Study Taanit folio 19A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
אותה העיר מתענה ומתרעת, וכל סביבותיה מתענות ולא מתריעות. רבי עקיבא אומר: מתריעות ולא מתענות. וכן עיר שיש בה דבר או מפולת — אותה העיר מתענה ומתרעת, וכל סביבותיה מתענות ולא מתריעות. רבי עקיבא אומר: מתריעות ולא מתענות.
In a case of this kind, that city fasts and cries out by blowing the shofar, and all of its surrounding areas join them in their fast, but they do not cry out. R' Akiva disagrees and says: They cry out but they do not fast. The Mishnah continues: And likewise, if a city is afflicted by pestilence or collapsing buildings, that city fasts and cries out, and all of its surrounding areas fast but they do not cry out. R' Akiva says: They cry out but they do not fast.
איזהו דבר? עיר המוציאה חמש מאות רגלי, ויצאו ממנה שלשה מתים בשלשה ימים זה אחר זה — הרי זה דבר, פחות מכאן — אין זה דבר.
The Mishnah inquires: What is considered a plague of pestilence? When is a series of deaths treated as a plague? The Mishnah answers: If a city that sends out 500 infantrymen, i.e., it has a population of 500 able-bodied men, and 3 dead are taken out of it on 3 consecutive days, this is a plague of pestilence, which requires fasting and crying out. If the death rate is lower than that, this is not pestilence.
על אלו מתריעין בכל מקום: על השדפון, ועל הירקון, ועל הארבה, ועל החסיל, ועל החיה רעה, ועל החרב — מתריעין עליה, מפני שהיא מכה מהלכת.
For the following calamities they cry out in every place: For blight; for mildew; for locusts; for caterpillars, a type of locust that comes in large swarms and descends upon a certain place; for dangerous animals that have entered a town; and for the sword, i.e., legions of an invading army. The reason that they cry out about these misfortunes in every place is because these are calamities that spread.
מעשה שירדו זקנים מירושלים לעריהם, וגזרו תענית על שנראה כמלא פי תנור שדפון באשקלון. ועוד גזרו תענית על שאכלו זאבים שני תינוקות בעבר הירדן. רבי יוסי אומר: לא על שאכלו, אלא על שנראו.
An incident occurred in which Elders descended from Jerusalem to their cities throughout Eretz Yisrael and decreed a fast throughout the land because there was seen in the city of Ashkelon a small amount of blight, enough to fill the mouth of an oven. This fast was observed throughout Eretz Yisrael, as blight spreads quickly. And furthermore, they decreed a fast because wolves had eaten two children in Transjordan. R' Yosei says: This fast was decreed not because they ate the children, but because these wolves were merely seen in an inhabited area.