RAV KOOK ON Breishit Part 2: Cherishing Troubles

One of the more peculiar Talmudic statements concerns a document composed over two millennia ago entitled Megillat Ta’anit. This ‘Scroll of Fasting’ lists 35 days in the year when one may not fast due to a joyful event that took place on that day. The majority of these minor holidays commemorate the rescinding of some evil decree against the Jewish people. The most well-known is the holiday of Purim, when the Jews of Persia were saved from Haman’s plot to destroy them. “Our Rabbis taught: Who wrote Megillat Ta’anit?