21 Days of Bein HaMetzarim and 21 Days from Rosh Hashanah to Hoshanah Rabbah
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hananiah was chosen to take part in a debate with the Athenian sages—a secretive sect that was impossible to infiltrate. Victory in the debate with the Athenian sages would give Rabbi Yehoshua the opportunity to plead with the Emperor Hadrian to ease the fate of the Jewish people. By cleverly infiltrating the sages’ fortress, Rabbi Yehoshua put his life at risk.
Under threat of death, he was asked a question.
The Athenian sages showed him two chicken eggs and demanded that he answer: “Which one was laid by a white hen, and which by a black hen?”
In response, Rabbi Yehoshua took two rounds of goat cheese from his bag and said that he would answer the question after the sages determined which cheese had been made from the milk of a white goat and which from the milk of a black goat.
One might ask: Why does the Talmud tell us about this debate? What difference is there between white and black goats and hens?
The great Maharsha explains the deeper meaning of this debate.
An egg takes exactly 21 days to develop inside a hen. The same number of days pass from the 17th of Tammuz to the 9th of Av. The Athenian sages said to Rabbi Yehoshua: “The Creator abandoned His chosen people on the 17th of Tammuz. When Moshe saw the Golden Calf, he broke the Tablets of the Covenant, and the covenant between the Jewish people and G-d came to an end. The white hen turned black. From now on, these three weeks will forever symbolize suffering and misfortune for the Jews. It is no coincidence that both Temples were destroyed on the 9th of Av, and that many tragedies occurred on this day throughout the centuries.”
But the wise Rabbi Yehoshua replied: On Yom Kippur—the day of atonement for the Jewish people—two goats were brought before the Kohen Gadol. One was offered as a sin offering, while the other was thrown off a cliff as an offering to Azazel. Yet even this “black goat” had a ribbon tied to its horns which, before the eyes of the entire nation, changed from blood red to white—a sign that the Jewish people had been forgiven. This means that the black hen is destined to become white.
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hananiah teaches that there are 21 days not only between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av—the “dark” days in Jewish history, but also 21 days between Rosh Hashanah and Hoshanah Rabbah—the “bright” days for the Jewish people, a time of spiritual purification, forgiveness, and atonement for sins.
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hananiah teaches us that the period from the 17th of Tammuz to the 9th of Av will soon become a great Chol HaMoed, the period between two festivals. The 9th of Av is not only a day of tragedy, but also the day of the birth and revelation of Mashiach in our world.
May Mashiach come speedily, and may we celebrate the restoration of the Third, eternal Temple in Jerusalem.
(Based on a lesson by Marina Fain)
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