Today is the Fast of Gedaliah – Who was Gedaliah?

Who was “Gedaliah ben Achikam”

רש״י זכריה ז׳:ה׳ (מקראות גדולות)

and in the seventh [month] That is the fast of Gedaliah.

2. רש״י זכריה ח׳:י״ט (מקראות גדולות)

the fast of the seventh [month] The third of Tishri, when Gedaliah was assassinated. and the fast of the tenth [month] Of Teveth.

3. ביאור שטיינזלץ בבלי ראש השנה י״ט. (ש״ס גדול)

The Gemara raises yet another difficulty: The prohibition against fasting on the second of Tishrei, derive it from the fact that it is the day before the day that Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, was killed, and since in Temple times the fast of Gedaliah was celebrated as a festive day, fasting should also be prohibited on the...Rav Ashi said: The fast of Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, is derived from the texts of the tradition, i.e., Prophets and Writings, and as the texts of the tradition 

are treated like Torah statements for this purpose, they too do not need reinforcement.

4. ביאור שטיינזלץ בבלי נדרים י״ב. (ש״ס גדול)

... Like the day his teacher died, as one mourns his primary teacher like a father, or: Like the day Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, was killed (see Jeremiah, chapter 41), i.e., the Fast of Gedaliah, or: Like the day I saw Jerusalem in its state of destruction.

1. רש״י ירמיהו מ׳:ה׳ (מקראות גדולות)

The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, "And return to Gedaliah," who was appointed over the remaining poor people.

2. מיוחס לרש״י דברי הימים א ב׳:כ״ו (מקראות גדולות)

... his Egyptian slave, Jarha, was descended from him, and [the Chronicler] tells of their disgrace; that is to say, they were not deserving of the kingship, and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who assassinated Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, was descended from him

מפרשי המקרא (2 תוצאות ב־2 חיבורים)

3. ספרי דברים ו׳:ד׳ (ספרייה שלמה)

"the fast of the seventh" — the third of Tishrei, when Gedaliah ben Achikam was killed. And who killed him? Yishmael ben Netanyah — to teach that the death of the righteous is as grievous to the Holy One Blessed be He as the destruction of the Temple.

מדרשי הלכה (1 תוצאה ב־1 חיבור)

4. ביאור שטיינזלץ בבלי ראש השנה י״ח: (ש״ס גדול)

“The fast of the seventh,” this is the third of Tishrei, on which Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, was killed. And who killed him

Ishmael, son

מפרשי הש״ס (1 תוצאה ב־1 חיבור)

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The beginning of the fast took place in Jerusalem at 04:55, dawn, and it ends (in Jerusalem) at 7:10 pm.

The Fast of Gedaliah is one of the four fasts that apply to the destruction of the Temple, in addition to the fasts on the tenth of Tevet, the seventeenth of Tammuz, all dawn to dusk fasts, and the 9th of Av which begins the previous night.

The Fast of Gedaliah symbolizes the end of hopes for restoring Jewish life in Israel after the First Temple’s destruction.

Under the wise guidance of Gedaliah, a Jew appointed by the Babylonians as governor of the kingdom of Judah, those Jews that had remained after the Babylonian exile began to rebuild physical and spiritual life in the land of Israel. Likewise, Jews who had fled to neighboring lands began to return to the land, hearing of the revival being spearheaded by Gedaliah.

However, hopes for revival in Israel were slashed when Gedaliah was assassinated by Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, a descendant of the royal house of Zedekiah, the last king of Judaa. Ishmael, jealous of Gedaliah's position, enlisted the help of the king of Ammon to carry out his nefarious plan, and Gedaliah, a pious man, disregarded the warnings of his follower Yohanan ben Kereah who had gotten wind of the plot.

This event led the Jewish community in Israel to flee to Egypt to escape the wrath of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, despite the prophet Jeremiah's advising them to stay, and most of these Jews ultimately perished during Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion of Egypt several years later.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/360425