There are numerous references to fasting in rabbinic literature. Occasionally some of these discourage fasting, while others are more favorable. Of those that are favorable, they qualify fasting by considering whether or not the reasons are imperative, and whether those fasting go beyond mere mortification to true spiritual reappraisals of inner thoughts as well as actions.104 Although the literature is diverse, evidence of some codification of fasting practices can clearly be seen.
Some of the more important instances of fasting, especially the extended treatments, will be discussed below.
Ta’anit: Regulating How to Fast for Rain. Over time, Judaism grew keenly interested in ritual fasting, and a tractate of the Mishnah, Ta’anit, is devoted to certain fasting regulations.105 The tractate is divided into four chapters, primarily
98 See especially the discussion of John Cassian in the fourth chapter, below.
99 Ibid., 22.
100 For examples of references to OT narratives, see Ant. 5.159, 5.166, 8.358, 10.93, 11.134, 11.228. For references to the Day of Atonement as “the Fast,” see Ant. 3.240, 14.487, 17.165, 17.166 (this interesting account tells of a high priest relieved from his duties for one day on the Day of Atonement because of a sexual dream defiling him for the day);
18.94; Wars 5.236. Note that he refers to the taking of Jerusalem by the Romans on “the Fast,” apparently a reference to the Day of Atonement, in Ant. 14.66; this is probably a chronological error, due to Josephus following sources that mistakenly referred to the sabbath day as a fast, as in Strabo 16.763, who says Pompey took Jerusalem “on a fast day, they say, when the Jews refrain from all work,” as noted in Josephus, trans. Ralph Marcus, LCL (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1986), 7: 480-81.
101 Life 290.2.
102 Ant. 20.89-91.
103 Wimmer, 22, citing Ap. 2.282.
104 Winter, ed., 23.
105 Note the relationship to the Hebrew root hnu. The noun tyn!u&T^ from which the tractate derives its title occurs only once in the OT, in Ezra 9:5, “But at the evening offering I
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dealing with drought in the rainy season. The first and longest chapter deals with the conditions of drought which would necessitate fasting and the prescribed days and regulations for doing so. The second details certain ceremonies to be performed on such days, as well as the potential calendar collision of fast days and festival days when fasting is prohibited. The third chapter discusses the appropriateness and methods of sounding the shofar for fast days at various times of calamity. The fourth discusses the relation of priestly orders and temple service to the fast days, and includes a recounting of the tragedies that befell the Jews on the seventeenth of Tammuz and the ninth of Ab.
According to Ta’anit chapter one, if rain had not begun to fall by the seventeenth of Marcheshvan, a series of fasts would be initiated. The first series was for individuals distinguished in the law. On the immediately following Monday, Thursday, and Monday they would fast during the day, but they were allowed to eat and drink after dark, and they were permitted to work, bathe, anoint themselves, wear shoes, and have marital relations (m. Ta’an. 1:4). If by the first of the next month, Kislev, rain had not arrived (about two weeks after the seventeenth of Marcheshvan), a series of three Monday-Thursday-Monday fasts was enjoined upon the entire community. They were allowed to eat and drink only during the day, and forbidden to work, bathe, anoint themselves, wear shoes or have marital relations. The bathhouses were to be locked (m. Ta’an. 1:6). If these passed without rain, seven more stringent fasts were enjoined, still following the Monday-Thursday pattern.
They were to sound the shofar and lock the stores. On Monday the store doors could be opened partially toward evening, and they could be open on Thursdays in preparation for the Sabbath. If these days passed, they were to “decrease”
commerce, construction, planting, betrothals, marriages, and greeting one another.
The distinguished individuals would resume the fasting until the end of Nissan, after which any rainfall would be symptomatic of a curse, since it would no longer be of benefit to the crops (m. Ta’an. 1:7).
As can be seen, there was an increased intensity in the nature of these fasts as time wore on: “Abstaining from food and drink on a public fast-day is not an end in itself, but the means by which the community is to arrive at a spiritual awakening and true repentance.”106 The rituals prescribed, however, are subject to a great deal of discussion about exceptions and exemptions, which leads to the observation that the acts could easily have been interpreted by the people as primarily symbolic. The fact that certain accompanying actions (work, bathing, laundering, anointing,
arose from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the LORD my God” (NASB). Editions consulted here include Avrohom Yoseif Rosenberg, trans., “Tractate Taanis,” The Mishnah, Seder Moed vol. 4, Artscroll Mishnah Series, ed. Nosson Scherman and Meir Zlotowitz (Brooklyn: Mesorah, 1969); J. Rabbinowitz, ed. and trans., Ta‘anith, in I. Epstein, ed., The Babylonian Talmud:
Seder Mo‘ed, vol. 4 (London: Soncino, 1938), v-vi; Henry Malter, ed. and trans., The Treatise Ta‘anith of the Babylonian Talmud, (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1978), xi-xliii; Adin Steinsaltz, The Talmud: The Steinsaltz Edition, vols. 13-14,
“Tractate Ta‘anit,” ed. and trans. Israel V. Berman (New York: Random House, 1995); Jacob Neusner, ed., The Two Talmuds Compared, vol. I. F (Atlanta: Scholars, 1996), 105-232.
106 Steinsaltz, Talmud, vol. 14, 1.
sandals, and sex) are discussed tends to focus attention in their direction.107 It is also interesting to observe the distinction between the fasting and prayers of those distinguished in the law and the community at large. The prayers of the leaders appear to be seen as more efficacious, as they begin the cycle (no point in bothering the entire community yet) and end it (there was little hope left, no point in disturbing the community further). In Ta’anit, then, fasting retains its role in repentance, but it also becomes more ritualized, codified, and elevated to a potentially elitist function. The Pharisee who fasted twice a week but was condemned by Jesus in a parable in Luke 18:12 seems to reflect such an elitist attitude toward his fasting.
Yoma: Regulating Fasting on the Day of Atonement. The tractate Yoma expands on the procedures of Leviticus 16 concerning the Day of Atonement. For the most part it discusses the preparation and function of the high priest and the service order for the day, including both the sacrifice and the scapegoat.
The eighth (and last) chapter deals some with the laws promoting repentance by regulating fasting and labor on the Day. Eating, drinking, washing, anointing, wearing shoes and cohabitation were all prohibited (Yoma 8:1).108 One was not to eat more than the volume of a large date or drink more than both cheeks full (8:2).
Sin offerings were prescribed for violating these limits (8:3). Children were not required to afflict themselves but were to be instructed in the procedures, and pregnant women and the sick were allowed exemptions from fasting (8:4-6).
Similarly, work could be performed to clear a collapsed building if it threatened human life (8:7). Yom Kippur provided atonement for sins before God, provided repentance was genuine; but for sins against a fellow man reconciliation was first enjoined (8:8-9).
On the whole, Yoma does not add a great deal to the discussion of fasting, except to show the practical outworking of the practice on the Day of Atonement.
The need for true repentance over against merely ritualistic conformity is stressed, although the ongoing discussion of related regulations may tend to obscure that basic point.
Fasting in Other Talmudic References: Diversity, with Some Extreme Tendencies. The Talmud contains a number of incidental references to fasting, and S. Lowy provides the best introduction.109 The main purposes for voluntary fasting in the early talmudic period followed the biblical and apocryphal lead, and primarily focus on repentance, atonement, and the strengthening of prayer, while
107 Preserved in these traditions here we see some of the very additions to fasting (restrictions from bathing and anointing in particular) that Jesus criticized in Matt 6:16-18.
While it is unclear exactly when such practices emerged in Judaism, Jesus’ words, along with the material in the Targums on the Day of Atonement already examined, can be taken as evidence that at least some of these practices were prevalent in the first century.
108 R. Eliezer said that the king and the bride could wash their faces, and a new mother could wear shoes, things which the Mishnah says the other sages prohibited. However, the Talmud records the haggling over the possible exceptions to these regulations, and the halachah eventually allowed for a good deal of latitude.
109 S. Lowy, “The Motivation of Fasting in Talmudic Literature,” JJS 9 (1958): 19-38.
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fasting as an expression of private mourning is discontinued.110 Later, however, there are some examples of more extreme cases of fasting as examples of penitence, which are attributed to the Tannaim of the earlier period, even though tannaitic literature itself does not mention such things. There were attempts to curb or modify fasting, evidenced by Samuel’s statement, “There are no public fasts in Babylonia except Tish’ah be-‘abh” (Pesah. 54b), but Lowy says this qualification was not intended to be taken literally.111 Some excessive examples include:
R. Eleazar b. Azariah’s teeth “were blackened from fasting” to atone for his sin of opposing a majority view (y. Šabb. 3.4, 7c.).
R. Joshua used insulting words about an illogical opinion of the school of Shammai, and his “teeth were black from fasting” (t. Ohol.
5.11).
R. Tarfon saved his own life by revealing his identity when accused of being a thief, and a later tradition says he fasted throughout his life for this sin (y. Šeb. 4.2, 35b, b. Ned. 62a).
R. Simeon made a derogatory remark about R. ‘Aqiba, and his “teeth were blackened from fasting” (Naz. 52b).
R. Hiyya b. ‘Ashi lived in sexual abstinence from his wife for years.
His wife tested him by dressing as a harlot and seduced him. When he realized her identity, he was plagued by guilt, because he intended to sin, and he died from extensive fasting to expiate this sin (Qidd.
81b).
R. Hisda offended his teacher, R. Huna, with a comment, and both fasted forty fasts: R. Hisda because of the suffering caused his teacher, and R. Huna because he falsely suspected his pupil (Bab.
Mes. 33a).
R. Papa fasted because of a slightly insulting expression about the sages (Sanh. 100a).
Mar b. Rabhina fasted the whole year except for some holidays (Pesah. 68b).
Rabbi Sadoq is described as having fasted forty years so that Jerusalem would not be destroyed. The context describes a famine, and a woman ate a date left by the Rabbi, who would allow himself to suck the juices of a fig to get well. When he ate something, it is said that the food could be seen in his throat (b. Git£.56a).112
However, Lowy cautions us:
It would be wrong to assume that an ascetic tendency towards extensive fasting was prevalent. On the whole, Judaism was set against such extreme practices. From the very earliest times—even
110 Ibid., 21.
111 Ibid., 29.
112 Ibid., 22-23; also noted are Bab. Mes. 85a; y. Ta’an. 2.13, 66a; y. Meg. 1.6, 70d; y.
Ned. 8.2, 40d.
before the ascetic sects came into existence—down to the amoraic period such practices were generally discouraged. There were many limitations on fasting.113
Despite Lowy’s cautions, we can see, however, that there were ample examples of rather excessive forms of fasting in certain rabbinic traditions.
Additionally, the fasting practices reflected a division in society between great ascetic men, the middle class, and everyone else. It is easy to see how such a division associated with religious practices could lead to ritualization and potential abuse or neglect, as the case may be.
We should be careful not to stereotype traditional Jewish fasting as completely negative or hypocritical, which the Church Fathers occasionally did. 114 But we should take to heart both the OT prophets’ admonitions as well as Jesus’ later instruction in the Sermon on the Mount. Fasting can have its proper place in personal and corporate religious experience, but it can also degenerate into meaningless or even hypocritical ritual.
Conclusion
The various references to fasting in the Hebrew Bible and Jewish tradition begin to converge in several key theological themes. The most basic ancient purpose of fasting as a sign of mourning in times of death or disaster branches into two main theological ideas, namely fasting as repentance for sin and fasting to intensify prayer when seeking God’s favor. Both of these ideas, however, presuppose an even more basic theological idea that the OT occasionally highlights through fasting references: that God is the ultimate source and sustainer of life, and human life depends on connection to his presence and obedience to his words. This theme that emerges already in the Garden of Eden is the basis for the fasting that highlights Moses as God’s chosen leader, and sets in motion a messianic motif that God’s chosen prophet will be like him. As the fasts of Israel turned routine, the prophets urged the people to true justice in anticipation of the eschatological day when their mourning would be turned to gladness, their fasting to feasting. Against the backdrop of Jewish fasting that occasionally obscured true humility, repentance and justice through hypocrisy and ritual, the eschatological realization of the ideal that fasting anticipated came in the person of Jesus Christ. To the theological discussion of fasting in the NT we now turn.
113 Lowy, 23-24.
114 Lowy, 25-26, traces some of the early Christian conflict over fasting to its Jewish counterpart. Christians saw great value in fasting, but rejected Jewish fasting as insincere, and as Lowy points out, ignoring many of the rabbinic calls for caution. Perhaps early Christians were also repudiating what they perceived as Jewish disregard for Jesus, and fasting practices were used to highlight the differences. See especially the discussion of the Didache below in the third chapter.