This week on Friday Erev Shabbos, the calendar brings us to the 20th of Sivan on Erev Shabbos. While it is no longer widely observed as a ta’anit tzibbur in our day, for centuries it occupied a significant place in the halachic calendar of Ashkenazi Jewry as a day designated for fasting, Tachnun, and Slichos.

The original takanah was established by Rabbeinu Tam following the Blood Libel of Blois, France, in the year 4931 (1171). Thirty-one Jewish men, women, and children were condemned al kiddush Hashem and burned at the stake on the basis of a completely fabricated accusation.

A contemporary Jewish chronicler records a remarkable detail. As the flames rose around them, the kedoshim did not cry out in despair. Instead, they began singing. Their voices grew stronger and stronger until they were heard proclaiming the words of Aleinu Leshabeach, affirming the sovereignty of Hashem even in their final moments.

Nearly five hundred years later, the Vaad Arba Aratzos formally re-established the 20th of Sivan as a permanent day of fasting and Slichos throughout Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine to commemorate the devastating Gzeiros Tach V’Tat of 1648–1649. Tens of thousands of Jews were murdered, countless others suffered indescribable cruelty, and hundreds of kehillos were destroyed.

The 20th of Sivan thus became a lasting reminder of the heavy price paid throughout the generations for Jewish survival and fidelity to Torah. When we speak about the calamities of Tach V’Tat, we are not discussing distant statistics. We are speaking about the lives of the greatest Torah leaders of that generation.

The foremost halachic authority of the era, Rabbi Shabtai HaKohen, the Shach, whose commentary on the Shulchan Aruch is studied in every beit midrash today, lived through the upheaval and devastation of those terrible years. The violence uprooted entire communities and forced countless families, including leading Torah scholars, to flee from place to place in search of safety.

The Shach himself composed a historical chronicle and kinah for the 20th of Sivan entitled Megillat Eivah, describing........

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