Megillat Esther: Esther's fast - Three continuous days?

Megillat Esther (4:16) records that Esther told Mordechai that he should tell all the Jews of Shushan to fast for three days and nights and that she and her maidens would also fast. This fast included not drinking water as well as not eating. 4:17 records that Mordechai did as Esther commanded and 5:1 records that Esther went to see Achashverosh on the third day, which presumably was the third day of the fast. This fasting is difficult. How many people can survive 72 hours without food or water? Was this a reasonable request by Esther for all the Jews of Shushan to fast for three days? How could Esther been able to see Achashverosh after three days of fasting?

Ibn Ezra (on 4:16) attempts to limit the fast since he notes that she came to Achashverosh on the third day which means that she “only” fasted two full days. He notes that even by the third day, her face would have been gaunt from fasting but that she trusted in G-d and not in her beauty. Yet, even two days of fasting is difficult, and the people who acceded to her request to fast for three days would not have known to stop after Esther met Achashverosh.

S. Goldman (1946, on 4:16) writes, “The fast need not have been a continuous fast for three days. The Midrash asserts that food was taken at the sunset of each day.” I do not know the source of this Midrash, but it seems difficult because 4:16 explicitly records that the fast was for days and nights. Instead, Goldman’s first suggestion, that the fast was on three separate days, seems very reasonable. Esther went to Achashverosh on the third day that she fasted, but she was able to speak to him and was her usual radiant self since she had "only" been fasting for half a day.

There is an interesting support for this understanding from Masekhet Soferim (9th century? 17:4 and 21:1, see also Shulchan Arukh, Orah Chayyim 666:3), which quotes that by Purim there was a three day fast but it was not continuous. The fast was on Monday, Thursday and Monday, and the custom in Israel was to have the three day fast after Purim. (To the best of my knowledge no one fasts these three days.)

This custom of fasting on three separate days might have developed since it was considered too much to ask people to fast for three consecutive days, even though people could eat at night, or maybe the idea of fasting three separate days was because it was thought that Esther’s fast was also on three separate days.  For more on the development of this fast, see the end of the discussion, "A brief history of Ta'anit Esther."

A brief history of Ta'anit Esther

The day before Purim, the 13th of Adar, is the fast of Esther, Ta’anit Esther, but this fast is not mentioned in the Talmud. The fast is first mentioned by R. Aha of Shaba (8th century, see Encyclopedia Judaica, 1971, 6:914). Rashi (quoted by the Bet Yosef, Orah Chayyim, 686) notes that fast is not a rabbinic law but a custom that the people accepted.

What is the reason for the fast? Based on the name of the fast, one would think that the fast is to remember Esther’s fast before she went to see Achashverosh (Megillat Esther 4:16), and Megillat Esther (9:31) records that “the people at that time accepted upon themselves and their children the matter of their fastings.” There are several problems with this explanation. First, according to the Midrash (Esther Rabbah 8:6, see also Talmud Megillah 15a) Esther fasted in Nisan, and one would think that if we fast to remember her fast, we would fast in Nisan and not Adar. Two, her fast was for three days, while we fast for one day. Finally most importantly, it used to be forbidden to fast on the 13th of Adar. On this day, Judah ha-Maccabee had a great victory over Nicanor, a Greek general, and Megillat Ta`anit (first century prior to the destruction of the second Bet ha-Mikdash) records that because of this victory it was forbidden to fast on the day. The victory over Nicanor happened several hundred years after the story of Purim, which means that if there was a fast on the 13th of Adar from the time of Purim, then the fast was annulled with Judah ha-Maccabee’s victory or the fast of Esther was initially observed on a different day.

The Rosh (1250-1327, Megillah, pages of Rosh 1:1) quotes Rabbenu Tam (1100-1171) that the reason for the fast of Esther is that surely the people in the time of the Megillah fasted on the 13th of Adar as part of their prayers before they went to defend themselves from Haman and their enemies. This supposition is troubling. It does not resolve the problem that eventually it became forbidden to fast on the 13th of Adar and also it is odd that the fast is called the fast of Esther when according to this approach there is no connection with Esther. Also, if there was always a fast on the 13th of Adar, then as Avraham Korman (2001, pp. 34-36) asks, why was this fast not mentioned in the Talmud? Furthermore, it contradicts the ruling in the Shulchan Arukh (Orah Chayyim 571:3) that a person is not supposed to fast in times of danger in order not to weaken one’s self to fight the danger.

Masekhet Soferim (9th century? 17:4 and 21:1) records that by Purim there was a three day fast, Monday, Thursday and Monday, and the custom of the Rabbis in Israel was to have the three day fast after Purim. This custom to fast for three days matches Esther’s three day fast. This three day fast is recorded by the Shulchan Arukh (Orah Chayyim 686:3), but to the best of my knowledge nobody does this fast.

Masekhet Soferim (21:2,3) questions why the three day fast was not done in Nisan, and answers that one does not fast in Nisan since the mishkan was established in the desert in Nisan and in the future the Bet ha-Mikdash will be re-built in Nisan. We see from the question that the three day fast was really supposed to be in Nisan since this is when it is believed that Esther fasted.  In fact, the Tur (429) seems to write that the talmidim fasted for three days (Monday, Thursday, and Monday) after Pesach in the month of Nisan.  This fast today is called Behab (after the days of the week of the fast) and is in the beginning of Iyar (the month after Nisan).  Daniel Sperber (1990, pp. 192-199) suggests that this fast is also based on Esther’s three day fast.

In our discussion, “The fast of the firstborn son,” we argue that the fast of the firstborn son of erev Pesach was also due to Esther’s fast, but it was condensed from three days to one day, probably because of desire not to fast in the month of Nisan. This fast is also first mentioned in the time of the Geonim.

We see that by the time of the Geonim, there were three different set of fasts related to Esther’s fast, and either in conjunction with these fasts or as a different custom/ option, there developed the custom to fast on the 13th of Adar because of Esther’s fast. Of all of the possibilities this day was the most connected with the celebration of Purim, and since by the time of the Geonim, Megillat Ta`anit was annulled (see Rosh Hashanah 18b and Shulchan Arukh, Orah Chayyim 573:1), it was no longer forbidden to fast on this day. This fast on the 13th of Adar became accepted maybe because it seemed strange to people to fast for Esther after they had already celebrated Purim. 

Why in this period of the Geonim did these four fasts develop to re-call Esther’s fast? My guess is that this was part of the fight with the Karaites. Ibn Ezra (on Megillat Esther 9:29) writes that the doubters, his name for the Karaites, interpreted Megillah 9:29-32 to mean that the Jewish people are supposed to fast for three days in Nisan. In response to this claim by the Karaites, four different customs developed when to fast to re-call Esther’s fast: A one day fast on 13th of Adar (today’s Ta’anit Esther), a three day fast after Purim, a one day fast by the firstborn sons on erev Pesach and/ or a three day fast in the beginning of Iyar.

Bibliography:

Korman, Avraham (1917-2002, Tel Aviv), 2001, Techelet Avraham, Tel Aviv.

Sperber, Daniel, 1990, Minhagei Yisrael: Sources and history, Vol. 1, Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook.