גדליהו בן אחיקם

After the First Temple was burned and most of the people exiled to Babylon, a meager remnant was left in the Land, and God gave them one more chance. One man, Gedaliah ben Achikam, tried to rebuild, and was murdered by a fellow Jew. For that day, the 3rd of Tishrei, we fast to this day, for the death of a single righteous man is weighed like the burning of the Temple.

Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah governor over the poor who remained in the Land. Gedaliah gathered the scattered, calmed them, and spoke words of hope: 'dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you' (Jeremiah 40:9). Sow, gather, build a home again. In the darkness after the destruction, he kindled a small candle of a new beginning.

And here lies the tragedy. Gedaliah was warned that Yishmael ben Netanyah plotted to kill him, and he refused to believe evil of a fellow Jew, and even forbade Yochanan ben Kareach from striking first (Jeremiah 40:13-16). Yishmael came, ate at his table, and murdered him along with the Jews and Babylonians who were with him. The last ember of settlement was extinguished, and the remnant fled to Egypt out of fear.

What do we learn from him? That the Fast of Gedaliah is not only mourning for a leader, but an alarm over what hatred among brothers and murder between Jews do to a people. Even Gedaliah's own innocence, his great trust in his fellow, became a trap, teaching that there is a naivety whose price is heavy. The Sages set a fast for the death of the righteous alongside the destruction, so that we remember: when a Jew kills a Jew, a second Temple is destroyed in miniature.