ועכשיו שאין לנו קרבן להפיק רצון מה׳, התענית הוא במקום קרבן, כמו שכתוב בגמרא: שיהא מיעוט חלבי ודמי שנתמעט כאלו הקרבתי לפניך כו׳
Today, when we have no offerings to call forth G‑d’s pleasure, fasting replaces the offering. As the Talmud says, that the prayer of one who is fasting is:7 “May my loss of fat and blood brought about through fasting be regarded as though I had offered it to You [as a sacrifice on the altar].”
The purpose of fasting, then, is that one become acceptable to G‑d just as before the sin.
ולכן מצינו בכמה תנאים ואמוראים, שעל דבר קל היו מתענים תעניות הרבה מאד
This is why there are many cases of Talmudic Sages, who for some trivial fault undertook a great many fasts.
כמו רבי אלעזר בן עזריה, שהיה מתיר שתהא פרה יוצאה ברצועה שבין קרניה בשבת, וחכמים אוסרים, ופעם אחת יצאה כן פרתו של שכנתו, ולא מיחה בה, והושחרו שיניו מפני הצומות על שלא קיים דברי חביריו,
R. Elazar ben Azariah, for example, contended that a cow may go out wearing its strap between its horns on Shabbat, while his colleagues prohibited it. Once a neighbor’s cow went out with its strap and R. Elazar did not protest. Because he did not support his colleagues‘ view, he fasted so long that his teeth were blackened.8
וכן רבי יהושע, שאמר: בושני מדבריכם בית שמאי, והושחרו שיניו מפני הצומות
So, too, R. Joshua once remarked:9 “I am ashamed of your words, Beit Shammai.” His teeth, too, turned black through fasting.
ורב הונא, פעם אחת נתהפכה לו רצועה של תפילין, והתענה מ׳ צומות
Likewise Rav Huna, because his tefillin strap once turned over, undertook forty fasts.10
וכהנה רבות
Indeed, there are many such instances recorded about our Sages.
These fasts were not undertaken for the sake of repentance, nor as self-inflicted suffering in order to complete a process of atonement; these were not sins of the kind that required this. The sole purpose of these fasts was to restore the bonds of love between the former sinner and his Maker.
ועל יסוד זה
On this basis, that fasting substitutes for an offering, and as such has a place even when an individual does not need to undergo suffering in order to attain complete atonement,
לימד האריז״ל לתלמידיו על פי חכמת האמת מספר הצומות לכמה עונות וחטאים
the AriZal taught his disciples, according to the principles of the Kabbalah, the number of fasts to be undertaken for many transgressions,
אף שאין בהן כרת, ולא מיתה בידי שמים
even though they entail neither excision, nor death by divine agency — in which case suffering would be necessary.
כמו על הכעס, קנ״א תעניות וכו׳
Examples: for anger — 151 fasts;
ואפילו על איסור דרבנן, כמו סתם יינם, יתענה ע״ג תעניות וכו׳
even for transgressing a Rabbinic prohibition, such as drinking the wine of non-Jews — seventy-three fasts;
וכן על ביטול מצות עשה דרבנן, כמו תפלה, יתענה ס״א תעניות וכו׳
likewise for neglecting a positive Rabbinic enactment, such as prayer11 — sixty-one fasts.
ודרך כלל, סוד התענית היא סגולה נפלאה להתגלות רצון העליון ברוך הוא
As a general rule, the mystery of fasting is wondrously effective for the revelation of the Supreme Will,
כמו הקרבן, שנאמר בו: ריח ניחוח לה׳
similar to an offering, of which it is said,12 “An aroma pleasing to G‑d.”
וכמו שכתוב בישעיהו: הלזה תקרא צום ויום רצון לה׳
Thus in Isaiah13 we find, “Do you call this a fast and a day desirable to G‑d?!”
מכלל שהצום הנרצה הוא יום רצון
Obviously, an acceptable fast is a “desirable day.”.
Footnotes
1.Vayikra 1:3.
2.Loc. cit., v. 4.
3.7b.
4.Parentheses appear in the original.
5.Loc. cit., v. 4.
6.Vayikra 22:21.
7.Cf. Berachot 17a.
8.Yerushalmi, Beitzah 2:8.
9.Chagigah 22b.
10.Moed Katan 25a.
11.The Rebbe notes that we cannot adduce from here that the Alter Rebbe is of the opinion that the obligation of prayer is of Rabbinic origin. (This would be consonant with the statement in his Shulchan Aruch, Hilchot Tefillah, Section 106; it is also implied in the beginning of ch. 38 of Tanya [Vol. II in this series, p. 514], and in Likkutei Torah, Parshat Balak 70c. However, in the famous letter of the Alter Rebbe that appears in Beit Rebbe, Part I, p. 20a, he states outright that prayer is of Torah origin. In Mishnat Yoel this whole issue is debated and explained. In any event, no proof can be derived from the above text.) For according to all opinions the specific times for prayer are of Rabbinic origin; when one neglects this aspect of prayer, then the AriZal prescribes sixty-one fasts.
12.Vayikra 1:13.
13.58:5.
