Hilchot Ta'anit Esther vs. Other Minor Fasts part I

(1) There are days on which all Israel fasts because of the misfortunes that occurred on them in order to arouse the hearts to open to the ways of repentance and that this be a reminder of our evil deeds and the deeds of our ancestors that are like our deeds that caused these misfortunes for them and for us. In remembering these things we return to goodness, as it is written, "And you shall confess your transgressions and the transgressions of your ancestors...(Leviticus 27:40)"

(2) These days are the following:

The Third of Tishrei. This is the day on which Gedaliah ben Achikam was slain and the ember of Israel that remained was extinguished, causing their exile to become complete.

The Tenth of Tevet. This is the day Nebuchadnezzar, the wicked, the King of Babylon, camped against Jerusalem and placed the city under siege.

The Seventeenth of Tammuz. Five tragedies took place on this day:

a) The Tablets were broken;

b) In the First Temple, the offering of the daily sacrifices was nullified;

c) [The walls of] Jerusalem were breached in [the war leading to] the destruction of the Second Temple;

d) Apostmos, the wicked, burned a Torah scroll; and

e) He erected an idol in the Temple.

(3)On the Ninth of Av, five tragedies occurred:

It was decreed that the Jews in the desert would not enter Eretz Yisrael;

The First and the Second Temples were destroyed;

A large city named Betar was captured. Thousands and myriads of Jews inhabited it. They were ruled by a great king whom the entire Jewish people and the leading Sages considered to be the Messianic king. The city fell to the Romans and they were all slain, causing a national catastrophe equivalent to that of the Temple's destruction.

On that day designated for retribution, the wicked Tineius Rufus plowed the site of the Temple and its surroundings, thereby fulfilling the prophecy [Micah 3:12], "Zion will be plowed like a field."

(4)These four fasts are explicitly mentioned in the prophetic tradition [Zechariah 8:19]: "The fast of the fourth [month], the fast of the fifth [month]...." "The fast of the fourth [month]" refers to the Seventeenth of Tammuz,which is in the fourth month; "the fast of the fifth [month]," to Tish'ah B'Av, which is in the fifth month; "the fast of the seventh [month]," to the Third of Tishrei which is in the seventh month; "the fast of the tenth [month]," to the Tenth of Tevet, which is in the tenth month.

(5) And the entire Jewish people follow the custom of fasting at these times and on the Thirteenth of Adar, in commemoration of the fasts that [the people] took upon themselves in the time of Haman, as mentioned [in Esther 9:31]: "the matter of the fasts and the outcries."

If the Thirteenth of Adar falls on the Sabbath, the fast is pushed forward and held on Thursday, which is the eleventh of Adar. If, however, any of the [dates of] other fasts fall on the Sabbath, the fasts are postponed until after the Sabbath. If [the dates of] these fasts fall on Friday, we should fast on Friday.

On all these fasts, the trumpets are not sounded, nor is the Ne'ilah service recited. The passage Vay'chal is read from the Torah, however, in both the morning and the afternoon services.

On all these [fasts], with the exception of Tish'ah B'Av, we may eat and drink at night.

(7) In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.