Ta'anit B'Khorim

[visionary]

Fast of the Firstborn (Hebrew: תענית בכורות, Ta'anit B'khorot or תענית בכורים, Ta'anit B'khorim); is a unique fast day in Judaism which usually falls on the day before Passover (fourteenth day of Nisan). Feast of Unleaven Bread always begins on the fifteenth of the Hebrew month. Unlike most Jewish fast days, only firstborns are required to fast on the Fast of the Firstborn. Usually, the fast is broken at a siyum celebration (typically made at the conclusion of the morning services), which, according to prevailing custom, creates an atmosphere of rejoicing that overrides the requirement to continue the fast.

Can anyone tell me more about this custom, where it came from and why?

 

[yedida]

I haven't heard of this one in particular, but I have heard and read it in Pesachim (I no longer have that reference due to computer crash) but this was about a tradition of the Galil's firstborn. And it was stated that the name of this meal loosely translated to mean last or final meal.
I wonder if we're talking about the same thing?

 

[Jerushabelle]

Yup!
Fast of the Firstborn - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's Talmudic. Our congregation rejects Talmudic teaching.

 

[visionary]

Last meal like in Last Supper?

 

[yedida]

Last meal like in Last Supper?

Yes, I skimmed over the wiki pages Jerushabelle linked us to, but the one I'm thinking of wasn't mentioned in there. But it did speak of the 10th chapter of Pesachim and that rang a bell, just not the actual reference. I wish I could remember it. The only thing in it's tiltle was the word "seudat," I think.
After my computer crashed, I was able to restore about 85% of what I had had on it, but some things even now remain MIC (missing in cyberspace) and, of course, a document that would come in handy right about now, is one of them!

 

[visionary]

And now to find out where the custom came about from and why?

 

[yedida]

You're our resident cyber PI. It won't surprise me if you find answers for us iin less than 24 hours!! You rock girl on the internet!!

 

[Jerushabelle]

And now to find out where the custom came about from and why?

But, why?....it doesn't make any sense to delve into it if it comes from man and not God. I could take a stab at it and consider that it may have come from the fact that God saved firstborn of the obedient families and thereafter all firstborn are forever indebted to ritually memorialize it...as if Pesach is not enough. Isn't that just more of what Yeshua frowned upon?.....layer upon layer of added burden.

 

[visionary]

But, why?....it doesn't make any sense to delve into it if it comes from man and not God. I could take a stab at it and consider that it may have come from the fact that God saved firstborn of the obedient families and thereafter all firstborn are forever indebted to ritually memorialize it...as if Pesach is not enough. Isn't that just more of what Yeshua frowned upon?.....layer upon layer of added burden.

Prophetic insights came via the believers [Jewish prophets] long before Yeshua came on the scene. The gems are there, they just need dug up and held up to the light to see their clearness, color, clarity, and size. Now that can be some valuable stuff when you look at it in His light, worth dusting off and taking a second look.

 

[Desert Rose]

Visie, i shamefully admit i dont know about the history and significance of it enough i can just tell you that from what I personally know from my family and others.

Its currently observed more in a symbolical fashion. After siyum there is seudat mitzvah , or reasonalby lavish party with good food or, in some synagogues, just a little party with tea, cookies or some light snacks.All firstborn as well as fathers of firstborn boys that havent reached 13 years old yet, are invited. That signifies official ending of the fast. Do they actually fast prior too ? hmm.. depends on level of each ones religiousity

resembles parties that everybody in xtian and nominally xtian circles observe - a lavish Easter Day breakfast , regardless if they did or did not fast priorly

 

[Jerushabelle]

Waaaaahhhhh!!!! I'm upset. I never got any lavish breakfasts!

My family did celebrate Easter. I blew off that title after learning about ishtar. Began calling it First Fruits thereafter. Do you know how hard it is to find a Happy First Fruits card for relatives? It stinks! The bunny went out the window too, although the colored eggs still bear significance....mine bear the cross of Yeshua!

 

[visionary]

You're our resident cyber PI. It won't surprise me if you find answers for us iin less than 24 hours!! You rock girl on the internet!!

Was this less than the 24 hour faith you have in my sleuthing abilities??..

The Talmud relates what happened when 600,000 Jewish heads of household began rounding up their lambs on the 10th of Nissan. The lamb was worshipped as a deity in ancient Egypt, so this caused quite a commotion. The firstborn of Egypt, who held the key social and religious positions in Egyptian society, confronted the Jews, and were told: "We are preparing an offering to G-d. In four days, at the stroke of midnight, G-d will pass through Egypt in order to execute the tenth and final plague; all firstborn will die, and the people of Israel nation will be freed."

The firstborn, having already witnessed the first nine plagues occuring exactly as Moses had warned, approached Pharaoh and his generals and demanded that the Jews be freed immediately. When Pharaoh refused, the firstborn took up arms against Pharaoh's troops, killing many of them. This event is alluded to by the Psalmist, who sings: "[Offer thanks to G-d,] who smote the Egyptians with their first born” (Psalms 136:10)

Although the date of this occurrence was Nissan 10, the event is commemorated not on this date but rather on the Shabbat before Passover (in the year of the Exodus, Nissan 10 was a Shabbat), which is therefore referred to as Shabbat HaGadol, "The Great Shabbat." (This is one of the rare instances in which a commemorative date in the Jewish calendar is set by the day of the week rather than the day of the month.)

War of the Egyptian Firstborn (1313 BCE) - Miscellaneous

 

[Jerushabelle]

Is this recorded anywhere other than the Talmud? I know it's not in Scripture. Nowhere in Scripture is it recorded that the Jews took up arms against the Egyptians. Psalms 136:10 is about how God used the death of the Egyptian firstborn to bring them to release the Jews. The Talmud is dangerous for Christians. It puffs man up and dismisses God.

 

[yedida]

Is this recorded anywhere other than the Talmud? I know it's not in Scripture.

I'm under the impression you are sola scriptura, so even if it was, it wouldn't interest you. I don't think it is, but I'm not sure. I've only seen it in the talmud that one time I read it.

 

[Jerushabelle]

Well, not every Christian denomination/belief group is sola scriptura, that's true but any writings that tell a different story than Torah are off. I have no problem being Messianic and sola scriptura. While I am a "letter by letter" sort as Sister Vis was so kind to point out in another thread, I am not without the Spirit for discernment. Any writings that attribute to man what God has done for His people are way off. Something as significant as the firstborn Jews taking up arms against the Egyptians to secure their release would certainly have been recorded in the Semot. It's not there so IMO it's not biblically (historically) accurate.

 

[yedida]

Was this less than the 24 hour faith you have in my sleuthing abilities??..

The Talmud relates what happened when 600,000 Jewish heads of household began rounding up their lambs on the 10th of Nissan. The lamb was worshipped as a deity in ancient Egypt, so this caused quite a commotion. The firstborn of Egypt, who held the key social and religious positions in Egyptian society, confronted the Jews, and were told: "We are preparing an offering to G-d. In four days, at the stroke of midnight, G-d will pass through Egypt in order to execute the tenth and final plague; all firstborn will die, and the people of Israel nation will be freed."

The firstborn, having already witnessed the first nine plagues occuring exactly as Moses had warned, approached Pharaoh and his generals and demanded that the Jews be freed immediately. When Pharaoh refused, the firstborn took up arms against Pharaoh's troops, killing many of them. This event is alluded to by the Psalmist, who sings: "[Offer thanks to G-d,] who smote the Egyptians with their first born” (Psalms 136:10)

Although the date of this occurrence was Nissan 10, the event is commemorated not on this date but rather on the Shabbat before Passover (in the year of the Exodus, Nissan 10 was a Shabbat), which is therefore referred to as Shabbat HaGadol, "The Great Shabbat." (This is one of the rare instances in which a commemorative date in the Jewish calendar is set by the day of the week rather than the day of the month.)

War of the Egyptian Firstborn (1313 BCE) - Miscellaneous

I honestly don't know. All I recall of the article and the passage in Talmud is that it involved the Galilean males, nothing about anyohter area. And the reason was more to do with the ransoming of the firstborn Israelite sons. I have been looking for the article I read but haven't found it. I'll look into the Talmud today or tomorrow to see if I can find the passages again.
But great work on further information - I didn't know about this!! Thanks. We got ourselve quite the cyber-sleuth!!

 

[visionary]

Is this recorded anywhere other than the Talmud? I know it's not in Scripture. Nowhere in Scripture is it recorded that the Jews took up arms against the Egyptians. Psalms 136:10 is about how God used the death of the Egyptian firstborn to bring them to release the Jews. The Talmud is dangerous for Christians. It puffs man up and dismisses God.

I didn't write that it was the Jews who took up arms, but the first born Egyptians who didn't want to die.. it was civil unrest..

 

[yedida]

Well, not every Christian denomination/belief group is sola scriptura, that's true but any writings that tell a different story than Torah are off. I have no problem being Messianic and sola scriptura. While I am a "letter by letter" sort as Sister Vis was so kind to point out in another thread, I am not without the Spirit for discernment. Any writings that attribute to man what God has done for His people are way off. Something as significant as the firstborn Jews taking up arms against the Egyptians to secure their release would certainly have been recorded in the Semot. It's not there so IMO it's not biblically (historically) accurate.

There is a difference of opinion of what happened when the gold, pots, pans and linens were secured from the Egyptians prior to the exodus. Some think these things were given willingly, some think not so willingly. Just to level the playing ground here. The Bible doesn't give the disposition of the Egyptians at this time, as I recall. Only that the items were secured.
As a pointer toward the latter, last decade the Eyptians actually began a lawsuit for those items taken. Whether or not this is still in litagation or settled, i haven't heard, but I thought it was interesting.

 

[visionary]

Firstborn males over the age of Bar Mitzvah (13) are obligated to fast on the 14th of Nissan, in recognition of the fact that during the "Plague of the Firstborn" (which occurred at midnight of Nissan 15) G-d "passed over" the Jewish firstborn when He killed all firstborn Egyptians. If there is a firstborn male in the family under 13, the obligation to fast rests with the father. The prevailing custom, however, is for the firstborn to exempt themselves from the obligation to fast by participating in a seudat mitzvah (a meal marking the fulfillment of a mitzvah), such as a siyyum--a festive meal celebrating the conclusion of the study of a section of Torah).Chabad.org - Fast of the First Born

 

[yedida]

Very interesting information, all. Puts a whole different picture on this last meal, for sure.