The Fast of Gedaliah: A Lesson About Division, Brotherhood, and Teshuvah

The fast of Gedaliah is the day that we commemorate when one brother rose against another and killed him. Gedaliah ben Ahikam was the leader of the Jewish remnant left in the Land of Israel after the destruction of the First Temple, and he was murdered by Yishmael ben Netaniah.

It is not as though Gedaliah was governing a flourishing nation. He was leading only the small remnant of the people whom the enemy had left behind so that the land would not become completely desolate. Nor should we imagine that anyone today fully understands the disagreements, rivalries, or political agendas that stood between Yishmael and Gedaliah. What matters is what followed: a terrible internal conflict that once again left the Jewish people alone, wandering and exiled. A conflict between brothers.

The First Murder Between Brothers

These are also the days of the Ten Days of Repentance, and the Torah reminds us of another brother who killed his brother: Cain murdering Abel. It began with jealousy, competition, and an exchange of words that no one even remembers. Cain was then condemned to wander, without a stable place and without a land. That is what happens when brothers turn against one another.

Cain asks: “Is my sin too great to bear?” and Hashem reveals to him the possibility of repentance. These Ten Days of Repentance, including Shabbat Shuvah, carry a message to the hatred that can grow between brothers: “Surely, if you improve, you will be uplifted.”

Brotherhood Demands Improvement

Brotherhood requires us to improve the way we treat one another, between one sister and another, between one brother and another. No one said this was easy. Anyone who has ever felt that a father preferred a sibling’s offering to their own, anyone who has felt overlooked while another was accepted, understands just how difficult sibling relationships can sometimes be.

And now these Ten Days of Repentance are here, days that invite us to reconcile. We must stop fighting over God’s choice of one brother over another, and over choices in general. We cannot allow a letter on a ballot to become, God forbid, the mark of Cain.

If we improve, we can write the story differently. Then this good land will be able to carry all of us. We have no other land. And so we must come, each woman with her offering, each person with what they bring, and extend a hand to another sister, another brother, until peace becomes possible.