Shiva Assar Be'Tammuz This year the Fast of the 17th Tammuz will fall on July 13rd 2006. Temple Mount: After Bartlett, 1855 Breaching of the Walls In Jewish tradition, the 17th of the Jewish month of Tammuz is a fast day which commemorates the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (586 BCE) and Titus (70 CE). It should be recalled that these breaches in the walls of the Holy City came after many months of siege in which the city's residents suffered extreme hardships, sickness and hunger. More Reasons to Mourn In addition to the breaching of the City Walls, the Mishnah (Ta'anit 4:6) recounts four other tragedies that occurred on this day: Ten Commandments Smashed | Daily Offering Ceased | Sefer Torah Burned | Idol Placed In Temple | Ten Commandments Smashed After Matan Torah, the giving of the Torah, Moshe went back up Mount Sinai for forty days in order to learn both the general principles and details of the Law and to receive the 10 Commandments. But Bnei Yisrael miscalculated the amount of time that Moshe was meant to be on the mount, and on the 39th day of his absence (17th of Tammuz) fearing that he would not return, they built an idol - the golden calf. When Moshe saw that the nation, who had just made a covenant with God, had built an idol, he was overcome by anger and he threw the 10 commandments to the floor, smashing them to pieces. Daily Offering Ceased 'Deal' with besieging soldiers ended During the days of the destruction of the first Temple, the walls of Jerusalem was breached on the 9th of Tammuz. Although the enemies entered the city and spread desolation, they were unable to enter the Sanctuary because the Cohanim (priests) had fortified themselves and continued to perform the daily offerings. On the 13th of Tammuz, the Cohanim had no more sheep for the daily offering, so they bribed the besieging soldiers for gold and silver in return for sheep. On the 17th of Tammuz, the soldiers stopped sending up sheep and for the first time, the daily offerings ceased. Sefer Torah Burned On the 17th of Tammuz, a number of years before the destruction of the Second Temple, during the time of the Roman Procurator Comenus, there was great tension between the Romans and the Jews. Josephus Flavious tells of the burning of the Torah Scroll by Comenus and his forces: "On the royal road, near Beit Horon, robbers befell the cortege of Stephanus, a royal official, and they thoroughly plundered it. Comenus sent an armed force to the nearby villages and ordered the arrest of their inhabitants, who were then to be brought before him. It was their sin that they failed to pursue and capture the robbers. One of the soldiers seized a scroll of the Holy Torah in one of the villages; he tore it and cast it into the fire... From all sides the Jews gathered in trembling, as if their entire land had been given to the flames..." Idol Placed In Temple Some hold that Apustumus, a royal Roman official, placed an idol in the Second Temple on the 17th of Tammuz. Material from this page was taken from The Book of Our Heritage, by Eliyahu Kitov.