Fast of Gedaliah

Fast of Gedaliah, minor observance in the Jewish religious year that mournfully recalls the assassination of Gedaliah ben Ahikam, a Jewish governor of the southern kingdom of Judah. This fasting day occurs on 3 Tishri, the day following the two-day Rosh Hashanah (New Year) observance on 1–2 Tishri (in September or October). Liturgically, the Fast of Gedaliah follows the rituals of other fasting days in Judaism but adds certain penitential prayers. It requires fasting from dawn to dusk. The festival is postponed one day if 3 Tishri falls on the Sabbath.

The narrative that is the basis of the holiday can be found in Jeremiah 40–41. After the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II destroys the First Temple of Jerusalem in 586 bce, most Jews in the kingdom of Judah are taken as captives to Babylon. A small number of impoverished people remain, and Nebuchadnezzar installs Gedaliah as their governor. Other Jews who had fled to Ammon, Edom, and Moab return to Judah under Gedaliah’s leadership. Ishmael ben Nethaniah, a member of the former royal family of Judah, is dispatched by Baalis, king of Ammon, to kill Gedaliah, who is in the town of Mizpah. Gedaliah receives advance warning of the plot but he remains skeptical and does not take action to prevent it.

The text of Jeremiah does not explain why Ishmael or the king of Ammon intend to kill Gedaliah. Various interpretations suggest that the king of Ammon is jealous of Gedaliah, that Ishmael is unhappy with Gedaliah’s governorship and intends to usurp that role, or that Ishmael resents Gedaliah’s accommodating stance toward Babylonian rule. Whatever the true motive, Ishmael, along with 10 accomplices, assassinates Gedaliah and cruelly proceeds to murder many more Jews and Babylonians. Fearing Babylonian retribution, the remaining Jews of Judah flee to Egypt. According to the Jewish tradition, with this final departure Jewish self-rule effectively ceased until the Jews’ return from the Babylonian Exile.

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