Ta'anit Estherתַּעֲנִית אֶסְתֵּר

The Fast of Esther (Ta’anit Ester, Hebrew: תַּעֲנִית אֶסְתֵּר) is a Jewish fast from dawn until dusk on Purim eve, commemorating the three-day fast observed by the Jewish people in the story of Purim. If the date of the Fast of Esther falls on Shabbat (Saturday), the fast is instead observed on the preceding Thursday. Like other minor fasts, Ta’anit Esther begins at dawn (first light) and ends at nightfall (full dark). Ta'anit Esther carries a theme of repentance and reliance on God rather than human strength. It recalls not only Queen Esther's call for the people to fast before she risked her life to approach King Ahasuerus (Esther 4:16), but also, in the more historically grounded explanation, the communal fast the Jews held on the 13th of Adar itself, the day they assembled to defend themselves against Haman's decree. Fasting before battle was an ancient way of arousing divine mercy and affirming that deliverance comes through prayer and teshuvah. Unlike the major fasts, this observance is a custom (minhag) first attested in the Geonic period rather than a Talmudic or biblical fast, which is why it is treated more leniently and why the ill, pregnant, and nursing are readily exempted.

Ta'anit Esther falls on the 13th of Adar, the day before Purim (14 Adar); in a Jewish leap year with two Adars, it is kept in Adar II. It is a daytime-only fast, running from dawn (alot hashachar, first light) to nightfall (tzeit hakochavim, full dark), and does not begin the previous evening as Yom Kippur and Tisha B'Av do. Because 13 Adar can never fall on a Friday, the one regular scheduling exception is when Purim (14 Adar) falls on Sunday: 13 Adar would then be Shabbat, when fasting is forbidden, so the fast is advanced to the preceding Thursday (11 Adar). The fast rules themselves are uniform across Israel and the Diaspora; only the surrounding Purim/Shushan Purim timing differs by locale. In most years the fast concludes after the evening Megillah reading on Purim night.

The Torah reading is the "Vayechal" passage shared by all public fast days, Exodus 32:11-14 and 34:1-10 (three aliyot, fourteen verses), recounting Moses's intercession after the Golden Calf, God's forgiveness, and the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy. It is read at both Shacharit (morning) and Minchah (afternoon). Only at Minchah is a Haftarah added: Isaiah 55:6-56:8 ("Dirshu Hashem b'himatzo"), the standard fast-day afternoon reading and a call to repentance. There is no Megillah reading during the fast itself; the Megillat Esther reading begins that evening once Purim arrives. Both the Torah portion and the Haftarah are chanted in ordinary, everyday Torah and Haftarah trope; there is no distinct mournful melody for minor fasts comparable to the Eicha trope of Tisha B'Av or the High Holiday trope. The one widely followed Ashkenazi custom is that the congregation recites several verses of the Vayechal aloud first (commonly the Thirteen Attributes, "Hashem Hashem...") and the reader then repeats them, often to the High Holiday melody.

Worshippers add Selichot (penitential prayers), the longer Avinu Malkeinu, and Tachanun, and those who are fasting insert the Aneinu prayer into the Amidah. A widespread custom is Machatzit HaShekel ("the half-shekel"): before Minchah, three coins of local currency in a "half" denomination are given to charity, recalling the half-shekel each Israelite once contributed to the Temple. The day flows directly into Purim, with the fast ending and the festive evening Megillah reading beginning at nightfall. Pregnant women, nursing mothers, and those who are ill are exempt from fasting.