Scroll of fasting

Noam (2006: 348) notices that the Scroll of fasting focuses on the temporary Jewish victory over the Romans and presents it as a positive event. This suggests that the composition of the work is to be dated before the destruction of the second Temple, the immediate consequence of the Jewish revolt. The authorship of the Scroll is still debated: the appendix gives Eliezer ben Hananiah (first century A.D.), one of the leaders of the Jewish revolt, as author of the Scroll, but probably it is a literary expedient to stress the heroism of the anti-Roman party. The Tannaic literature ascribes the work to Eliezer's father, Hananiah ben Hezekiah, and his circle. The Hebrew commentary to the Scroll has two main redactions: Babylonian and Palestinian, preserved in Parma, Biblioteca Palatina, 2298 and Oxford, Bodleian Library, Michael 388, respectively. The Hebrew scholion was added to the Scroll after the conclusion of the Talmud.