So it’s the Fast of Gedaliah, right? And we’re just supposed to care about some bureaucrat from a million years ago that no one would have heard of if he hadn’t been killed? And not only do we have to care about him, but we have to fast in memory of his death?
Why should we? Why don’t we fast for someone who matters? Where’s the Fast of RBG? The Fast of Sandy Koufax? The Fast of Tupac? Yeah, I know he wasn’t Jewish, but come on, he deserves it.
So some dude was murdered by another Jew during the Babylonian rule of Israel. So what? My grandma’s neighbor’s dog was found dead on the side of the road a few years back and knowing that neighbor, it probably wasn’t an accident, but you don’t see me observing the Fast of Babka The German Shepherd.
If Gedaliah, who served in a government that’s been gone for 2500 years, was important enough to have a fast named after him, maybe we should have a fast for other dead Jewish governors. Like Arthur Seligman, New Mexico’s first Jewish governor, who died in 1933. Or maybe one for Marvin Mandel, Maryland’s only Jewish governor, who was convicted of mail fraud and racketeering and died in 2015.
All I’m saying is, who was this Gedaliah and can’t I please just have a snack?
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