Description:
This study seeks to explain the origin of the fast of the 13th of Adar. The practice of fasting on this day is puzzling for a number of reasons. Although the Bible describes fasting in the year of the Purim threat, this fast occurred in Nissan and the weeks thereafter. Nor does tannaitic or amoraic literature mention the practice of fasting on the 13th of Adar. To add to the puzzle, Megillat ta‘anit, compiled in the first century ce, includes the 13th of Adar as a day on which Jews were prohibited from fasting.