These are the days on which it is not lawful to fast, and during some of them mourning must also be intermitted.
I. Nisan.
1. From the 1st day of the month Nisan, and to the 8th of it, it was settled about the daily sacrifice (that it should be paid out of the Temple-treasury) - mourning is prohibited.
2. And from the 8th to the end of the Feast (the 27th) the Feast of Weeks was re-established - mourning is interdicted.
II. Iyar.
1. On the 7th Iyar the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem - mourning is prohibited.
2. On the 14th is the day of the little (the second) Passover - mourning is prohibited.
3. On the 23rd the sons of Acra [6415] issued from Jerusalem.
4. On the 27th the imposts were removed from Judæa and Jerusalem.
III. Sivan.
1. On the 17th Sivan the tower of Zur was taken.
2. On the15th and 16th men of Bethshean and of the plain were exiled.
3. On the 25th the tax-gatherers were withdrawn from Judah and Jerusalem.
IV. Tammuz.
1. On the 14th Tammuz the Book of Decisions (aggravating ordinances') was abrogated - mourning is prohibited.
V. Abh.
1. On the 15th Abh the season of wood-offerings (for the Temple use) of priests (comp. Jos. War ii. 17. 6) - mourning is prohibited.
2. On the 24th we returned to our Law.
VI. Elul.
1. On the 7th of Elul the day of the Dedication of Jerusalem - mourning prohibited.
2. On the 17th the Romans withdrew from Judæa and Jerusalem.
3. On the 22nd we returned to kill the apostates.
VII. Tisri.
1. ON the 3rd Tishri the mention of the Divine Name was removed from public deeds.
VIII. Marcheshvan.
1. On the 23rd Marcheshvan the Sorigah (a partition-wall in the Temple, supposed to have been erected by the heathen, comp. 1 Macc. iv. 43-46) was removed from the Temple-court.
2. On the 25th the wall of Samaria was taken.
3. On the 27th the meat offering was again brought on the altar.
IX. Kislev.
1. On the 3rd the Simavatha (another heathen structure) was removed from the court or the Temple,
2. On the 7th is a feast day.
3. On the 21st is the day of Mount Garizim - mourning is prohibited.
4. On the 25th the eight days of the Feast of Lights (Chanukah) begin - mourning is prohibited.
X. Tebheth.
1. On the 28th the congregation was re-established according to the Law. (This seems to refer to the restoration of the Sanhedrin after the Sadducean members were removed, under the rule of Queen Salome. See the historical notes in Appendix IV.)
XI. Shebhat.
1. On the 2nd a feast day [6416] - mourning is prohibited.
2. On the 22nd the work, of which the enemy said that it was to be in the Temple, was destroyed - mourning is interdicted. (This seems to refer to the time of Caligula, when, on the resistance of the Jews, the statute of the Emperor was at last not allowed to be in the Temple.)
3. On the 28th King Antiochus was removed from Jerusalem (supposed to refer to the day of the death of Antiochus, son of Antiochus Epiphanes, in his expedition against the Parthians).
XII. Adar.
1. On the 8th and the 9th, days of joy on account of rain-fall.
2. On the 12th is the day of Trajan.
3. On the 13th is the day of Nicanor (his defeat).
4. On the 14th and on the 15th are the days of Purim (Feast of Esther) - mourning is prohibited.
5. On the 16th was begun the building the wall of Jerusalem - mourning is prohibited.
6. On the 17th rose the heathens against the remnant of the Scribes in the country of Chalcis and of the Zabedaeans, and Israel was delivered.
7. On the 20th the people fasted for rain, and it was granted to them.