20th of Sivan - Old Custom

QUESTION: Tomorrow is the 20th of Sivan. There was an old custom to fast and recite selichos on this day. What is the reason for this?

ANSWER: There are two main tragedies that took place on this day. In the year 1171, there was a blood libel in Blois, France. A local Christian servant claimed he saw a Jew throw the corpse of a child into the Loire River. Though no child was reported missing and there were no other witnesses, 31 Jews, including Jewish leaders, two Baalei Ha’Tosfos, 17 women and children were arrested by the count of Blois with the support and influence of a local Augustine bishop. The hostages were given the choice to be baptized or burned at the stake. They all chose to sacrifice their lives Al Kiddush Hashem, and on the 20th day of Sivan they were tied up and burned alive. As the fires burned, these holy Jews recited the words of Aleinu leshabayach la’adon hakol, “It is incumbent upon us to praise the Lord of all." Although this was not the first blood libel, it was the first public massacre instigated by a blood libel that was supported by the local government. This event is said to have been a harbinger for other similar tragedies, and ultimately may have led to the expulsion of the Jews from France ten years later. The great Torah sage, Rabbeinu Tam, together with other Baalei Tosofos, declared this day as a time of fasting and repentance. Special selichos were recited on this fast day. One of the selichos, which begins with the words, Emunei Shelomei Yisroel, was written to commemorate this tragedy, and it describe the gruesome details of this massacre. 

Also, on this day in 1648, at the beginning of the Cossack rebellion, thousands of Jews of Nemirov, Ukraine, were murdered by the evil Chmielnitzky and his hordes. This was the beginning of the horrific pogroms known as the the gezairos of Tach viTat, during which tens of thousands of Jews were slaughtered and numerous Jewish communities were decimated and destroyed. 

Shaarei Teshuva (580:9) writes that because of the terrible tragedies that occurred on this day, the Vaad Arba Aratzos (a Jewish legislative body in the 16th-18th centuries) instituted this day as a day of fasting and Selichos. However, it is clear from the Magen Avrohom (493:6) that this ruling was binding only for those who lived in Poland. Other communities never observed this custom. Mishnah Berurah (566:10) writes that already in his days the fast was not widely observed, and only select individuals would fast. Some have the custom not to make weddings on this day (see Piskei Teshuvos 580:1). (In tomorrow’s halacha we will discuss why this fast is no longer observed). 

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