Fasting days

The Jewish calendar contains several fast days, most of which commemorate various historical events surrounding the destruction of the Temples. These fast days are:

3 of Tishrei - Fast of Gedaliah

10 Tishrei - Yom Kippur

10 of Tevet - Asará of Tevet

13th of Adar - Fast of Esther

17 of Tammuz - Shiva Asar beTamuz

9th of Av - Tisha B'Av

Fasting is simple: if you are a healthy man or woman over Bar or Bat Mitzvah, you simply need to abstain from eating and drinking from dawn until dusk.

In general, fasts are divided into two categories: biblical fasts and rabbinic fasts, the latter being further divided into two: the Ninth of Av and all other fasts. Each of these categories has its own rules regarding what can and cannot be done on that day, who must fast, who is exempt, what to do if the fast falls on Shabbat, and so on.

Why do we fast? It's not our fault the Temple was destroyed... The people of that time refused to listen to the prophets who warned them to improve their behavior. We are still suffering the consequences.

Our sages say: "Every generation in which the Temple is not rebuilt is as if it had been destroyed by that generation." Therefore, a day of fasting is not a sad day, but an opportune one to rectify the cause of the destruction so that our long exile may come to an end, and we may live in the times of the Messiah soon.