Individuals also fasted for a range of personal reasons during that period.20 Two common motivations that led people to fast were the hope of neutralizing an omen envisioned in a threatening dream (ta’anit halom)21 and the desire to honor a parent’s memory on the anniversary of his or her death.22 Some Jews fasted at critical times in the calendar cycle: specifically during Elul and Adar, the months that precede the High Holidays and Passover, respectively.23 Further substantiation that fasting had become widespread appears in Megillat Ta’anit, which lists the days when fasting was not permitted.24 Such instructions would not have been necessary if fasting were not practiced extensively.
Numerous talmudic discussions consider the reasons for fasting and its efficacy, as Eliezer Diamond discusses at length in his study of ascetic fasting in the Talmud.25 In his presentation of the dilemmas associated with frequent fasting, Diamond demonstrates that some rabbis cast this practice in a positive light, as exemplified in a passage in Tractate Berakhot that records personal prayers that certain rabbis would add to their recitation of communal liturgy. On fast days, Sheshet was reputed to include these words:
Sovereign of the Universe, You know full well that when the Temple was standing, when a man sinned, he would bring a sacrifice and even though only its fat and blood was given as an offering, atonement was granted to him. Now, having fasted, my own fat and blood are reduced. May it be Your will to reckon the diminishment of my fat and blood as if I had offered them on the altar before You, so You will favor me.26
The power of fasting is also emphasized by the third-century amora Eleazar b. Pedat: “Fasting is more efficacious than charity … for the former is performed with a man’s money, but the latter with his body.”27 However, Eleazar is quick to clarify that prayer is the preferred way to reach God.
Amram Tropper has suggested that some Jews, particularly in the intellectual strata of society, adopted fasting as a form of self-discipline during the Second Temple period as one aspect of their embrace of Hellenic ideals and ideas.28 Diamond also describes holy men in the talmudic period who fasted in an effort to fortify their reputation for piety.29 While men are depicted in the majority of antique Jewish sources that mention individual fasts, this should not be taken to imply that women did not fast. Rather, this rhetorical pattern suggests that in a society where men represented the norm, women were aggregated into the general community so did not merit special mention.
The talmudic descriptions of women fasting can be divided into two categories. Most focus on mandatory communal fasts, such as Yom Kippur, discussing whether pregnant and nursing women are required to participate and clarifying their responsibilities.30 In the remaining texts, women who fast are featured in anecdotal passages. This vignette from the Palestinian Talmud, which appears in numerous medieval texts, is a fair exemplar:31 “Once a righteous man traveled to the netherworld, where he saw a woman named Miriam hanging by her ear from the hinge of hell’s door32 because ‘she fasted and announced her fast publicly.’”33
This passage raises questions regarding the appropriate behaviors involved in fasting. According to the instructions outlined in the Talmud, abstaining from food was but one aspect of this practice. Fasting required intention and forethought.34 In preparation, it was necessary to articulate one’s commitment to taking on a fast during the afternoon prayer service that preceded the fast (which began, with the Jewish calendar day, at sunset).35 That declaration seems to have been made silently, therefore privately, during communal prayers. Personal fasting was also accompanied by symbolic actions (e.g., wearing sackcloth) that were visible to the community.36 Thus late antique sources indicate that even individual fasts incorporated public rituals, since abstaining from food was signaled by mode of dress, not only by absence from communal meals.37
Scholarly discussions of biblical and late antique sources are characterized by debates on whether ideas of repentance and atonement are found in pre-medieval texts and by investigations of the social identity of Jews who fasted frequently. As we have seen, the Bible mentions self-denial (inui nefesh) and atonement.38 While these texts affirm the early roots of these practices, they also invite questions: How was atonement defined in late antiquity? Had fasting been conceptualized as a form of repentance yet? Over thirty years ago, Moshe Beer published a short article that engages with that second query. Having examined evidence from a range of pseudo-epigraphic sources (from the final centuries BCE to the early centuries CE) on penitential practices of that time, Beer observes that these texts address remorse (haratah) rather than teshuvah per se. According to his analysis, prayer, charity, and extreme fasting were practiced by members of the general population but not by the elite, for when hints of these practices make their way into talmudic discussions, they are ridiculed or dismissed as often as not. Since his article first appeared, Beer’s major conclusions have been supported by further research.39
Let us return to Miriam who publicized her fasts, according to the Palestinian Talmud. Why was she criticized? We see that the talmudic discussant also wondered about this, for he provides further details: first informing us that she described her fast inaccurately, then explaining the implications of her misdeed. By exaggerating her actions, she gave the impression of being more pious than she actually was.40 Thus, this Miriam was criticized for overstating her observance, not for fasting.
Other tales of fasting in the Talmud demonstrate that the practice and significance of intensive fasting occupied rabbinic scholars in late antiquity, without arriving at univocal conclusions. Some saw excessive fasting as harmful and undesirable, whereas others declared its practitioners as “holy.”41 A consistent division in perspective emerges between sages in Babylon and Palestine: the Babylonians rabbis seem to have discouraged fasting, at least indirectly, in that many public fasts were not observed in their communities, whereas their Palestinian peers appear to have promoted and praised fasting.42 These contrasting attitudes surface most notably in discussions of fasting on the Sabbath and holidays, especially fasting on Rosh haShanah, a custom that was rejected in Babylon but practiced quite widely in Palestine.43 Despite the differences between these two centers, it can be concluded that many Jews in late antiquity fasted regularly and that this practice was generally interpreted as a sign of devotion and piety.
Christian Fasting in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages
Fasting was also a central practice in late antique Christianity, having developed from the foundations it shared with Judaism. Theresa Shaw has detailed fasting practices in late antiquity by emphasizing the connection between fasting and asceticism,44 with special attention to the link between fasting and virginity. In her textual analysis, Shaw presents individuals who sought to achieve the highest level of holiness possible and, as part of that pursuit, retreated from the everyday practices of most Christians and from urban society.45
Fasting was neither exclusive to individuals who adopted ascetic practices, nor was it necessarily taken to extreme forms of observance. For many Christians weekly fasting was part of their religious routine, reflecting the long-held belief that fasting was pleasing to God. Fasting was one of a trio of deeds that included prayer and charity that Church fathers saw as central to all religious practice. Indeed, late antique texts commonly assert that prayer is strengthened when accompanied by fasting and giving alms.46 One of these practices was at times substituted for the other.
In medieval Europe, the role of fasting in Christianity gained significant meaning as a symbol of religious status. Caroline Bynum and André Vauchez each demonstrate the centrality of fasting for the most pious Christians, as exemplified by daily life in various religious orders.47 Bynum’s study of the fasts undertaken by radical ascetics in the High Middle Ages brought scholarly attention to gender as a distinguishing factor in fasting norms