Zekharya 8 | "And I will be their God in truth and beneficence."

This chapter presents a series of prophecies of redemption, and toward its conclusion, addresses the subject of fasts. As we noted yesterday, some scholars have proposed that these are unrelated prophecies. However, the chiastic structure of this pair of chapters demonstrates that they form a single literary unit — moving from the sequence of judgments recalling the calamities of earlier times in the previous chapter, to the future promises of redemption in the chapter before us. This chapter includes prophecies of God’s return to Zion, and a stirring vision of peaceful life in the streets of Jerusalem: "So says the Lord of Hosts: Once again old men and old women will sit in the squares of Jerusalem. In old age a man will on the staff in his hand, and the city squares will be full and alive with young boys and girls playing in her open squares” (8:4–5). The central point of the chapter is that although the prophet is addressing to the people who have already returned to Zion during the process the return to Zion — the Second Temple era redemption — these are still future prophecies. The prophet delivers a complex message: On one hand, he emphasizes that the people have not yet arrived the destination. As we discussed yesterday, a full process of repair is still needed before it can be said that redemption has been completed, and that they have reached the stage of “And I will be their God in truth and beneficence” (8:8). On the other hand, he stresses that these days are approaching rapidly, and that the people — who are at times despaired by a redemption that has not unfolded as they had hoped — must gather their strength: "So says the Lord of Hosts: Be strong! Be like those who heard these words in those days from the prophets who were present on the day the foundation were laid for the House of the Lord of Hosts... But now I will not as in those first days of the remnant of this people — the Lord of Hosts has spoken” (Zekharya 8:9–11). God promises that if they will mend their ways and establish a just society, the day will come when complete redemption will arrive — days when “the fasts of the fourth month and of the fifth and the seventh and the tenth – all of these will be for the House of Yehuda joy and happiness, and times set aside for good” (8:19), and days when all the nations surrounding them will beg, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you” (8:23). In this way, the prophet offers them hope for change, but a hope for change that must and can emerge from them.

Additional insight on the annulment of the fasts in our generation

Over the years, as the redemption has advanced in its various stages, great Torah leaders have been called upon to reexamine the status of the fasts: Stages such as the appointment of the Jewish High Commissioner Herbert Samuel under the British Mandate, the establishment of the State of Israel, or the victory in the Six-Day War and the liberation of the Temple Mount. In this context, it is worth examining the words of Rav Kook upon the appointment of Herbert Samuel [note the use of the regnal year formula, modeled after the biblical manner of counting years of a king’s reign], and the remarks of Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook after the Six-Day War, and reflect on the conditions they identified as prerequisites for the completion of redemption and the annulment of the fasts, and how they related to Zekharya’s prophecy.

Letter from Rav Kook (from Moadei HaRe’iyah 544):

With God’s help, 19th of Tammuz, 5680, the first year of our brother, the High Commissioner of the Land of Israel, Mr. Eliezer son of Menachem, Sir Herbert Samuel, may God preserve him. Peace and blessings to my honorable and beloved friend, venerable elder, filled with longing for the salvation of the Lord's nation and land, Rav Yaakov Zvi Zisselman, may he live and be well.

I received his precious letter, and the emotions changed in response to God’s wondrous deliverance, as demonstrated by the founding of our redemption through the exalted appointment of our brother, the great minister, may he be blessed, have filled my heart with joy. Seeing that even the elders of the generation sense and perceive the light of salvation is a beautiful sign for the House of Israel and its revival. However, with regard to the special nature of the fasts, I believe that until God establishes His ruined Sanctuary before our very eyes, upon the exalted mountain, as a splendor before all nations, we cannot yet annul them... When God shall shine upon us with the light of His complete salvation, the fasts will indeed be transformed into joy and gladness and festive days. And the light of complete deliverance, and the glory of our righteous Messiah, and the rebuilding of our Temple shall come to us, by not forgetting the House of our God, nor our suffering brothers, the entire people of the Lord who remain in distress, but through our participation in their sorrow and grief via our fasting and as in the past. Alongside this, we must strive to elevate the crown of holiness in our sacred land, with a pure spirit, full of steadfast faith in God’s eternal word, and with gratitude to the Lord for His grace and truth.

Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook’s sicha for Jerusalem Day, 5728 (1968):

But regarding the fasts that were ordained by the prophets, no one has the authority to touch them. We are in the midst of a historical process of the redemption of Israel, and as long as prophets do not arise in Israel, or  the Sanhedrin, capable of seeing the full picture, we have no right to alter or dismiss partial matters. We must understand that the fasts today are a continuation of the very root of sorrow from the past on the destruction of the Temple, and this pain remains sharp to this very day. One must recognize the hand of God in the events that have taken place in our days. We are to fast and mourn over the destruction of the Temple and the exile, while simultaneously recognizing and acknowledging the light of redemption that continues to shine forth in our time.