We all need it to live. But what happens when it’s not available or not allowed, like on a fast day? Our bodies can manage for a short time without eating, though not forever. What’s the story behind fasting, and would anyone ever try it voluntarily?
Although the only fast day that appears in the Torah is Yom Kippur four other fast days were established by the neviim including “Tzom HaAsiri” — the fast of the tenth month known as Asarah B’Teves.
We actually commemorate three separate sad events on Asarah B’Teves:
1) Targum Shiv’im the first translation of Torah into Greek at the command of the Greek emperor Talmei on the 8th of Teves.
2) The deaths of Ezra and Nechemiah leaders of the Jewish People at the beginning of the Second Beis HaMikdash on the 9th of Teves.
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