It once happened, that some elders went from Jerusalem, each to his own place, and they decreed a fast, because a corn-blast, of a size to cover therewith the mouth of an oven, had been seen near Ashkelon. They also decreed a fast on account of two children having been devoured by wolves on the other side of the Jordan. Rabbi Yose says, "it was not because the wolves actually devoured [children], but because they had appeared [in the towns prowling for food]."
Bartenura on Mishnah Taanit
לעריהן – to the Land of Israel
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English Explanation of Mishnah Taanit
Introduction
This mishnah gives two concrete cases in which sages decreed fasts.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Taanit
כמלוא פי תנור – that was struck by blast (i.e., emptied of grain) of so much grain that it would been capable to make of it bread to fill [the mouth of] the oven.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Taanit
It once happened that elders went down from Jerusalem to their own cities and ordered a fast because there was seen in Ashkelon a shidafon which affected as much grain as would fill an oven [with loaves]. A shidafon is a drying up of the crops, an event referred to in the previous mishnah. This story teaches that the amount of shidafon-effected crops necessary to justify decreeing a fast is enough grain to bake sufficient loaves to fill an oven. While I do not know exactly how much grain this is, it does not seem to be a particularly large amount.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Taanit
באשקלון – in the land of the Philistines
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English Explanation of Mishnah Taanit
They also decreed a fast because wolves devoured two children on the other side of the Jordan. Rabbi Yose says: not because they devoured [the children] but [merely] because they were seen. This is another case addressed by yesterday’s mishnah a plague of wild beasts. There is a debate about whether the wolves were merely seen or whether they actually devoured two children.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Taanit
ועל שאכלו זאבים – which is an wild beast which continually does damage
