The Cancellation of Megillat Ta'anit

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"The Cancellation of Megillat Ta'anit." TheTorah.com. Accessed November 5, 2026. https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-cancellation-of-megillat-taanit.

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"The Cancellation of Megillat Ta'anit" (n.d.). TheTorah.com. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-cancellation-of-megillat-taanit

Published: March 2, 2014

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Last Updated: September 7, 2026

  1. For more on this text and the commentaries that accompany it, see Vered Noam’s TABS Essay, Megillat Ta’anitand its Scholion (Commentary). For a scholarly edition ofMegillat Ta’anit, including the traditional commentaries (scholia) on the work and full scholarly discussion and apparatus, see: Vered Noam, Megillat Ta’anit: Versions, Interpretation, History (Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi Press, 2003 [Hebrew]). For an English overview of her findings, see her chapter, “The Scroll of Fasting.”

  2. j. Ta’anit 2:12, Megillah 1:4, Nedarim 8:1; b. Rosh Hashanah 18b-19a.

  3.  The fast days were instituted to commemorate destruction, but turn to holidays when the Temple/the country is rebuilt. The Megillat Ta’anit days were instituted as holidays during the time of the Temple/independent Judea, but were cancelled upon the destruction. They did not all turn to fast days however, which is where the parallel ends.

  4. רב ורבי חנינא אמרי: “בטלה מגילת תענית.” הכי קאמר: בזמן שיש שלום – יהיו לששון ולשמחה, אין שלום – צום. והנך נמי כי הני. רבי יוחנן ורבי יהושע בן לוי אמרי: “לא בטלה מגילת תענית.” הני הוא דתלינהו רחמנא בבנין בית המקדש, אבל הנך כדקיימי קיימי.

  5. The rabbis are communicating to the people of Lod that it was sinful for them to fast on a holiday.​

Dr. Rabbi Zev Farber is the Senior Editor of TheTorah.com at the Academic Torah Institute. He holds a Ph.D. from Emory University in Jewish Religious Cultures and Hebrew Bible, an M.A. from Hebrew University in Jewish History (biblical… Read More