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20th of Sivan- a day to remember



Next Sunday the 20th of Sivan is commemorated by some as a fast day and others as a day with extra selichos. Personally, I don’t know anyone who does this, but if you look in some siddurim you will find the selichos and mention of this day. This date commemorates two major European disasters. The earlier catastrophe, which occurred in the 12th Century, was recorded in a contemporary chronicle entitled Emek Habacha. The blood libel of Blois, France occurred during the Second Crusade, which occurred in 4907-9/1147-49.

One very dark night in the city of Blois, a sweet hapless Jew was out giving his horse some water. In the distance he noticed a child being murdered. The brutal and savage murderer also spotted the Jew and decided to frame him for the murder that he committed. He ran from the crime scene to report to the local ruler that he had just witnessed a Jew murder a Christian child! He suggested that the Jew most probably needed the blood to add to the Matzah recipe. The local ruler accepted the baseless accusations without bothering to investigate too much.

Thirty-one people were arrested, including some of the most important Rabbonim of the time. The ruler repeated the ridiculous claims about the matzah, creating fact out of fiction. They were told they would all die for the crime, unless of course they chose to convert. None of them accepted the deal and went to their deaths proudly knowing they were sanctifying Hashem’s name.

On the 20th of Sivan 4931 (1171), they were tied up and placed on a pyre to be burned alive. At the fateful moment, the Jews sang in unison: Aleinu leshabayach la’adon hakol, "it is incumbent upon us to praise the Lord of all." Miraculously, the fires did not consume them! The death squad were not put off from carrying out their plan. They commanded the troops to beat them to death and then burn their bodies. However, the fires were still unable to consume their bodies, which remained intact! Ten years later Jews were expelled from France, although many did in fact stay as the King was not powerful enough to enforce his laws.


As a commemoration of the sacrifice of these great Jews and as a day of teshuvah, Rabbeinu Tam and the other gedolei Baalei Tosafos of France declared the 20th of Sivan a fast day.



The second event that the fast commemorates are the shocking events of Tach Ve’Tat the massacres during the years 1648-1649. The calamities of this period raged on and off for the next twelve years. The fast of the 20th of Sivan memorialises an additional Jewish calamity. Almost five hundred years later, most of the Jewish communities of eastern Europe suffered the unspeakable massacres that are referred to as the Gezeiros Tach veTat, which refer to the years of 5408 (Tach) and 5409 (Tat), corresponding to the secular years 1648 and 1649. Although this title implies that these excesses lasted for at most two years, the calamities of this period raged on, sporadically, for the next twelve years.

Bogdan Chmielnitzky the Cossack leader in Ukraine had a magnetic personality, as well as being a rabid anti-Semite. He led a rebellion against the Polish overlords. Their aim was to wipe out the Polish aristocracy and the Jews. Eliminating the Jews was not a central aim of the Cossacks, though Jews were certainly regarded as part of the enemy camp and, as such, not worthy of mercy. Hundreds of Jewish communities in Poland and Ukraine were destroyed.



The Cossacks murdered thousands of Jews and carried out acts of unspeakable cruelty against many more.



After this tragic period passed and the Jewish communities began to rebuild and start again, the Vaad Arba Ha’aratzos, which at the time was the halachic and legislative body of all Polish and Lithuanian Jewry, banned certain types of entertainment. Strict limits were set on the types of entertainment allowed at weddings, similar to the takanos that the Gemara reports were established after the churban of the Beis Hamikdash. Selichos were composed by the Tosafos Yom Tov, the Shach, and other gedolim to commemorate the tragedies.



The Vaad Arba Ha’aratzos further declared that the 20th of Sivan should be established forever as a fast day (Shaarei Teshuvah 580:9). The Shaarei Teshuvah (580:9) quotes the Shach as citing an additional reason why the Vaad Arba Ha’aratzos established the day of commemoration for the gezeiros Tach veTat on the 20th of Sivan: this date never falls on Shabbos and, therefore, would be observed every year. the Mishnah Berurah quotes it as common practice in his day in Poland (580:16). Perhaps it was assumed that the custom was only required as long as there were communities in Poland, but that their descendants who moved elsewhere were not required to observe it.

Other than feeling utterly miserable at this stage of the article, what can we learn from these two tragic events? The first event pivoted on hatred and lies. The second event pivoted on hatred but also on the inability to show mercy to others. It is easy to justify being angry and wanting revenge if someone has actively hurt you, but not so easy when they are an innocent bystander.



It is the wedding season and as someone told me “when you make a simcha you are going to upset people.” Does this really have to be the result? What if I try to be kind and prioritise chessed, how can I avoid causing others pain? And, if others feel pained even without a cruel act on my part, how can they avoid upsetting themselves?



If we trace the chronology of hatred and massacres there must be a starting point where normal, moral civilised people, started to become corrupt. We are not born hating; we get taught to hate. We are all somewhere on this spectrum from neutral to love to hate. Permit me to give a simple example and allow you to think about others in your own time.



The cost of inviting one person to a wedding including reception and dinner can easily soar to between £50-£90 plus. To those of more modest standards, or those sensible enough who do not wish to plunge themselves into debt (to maintain an imaginary social status) the cost can rapidly get out of control. One method to avoid the spiralling costs, might be to be more careful with who is invited. At times this can even mean inviting a wife without her husband or vice versa.



If one part of a couple has no connection to the simcha then the other half should not be invited. If this is repeated 10 times, a whopping saving of at least £500 can be made. By now, some of you might be shaking at this social faux pas, so please keep reading. Often, the non-invitation is not understood as a financial or space issue but as a slight against the non-invited. No mercy is shown to the ba’alei simcha, lies are spread, purporting to know why or to create an excuse. Their good names are dragged through the sludge of lashon hara. Feelings of kinship replaced by anger and hatred.



This is how pogroms begin. These behaviour patterns can result in bloodshed and violence. So, dear readers, on this 20th of Sivan, take a moment to reflect on negative actions and thoughts that if left unchecked could get out of hand. If we are to pride ourselves as being gomlei chassadim and Hashem’s special people, we must uproot all negativity from ourselves. Let us daven that we merit to see only the good in others, until that awesome and glorious day when our eyes will behold the Melech Ha’Moshiach who will usher in a time of peace for all.





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