Shalom,
On Thursday we are going to commemorate a fast day called 10th of Tevet. I personally have a special connection to that day since it is my Hebrew birthday. For the rest of us, not that much is generally known about this fast day, unlike Yom Kippur or the 9th of Av.
The 10th of Tevet is one of the four fast days that our sages instituted following the destruction of the first Temple. We commemorate four different things on that day: First, on that day Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylonia began the siege of Jerusalem. This siege continued for 18 months, after which the Babylonian soldiers were able to enter the city on the 17th of Tammuz, and the climax of the war occurred on the 9th of Av when the Temple was destroyed. During this time, conditions inside the city started to slowly though constantly deteriorate. The description can be found in the book of Lamentations and the book of Kings 2 (25; 1-3) : "And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about. So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. On the ninth day of the [fourth] month the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land."
The beginning of the siege represents the beginning of the end of the war and the exile and dispersion to come. There had been other sieges in the history of the Jewish people that are not similarly commemorated. The fact that our sages chose to specifically highlight this one, is seen as a hint of great importance. Our sages say that the option of repentance was available to avoid the ultimate destruction, but that unfortunately did not occur. The prophets led by Jeremiah gave warnings but nobody listened. Ezekiel the prophet, who was in Babylonia, was told by G-d. "And the word of the LORD came unto me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, saying: 'Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this selfsame day; this self same day the king of Babylon hath invested Jerusalem." (Ezekiel 24; 1-2)
The people of Jerusalem were certain that nothing bad would happen to them. They were sympathetic to the words of Jeremiah: "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Trust ye not in lying words, saying: 'The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, are these.' Nay, but if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor; if ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt;" (Jeremiah 7; 3-6)
Instituting that time as a fast day, illustrates the beginning of the process, the point where things could have had a different outcome if only...It is a very difficult thing to identify the very beginning of the process, before it is too late, while things can still be fixed.
The 10th of Tevet starts at sunrise and ends at sundown and since it is always during the winter, it is the shortest fast day of the year.
The idea behind refraining from eating and drinking, in addition to the physical difficulty, has to do with the fact that a substantial part of our daily lives revolves around food. By severing that connection, even if only for a day, creates a feeling that the day is different, and inspires us to self examination and reflection.
This year the 10th of Tevet brings us back to the days of the siege of Jerusalem but also give us a new perspective on the other "sieges" in our lives. We are only going to benefit spiritually, if the 10th of Tevet serves as a break from our daily routine, and makes us consider ways to improve the world in which we live.
Later on, our sages added two other events to commemorate on the 10th of Tevet, although they actually occurred on the 8th and the 9th of the month. It is not doable to have three consecutive days of fasting, so all these events are commemorated on the 10th. The first is the death of Ezra the scribe, the leader who brought the Jews back after an exile of 70 years in Babylonia, restored the kingship of Judah and enabled them to begin to build the second Temple. Ezra died on the 9th of Tevet. The Talmud tells us about Ezra's importance: it praises him as a giant by comparing Ezra to Moses. The Talmud tells us that if the Torah would have not been already given to Moses it would have been given to Israel through Ezra. Ezra was the one to renew the covenant between G-d and the Jewish people; he stopped the practice of intermarriage, strengthened the observance of Shabbat and built learning centers and promoted intellectual discussion to increase and spread Torah study.
Another event took place on the 8th of Tevet, and is one of the most fascinating events in the history of our people. The Talmud in the tractate of Magilah tells that on the 8th of Tevet, Talmai, King of Egypt translated the Torah into Greek, and because of that darkness came to the world for three days. In the tractate of Sofrim, this day is compared to the day when the sin of the Golden Calf took place. According to the Talmud and the Shulchan Aruch, Talmai the King did not understand Hebrew and in order to be able to read the Torah he forced 70 scholars to do so for him. He knew that no Jew would agree to translate the Torah and therefore he took 70 sages and separated them telling them that anyone whose translation is not accurate would die. Then a miracle occurred and all 70 produced the same exact translation.
In spite of the miracle this day is considered to be a sad one and the question is why?
Our sages teach that translating the Torah is, by itself, a problematic act since there is always something that gets lost in translation. A second reason has to do with the fact that the choice of words in the Torah is deliberate. Any translation can create several possibilities for misinterpretation and misunderstanding of the text.
Our sages also realized that by having a translated version, many will move further away from the language that is so essential for understanding the Torah. People will get "lazy" and not learn Hebrew.
In addition, Tirgum Hashiv'im (the translation of the 70) helped create, among many Jews, a synthesis between the Jewish and the Greek cultures, a synthesis that eventually encouraged intermarriage and the adoption of the Hellenism amongst so many Jews.
Many years later the Chief Rabbinate of Israel ruled that the 10th of Tevet will be the Memorial Day for all victims who perished during the Holocaust whose actual day of death is unknown. On that day the mourners say Kaddish and observe all Yahrtzeit customs. I will never forget the feeling I had as a child watching 90% of our community in shul saying Kaddish at Mincha of 10th of Tevet. That shul was built by Holocaust survivors and almost everyone lost someone back then in Europe. It is sad that now only very few are left to say Kaddish on that day.
The Rabbinate established that day in addition to Yom Hashoa (Holocaust Remembrance Day) commemorated on the 27th of Nisan in order to give it a religious meaning. There is connection between the beginning of the destruction of the Temple and the destruction of the Holocaust. One could say that the process started 18 months before the destruction of the first Temple, and ended with the Holocaust from which we are still trying to recover.
A few years ago the former Minister Natan Sharansky initiated a special day at the Knesset dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism. On the day chosen, January 27th, the government holds a special session dedicated to combating anti-Semitism. Many different events take place in the Knesset, schools, the army etc. There is no doubt that this is an important initiative; nevertheless, I feel we have missed an opportunity to tie the sad historic events of 10th of Tevet with the fight against the most persistent social phenomenon called anti-Semitism especially when these two days occur in such proximity.
After decades of negligence, on the 10th of Tevet 1970 the municipality of Jerusalem completed the renovations of the walls of the Old City. After the War in 1967, the other parts of the Old City were rebuilt. At the main entrance to the Old City on, to the left of the Jaffa Gate, there is a plaque saying: "On the 10th of Tevet 1970, the renovation of the city walls was completed. The repair of the walls of Jerusalem went forward"
Whoever wrote these lines wanted to tie the old and the new; to connect the reunification of the city and the establishment of Israel, as a "Tikun" (repair) of the process that started on the 10th of Tevet so many years before. The last sentence is taken from the Book of Nehemiah (4;1) and the builders of the walls saw themselves as the followers of Nehemiah, who together with Ezra, among all their other contributions, fixed the walls of Jerusalem.
This is our hope, that this day would become a day of joy and celebrations.
Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem,
Cantor Arik Wollheim
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