Some folks take the fast day seriously, complete with the sack cloth and ashes thing, which is commendable. I’m just sitting here, at my keyboard, trying to be productive while the only think on my mind is my morning coffee, which I didn’t get.
So, for now, feeling grumpy and missing my caffeine fix are the extent of my sincere sense of mourning for the really lousy things that happened on this day in Jewish history thanks to Chabad.org for making a writer’s life easy):
Moses broke the tablets when he saw the Jewish people worshipping the Golden Calf.
During the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, the Jews were forced to cease offering the daily sacrifices due to the lack of sheep.
A general named Apostomos, who was either a Roman subduing occupied Judea, or a Greek in Maccabee time, burned the holy Torah.
An idol was placed in the Holy Temple, the offender being either the above mention Apostomos, or Menasheh, King of Judea.
The walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Romans, in 69 CE,
I was thinking today, what if the Women of the Wall were to come to the Kotel to share in our pain on the 17th of Tammuz, in sack cloth and ashes? Would have made their whole Rosh Chodesh thing that much more believable.
But, not to worry, they’ll be there for Rosh Chodesh Av, just 9 days before the big, nasty fast commemorating all the horrible things that befell us.
You gotta’ know when to hold them / know when to fold them…
