Fast of Esther

Ta'anit Esther ( Esther dt - fasting), is a Jewish fast day, which falls on the 13th of Adar (March ) and the following Purim. Is the 13th of Adar a Sabbath that Esther Fasting is brought forward to Thursday.

In the thoroughly researched by the historian Heinrich Graetz Almost role of the 13th of Adar is one of the 35 memorials on which fasting is prohibited. However, already in Talmudic times, this ban seems to have been no longer in force. The custom, in memory to hold the events described in the Book of Esther is a day of fasting, however, testified only since Geonic time. The 13th of Adar was chosen as the day of victory over the enemies of Israel. It is the day on which the Jews once collected and to be at the prayed and fasted and Megillat Ester is read.

The rules for the Taanit Esther are virtually the same as for the other public fasts as fasting Gedaliah, fasting on the 10th of Tevet and the 17th of Tammuz. Fasting begins early in the morning before sunrise. When Minchagebet is also the ceremony in memory of the " half-shekel " instead, which was paid when the Temple was still standing: In a deep dish in the synagogue three special coins are placed, and bearing its name. Three coins to order in ester Please remember the whole living in the diaspora Jewish people, for three days to fast and keep remorseful repentance, to prepare for the craved miracles.

As with other Jewish festivals, where suddenly the joy is interrupted in order to commemorate the dead, the transition from fasting, the Taanit Esther, to the joy of Purim is very abruptly. According to the Jewish Gelehrtenr one should be reminded in this case because there is no joy in this world, in which not a trace of sadness mixed.