Mashiach, and not only that, but they are destined to be Yomim Tovim and days of joy and gladness — as it is stated, "So says Hashem of Hosts: the fast of the fourth, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah for joy and gladness, and for good festivals; therefore love truth and peace".'

In the words of the Rambam it is emphasized that it is not only that these days will not be days of fasting, but moreover that they will be Yomim Tovim and days of joy and gladness [and therefore they will be forbidden in eulogy and fasting³].

And regarding the prohibition of work, the Chasam Sofer⁴ cited in the name of a Midrash on the aforementioned verse: 'for joy and gladness — corresponding to the fast, and for good festivals — corresponding to the labor [prohibition] of Shabbos', and he wrote: 'It is possible to say that those days will be forbidden in the performance of work, corresponding to the fact that they desecrated Shabbos at the time of the downfall of Jerusalem — as is stated in Yirmiyahu and in Nechemiah and as is brought in Maseches Shabbos (119b)'.

And regarding the seudah, behold, concerning the eve of Tishah B'Av the Rema⁵ wrote: 'And the custom is to increase somewhat in the first seudah, so that the fast should not harm them..'. And the Magen Avraham⁶ wrote: 'And to me it appears that there is another reason, because in the time of the Second Beis Hamikdash Tishah B'Av was a festival, and they would increase in the seudah; even now they did not move away from it, so as to be a remembrance that it will speedily be transformed in our days to joy and gladness⁷ ..'.

The Rebbe derives⁸ these three points from the language of the Rambam, who wrote three stages: (a) they are destined to be abolished; (b) Yomim Tovim, that the very day itself will be a Yom Tov; (c) joy and gladness — referring to the festive seudos, for there is no joy except with meat and no joy except with wine.

And moreover the Rebbe said⁹: 'that in this is alluded the transformation of the fasts into joy and gladness and good festivals, whose elevation will be greater than all the festivals of the present time, for the festivals of the present time will be nullified in the time to come "like a candle at midday" relative to the elevation of the revelations of the days of Mashiach, and all the more so relative to the elevation of the festivals that will be newly instituted in the days of Mashiach'.

This prophecy was also brought in the Tur and in the Mechaber¹⁰: 'And in the future era the Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to transform them into joy and gladness, as it is written "and I will turn their mourning into joy, and I will comfort them and make them rejoice from their sorrow", and so may it be His will speedily in our days, amen'.

The Rebbe asks¹¹: behold, the Tur and Shulchan Aruch do not write halachos of the days of Mashiach, so why then did they write as a halacha that all the fasts are destined to be abolished?

And he explains that this is a halacha that is relevant even now, for there are several levels in the transformation of the fast into a festival: (a) the abolition of the fast; (b) Yomim Tovim and days of joy; (c) the fast itself will be transformed into joy and gladness, in the manner of "I thank You, Hashem, for You were angry with me". And these three matters are brought about by means of the three matters that exist in teshuvah out of love: (a) teshuvah out of love in itself causes the sin to be uprooted from the start — the sin is nullified; (b) and in addition, the one who does teshuvah out of love adds good deeds beyond what is needed for that sin, so this is not only the nullification of the sin but also an addition in good; (c) through teshuvah out of love, intentional sins are transformed into merits. [Except that since, in the view of the Rambam, there will be two periods and stages in the days of Mashiach, therefore in the first period, when there will be peace in the world, the fasts will be abolished [stage a] and consequently they will be Yomim Tovim [stage b], but in the second period, when the fast itself is revealed to be good [stage c], this is already an abolition of the order of the world and pertains to the second period of the days of Mashiach.

And according to this it is resolved why the Tur and the Mechaber wrote this halacha, for just as the redemption as a whole depends on teshuvah, so too the abolition of the fasts in the future era depends on the completeness of the teshuvah of the Jewish people, that it be teshuvah out of love in all three matters. And if so, there is here a practical instruction as to how the awakening of teshuvah should be at the time of the fast, for the fast is among the ways of teshuvah, and if so it needs to be in a manner that brings about that the fast itself be transformed into joy and gladness.

And the Rebbe adds¹²: that even one who does not relate to these lofty levels of teshuvah out of love, nevertheless immediately at the beginning of the avodah he must have the knowledge of what is the ultimate completeness of this avodah. Or in the manner of what is explained in Kuntres Etz Chaim (ch. 7 onward) regarding yichuda ila'ah and yichuda tata'ah. And a further matter in this: through this notification that 'they are destined etc.' [in the language of a promise. And so it is regarding teshuvah, that 'the Torah has promised that the Jewish people will ultimately do teshuvah etc.'] one will not fall into despair etc.

¹ פ"ח פי"ט ↩

² הל' תעניות פ"ה הי"ט ↩

³ רש"י בר"ה יח, ב כותב [וראה בטו"א שם ד"ה בזמן]: 'יהיו לששון ולשמחה - ליאסר בהספד ובתענית'. אך רש"י לא פירש המשך לשון הנביא ולמועדים טובים ↩

⁴ דרשת לז' טבת שנת תקע"ד ד"ה כתיב צום הרביעי ↩

⁵ סי' תקנב ס"ט ↩

⁶ ס"ק יא ↩

⁷ וראה גם בנחל אשכול (ח"ב עמ' 18) 'דבזמן המקדש דתשעה באב לששון ולמועדים טובים ומחויב הסעודה דאתקש למועד כמ''ש הטור גבי ר"ח' ↩

⁸ תו"מ תשמ"ב ח"ב ע' 667 - 668 ↩

⁹ שיחת בלק תנש"א ס"ד 686 ↩

¹⁰ או"ח סי' תקפ ס"ג ↩

¹¹ לקו"ש חט"ו שיחת עשרה בטבת ס"ו ↩

¹² בהערה 26 ↩

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