ABSTRACT
Ta‘anit [1] Minor fasts, lasting from dawn to dusk, generally in times of trouble or drought; [2] Mishnah tractate devoted to fasts that are called in order to pray for rain; the sequence of fasts for rain (chap. 1); liturgy of the community for a fast day (chap. 2); rules about public fasts (chap. 2); using the shofar as an alarm, besides to call fast days (chap. 3); the delegation (ma‘amad): Israelite participation in the cult (chap. 4). (See FAST DAYS.)
Ta‘anit Esther Fast of Esther, which takes place on the 13th of Adar, the day prior to Purim, in commemoration of Esther’s own fast, recorded at Esther 4:16: “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
