Minor Fast Days in the Jewish Calendar
Beyond the two major 25-hour fasts of Yom Kippur and Tisha B'Av, the Jewish calendar contains four minor fast days — each commemorating a specific event tied to the destruction of Jerusalem, the exile, or the survival of the Jewish people. Minor fasts run from dawn (alot hashachar) to nightfall (tzeit hakochavim), and only eating and drinking are prohibited.
General Laws of Minor Fasts
- Duration: Dawn to nightfall — about 12–14 hours, depending on season and location.
- Prohibited: Eating and drinking only.
- Permitted: Washing, wearing leather shoes, work, and other daily activities.
- Exemptions: Pregnant and nursing women, the sick, and children under bar/bat mitzvah are generally exempt. Consult a rabbi.
- Liturgy: Selichot (penitential prayers), Aneinu inserted in the Amidah, and the Torah reading of Vayechal (Exodus 32:11–14, 34:1–10) at Shacharit and Mincha, followed by the Haftarah of Isaiah 55:6–56:8 at Mincha.
Shiva Asar B'Tammuz — The 17th of Tammuz
י״ז בתמוז
Date: 17 Tammuz • Next observance: Thursday, July 1, 2027 (5787). If it falls on Shabbat, the fast moves to Sunday, 18 Tammuz.
Shiva Asar B'Tammuz begins the Bein HaMetzarim — the "Three Weeks" of mourning that culminate on Tisha B'Av. The Mishnah (Ta'anit 4:6) lists five calamities that occurred on this date:
- Moses broke the first Tablets after descending from Sinai and finding the Golden Calf.
- The daily Tamid offering ceased during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem.
- The walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Romans in 70 CE (Second Temple period).
- The Roman general Apostomus publicly burned a Torah scroll.
- An idol was erected in the Sanctuary of the Temple.
The Three Weeks that follow are a period of national mourning: no weddings, no live music, and no haircuts. Ashkenazi custom extends most of these restrictions from 17 Tammuz through 10 Av.
Tzom Gedaliah — The Fast of Gedaliah
צום גדליה
Date: 3 Tishrei (the day after Rosh Hashanah) • Next observance: Wednesday, September 23, 2026 (5787).
After the Babylonians destroyed the First Temple in 586 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah ben Achikam as governor over the remaining Jews of Judea. Gedaliah tried to rebuild Jewish life, but was assassinated by a fellow Jew, Yishmael ben Netanyah, at a meal in Mitzpah — bringing an end to the last vestige of Jewish self-rule in the Land of Israel and precipitating a final wave of exile to Egypt (Jeremiah 41).
Tzom Gedaliah mourns not only the murder but also the terrible cost of internal Jewish strife. The fast is observed on 3 Tishrei — moved to 4 Tishrei when 3 Tishrei falls on Shabbat.
Asara B'Tevet — The Tenth of Tevet
עשרה בטבת
Date: 10 Tevet • Next observance: Sunday, December 20, 2026 (5787).
Asara B'Tevet marks the beginning of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 588 BCE — the siege that ended two and a half years later with the destruction of the First Temple. The date is described in II Kings 25:1 and Ezekiel 24:1–2.
Uniquely among the minor fasts, Asara B'Tevet is the only fast that is observed even when it falls on a Friday (all the way through Shabbat candle-lighting), because the phrase in Ezekiel is "b'etzem hayom hazeh" — "on this very day" — implying a fast that cannot be postponed. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel established Asara B'Tevet as the halachic Kaddish day for Holocaust victims whose date of death is unknown.
Ta'anit Esther — The Fast of Esther
תענית אסתר
Date: 13 Adar (the day before Purim) • Next observance: Monday, March 22, 2027 (5787). If 13 Adar falls on Shabbat, the fast moves earlier to Thursday, 11 Adar.
Ta'anit Esther commemorates the three-day fast that Queen Esther called before approaching King Achashverosh uninvited to plead for the Jewish people (Esther 4:16). Unlike the other minor fasts, Ta'anit Esther does not mourn a tragedy — it recalls the spiritual preparation that preceded a great salvation. It flows directly into the joy of Purim, which begins that evening with the reading of Megillat Esther.
The custom of Machatzit Hashekel — giving a coin of one-half the local currency to charity in memory of the half-shekel Temple contribution — is fulfilled on this fast, before the evening Megillah reading.