Five tragedies happened to the Jewish people on the 17 of Tammuz:
1. In Biblical times, Moses descended from Mount Sinai and upon seeing the Jews worshipping the Golden Calf, he broke the first set of tablets that carried the Ten Commandments.
2. King Menashe, one of the worst sovereigns of the Kingdom of Yehuda, placed on that day an idol in the Holy Sanctuary of the Temple, around the year 700 BCE.
3. In the time of the First Temple, on the 17th of Tamuz, 587 BCE, the Kohanim (priests) stopped offering the daily sacrifices due to the shortage of sheep during the siege of the city by the Babylonian army.
4. One year later, 586 BCE the walls of Yerushalaim were breached after many months of siege by Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian forces. Three weeks after the breach of the wall, the Bet haMikdash was destroyed on the 9th of Ab.
5. Around the year 50 of the Common Era, Apostomus, a Roman captain, seized a Torah scroll and with abusive and mocking language, burned it in public.
The fast ends at 8:54PM (NY Time)
Due to the current hot weather in NY, people should take extra precautions to avoid dehydration. Symptoms of dehydration are: vomiting, feeling very nauseated or very weak or light headed, despite lying down.
Click HERE for more information about the fast, who is exempted, etc.
Project Ta'amim (le'ilui nishmat Matatiah bar Israel)
Learn to read Megilat Ekha, Sephardic -Yerushalmi.
Click HERE to download the audio file.