Gedaliah's post (28/09)

The fast of Gedaliah, or the fast of Gedaliah (Hebrew).צוラם גפּדַלפיפהוּ , Tsom Gdalyahu) – is a day of mourning and fasting, celebrated on the 3rd Tishrei according to the Jewish calendar, the day after Rosh Hashanah. If that day falls on a Saturday, the fast is shifted to a Sunday. Fasting continues from sunrise to the appearance of the first stars, during which time they do not eat or drink anything.

6th century BC was a difficult period in the history of the Kingdom of Judah – the small country was between two powerful powers: Babylon on the one hand and Egypt on the other. The rulers of Judea tried to maneuver between the giants, trying to find a more profitable ally and patron. After the death of the pro-Babylonian king Yeshayahu, his son Jehoahaz sat on the Jewish throne. However, the Egyptians replaced him with their protege and turned Judea into their tributary.

But in 605 BC. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated the Egyptians and conquered Judea. For many years, Jews made peace with their servitude, but in 598 BC. Judea again took the side of Egypt. In response, the Babylonian king captured the Jewish king Jehoiachin and the entire national elite, including courtiers, military men, weapons masters, etc. The total number of prisoners was ten thousand people. Above those who remained in their homeland, Nebuchadnezzar appointed King Zidkiyaga as governor. But in 591, Tsidkiyahu led another uprising against Babylon, hoping for Egyptian support.

In 588 BC. Nebuchadnezzar again set out on a campaign against Judea. After two years of siege, Jerusalem fell. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city, the first Temple, and executed the sons of King Zedekiah, ending the dynasty's 400-year rule from David's family. He killed or captured most members of the royal family and nobles of the country. The elite of Jewish society, including the chief clerics, civilians and military, were taken as prisoners to Babylon. Many were killed.

However, Nebuchadnezzar did not want to turn Judah into a continuous desert. People of the lower classes were allowed to stay in Judea to engage in agriculture. Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, a wise and just man, a friend of the prophet Jeremiah, as ruler of Judah.

Gedaliah began to strongly encourage the cultivation and cultivation of fields and vineyards, and the Jewish community began to revive. This became known, and many Jews who fled to safe places during the war, to neighboring countries, began to return to the country. The governor called on the people to remain loyal to Babylon and promised peace and security. We can say that this promise was fulfilled – The Babylonian garrison stationed in the country did not insult the Jews, but even protected them from hostile neighbors.

Among the refugees who joined Gedaliah was Ismail, one of the princes of David's family. Ismail apparently believed that he would be a much better ruler for Judea, and that Judea needed to focus its foreign policy on Egypt rather than Babylon. So he found an ally in the king of the state, Ammon, who watched with concern the growth of the new Jewish colony.

And, waiting for a favorable opportunity, Ismail killed Gedaliah, many of his prominent comrades, and also destroyed the small Babylonian garrison located in the city of Mizpah, the governor’s headquarters.

As punishment for the murder of Gedaliah, Nebuchadnezzar liquidated the Kingdom of Judah, turning it into a Babylonian province, and took more than 9 thousand inhabitants of the country captive. As a result, the Jewish people lost their state and national independence for a long time. Jews have one opportunity left to – flee to Egypt. But even there the hand of Babylon reached them: a few years later, Nebuchadnezzar invaded Egypt, destroyed it and most of the Jewish refugees died.

To commemorate the murder of Gedaliah and the tragedy that then happened to the Jewish people shortly after the destruction of the First Temple, this post was established, called the Gedaliah post.

So, the death of Gedaliah was the last link in that tragedy, the main symbol of which is the destruction of the Temple. And above all, it is precisely this circumstance that is the reason that all generations of Jews are ordered to observe this fast. But this tragedy also had its own meaning. As a politician, Gedaliah did not try to influence political reality, but only took it into account, recognizing the right to power of the strongest... He sought to preserve the people remaining in the Holy Land and saw his task as preserving at least traces of the Jewish presence in the Holy Land. And the fact that his case failed, that it was destroyed by «politicians», is worthy of centuries of sorrow. After the murder of Gedaliah, the people's connection with their land was severed: that time for only a few decades, but the next – for a much longer period.

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