Q. Dear Rabbi, It is known that tragically on Shiva Asar Betamuz, Moshe Rabbenu descended from Mount Sinai on this day, and upon seeing the Golden Calf, he broke the first set of Tablets carrying the Ten Commandments. (Shemot 32:19, Mishna Taanit 28b) Since it is an historically tragic day, were there any other tragedies recorded for this day?
A. The known tragedies of Shiva Asar Betamuz are that during the First Temple Era: The priests stopped offering the daily sacrifice on this day (Taanit 28b) due to the shortage of sheep during the siege, and the next year 3184 (586 BCE) the walls of Jerusalem were breached after many months of siege by Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian forces.
In Melachim II 21:7 we find that King Menashe, one of the worst of the Jewish kings, had an idol placed in the Holy Sanctuary of the Temple, according to tradition on this date. The Talmud, in Masechet Taanit 28b, says that in the time of the Roman persecution, Apostomos, captain of the occupation forces, did the same, and publicly burned the Torah – both acts considered open blasphemy and desecration. These were followed by Titus and Rome breaching the walls of Jerusalem in 3760 (70 CE), and Pope Gregory IX ordering the confiscation of all manuscripts of the Talmud in 4999 (1239).
In later years this day continued to be a dark one for Jews. In 1391, more than 4,000 Jews were killed in Toledo, Spain, and in 4319 (1559) the Jewish Quarter of Prague was burned and looted.
The Kovno ghetto was liquidated on this day in 5704 (1944) and in 5730 (1970) Libya ordered the confiscation of Jewish property.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Y. Hirshman, Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller and Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu, Horav Kalman Ochs, and Horav Dovid Bartfeld consulting in need Horav Hagaon Rav Yitzchak Berkowitz Shlit’a
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