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For this reason no supplications are offered on any of the days of Nisan and there is no fasting until Nisan has passed. The only exception is [the fast of] the firstborn (Ta’anit Bekhorot) who fast on the eve of Passover.

-Tractate Soferim 21.3
Fast | Galilee | Last Supper
  • The sages say: in Judea they would work on the eve of Passover until noon, whereas in the Galilee they did not work at all.
  • Your dead will live; their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, for your dew is as the dew of the dawn, and the land will give birth to the departed spirits. Come, my people, enter into your rooms [khedar, or wedding chamber], and close your doors behind you; hide for a little while until indignation runs its course. For behold, the LORD is about to come out from His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; and the earth will reveal her bloodshed, and will no longer cover her slain.
  • God said to Moses: ‘Command the children of Israel and say to them, My appointed times (moed) shall you keep as My covenant forever.’ (Leviticus 23:2) This is to teach you that the calendar and its festivals are set by the divine order and should not be tampered with. Do not look into or follow the calculations of those who stray from this path, for their times are not aligned with the divine will. Just as I have sanctified the Sabbath, so have I sanctified the months and the festivals for you.
  • The Messianic era will last for 1,000 years. This corresponds to the verse, ‘For a thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has just gone by’ (Psalms 90:4).
  • The year 6,000 is the end of the current world, and the beginning of the World to Come. Until then, the footsteps of the Messiah will grow louder.
  • And in saying that ‘three horns’ (Daniel 7:8) were ‘plucked up by the roots’ by this one, he indicates the three kings of Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia, whom this one will slay in the array of war