Q&A: Is This the Fast I Shall Choose?
Is This the Fast I Shall Choose?
Question
Our actions then involved a great deal of baseless hatred, which brought destruction and exile. Every year we fast and remember, and that way we avoid doing it again.
Suppose I have reached the conclusion that those who fast nowadays are full of baseless hatred and in practice are bringing about a process of decay and destruction upon our people.
Suppose I have also reached the conclusion that דווקא those who do not fast are less to blame for all of the above.
Is it proper to eat and drink today?
Answer
What does one thing have to do with the other? Why would what the people who fast do make any difference to the purpose of the fast? And where do you get this wild generalization about those who fast? If you wanted to demonstrate to us what baseless hatred is, then you definitely succeeded.
He was apparently talking about the majority,
and it seems that maybe there is more than a grain of truth in what he says…