by Rav Eliezer Melamed, yeshiva.co, translated and edited by Hillel Fendel
The Fast of the Tenth of Tevet (Asarah B'Tevet) is a unique one, in that even if it falls on Friday, Sabbath eve – as it does this year, this week – it still applies in full force. This is the only national fast that can be broken by the recitation of Kiddush on Friday night!
What is the fast about?
The Prophets and Sages instituted it after the destruction of the First Holy Temple, for on this date the Babylonian King Nevuchadnetzar and his armies began a siege upon the holy city. This event set off the process that ended with the destruction and the exile of both the Jewish People and the Divine Presence.The fast was canceled some 70 years later when the Jews returned and built the Second Temple – but when this sanctuary, too, was destroyed by the Romans hundreds of years later, in the year 68 CE, the fast was reinstated.
True, the Roman siege on Jerusalem began on a different date than the Tenth of Tevet – but this date was preserved as a fast day because the Sages viewed the destruction of the First Temple as even graver than that of the Second. The dwelling of the Divine Presence was on a higher level in the First Temple, and several miracles took place in the First Temple that did not occur in the Second. Perhaps most importantly, the Holy Ark of the Covenant, which the Torah commands us to place in the Holy of Holies, was not present in the Second Temple [as discussed in the Talmud, Tractate Yoma, Chapter 5 – ed.]. For these reasons, the fast over the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem is marked even today on the date it began in the First Temple period.
Two other important and ill-fated events are also marked on this day: the death of Ezra the Scribe on the 9th of Tevet, and the translation of the Torah into Greek on the 8th of Tevet. Let us elaborate on what these two events meant for the Jewish People.
The Sages said about Ezra that he was worthy of having given the Torah to Israel, "but Moshe Rabbeinu preceded him." This means that Ezra was second in greatness only to Moshe. Ezra began the Sages' Oral Law tradition by instituting ten new standing laws (takanot) (see Bava Kama 82a). One Talmudic opinion even states that Ezra, who returned to the Holy Land from Bablyonia so as to strengthen Torah among the returnees – was in fact none other than the Prophet Malachi. This means that on the one hand, he was the last of the Prophets and the end of the period of the Written Torah exclusively – while on the other hand he was also the first of the Sages of the Oral Torah.
In addition, like Moshe, Ezra took responsibility for the entire nation of Israel and bore the yoke of their leadership.
Centuries later, but well before the destruction of the Second Temple, the ruling Greeks issued a cruel decree: to translate the Torah into Greek. The Sages said that the day this happened was as harsh for Israel as the day they fashioned the Golden Calf. This is because the Torah belongs to Israel, and with its translation into a foreign tongue, its uniqueness became blurred, and it came to be regarded as something that anyone could use. This brought darkness over the world for three days, ending on the Tenth of Tevet.
Our late teacher and rabbi, HaRav Tzvi Yehuda HaCohen Kook, said that today, in honor of these three events, we must take positive steps to offset their negative effects. To commemorate Ezra, we must increase Torah study and teaching, as well as engage in facilitating the Ingathering of the Exiles. Regarding the translation into Greek, we must rejuvenate original Jewish culture and spirit, and uproot from it the "evil winds" that attached themselves to it over the centuries of the Exile and under the influence of the Gentiles.
And regarding the siege of Jerusalem – the main reason for the enactment of the Tenth of Tevet – Rav Tzvi Yehuda said that we must strengthen the "walls of Jerusalem" and build the Land both physically and spiritually. How can this be done?
Each and every one of us must protest against the government's weak-kneed approach towards developing our holy capital city. Many Jews wish to live in Yerushalayim, but there are simply not enough apartments for this to be affordable for most people. Jewish construction in both eastern and western Jerusalem is not happening fast enough! Roughly speaking, it has been said that 4,000 new housing units are needed each year, yet only half that amount is being built. If only all the construction plans in the city were to be unfrozen, thousands of additional apartments could be built each year, thus lowering prices and welcoming in Jews from all over the country and the world. Thus would truly be fulfilled the words of King David, "joy of the earth... city of the great King" (Psalms 48,3).
The government has long been criminally negligent in not fulfilling its sacred obligation to build up Jerusalem. We mention at every wedding the eternal oath: "If I forget thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten. May my tongue cleave to my palate if I don't remember you, if I don't place Jerusalem atop my joy" (Psalms 137,5-6).
Every single morning, the Prime Minister must wake up and think, "How can I advance construction in Jerusalem?" The Housing Minister should be phoning him twice a day for this purpose as well. But instead they are all engaged in other matters... If their great-grandfathers had known that their descendants would have a chance to build up Jerusalem, yet were not taking full advantage of the opportunity, how great would be the shame.
This day, then, the Tenth of Tevet, should be the perfect opportunity for all of us to protest the slow pace of construction in Yerushalayim. The Sages taught (Taanit 30b): "Whoever mourns for Jerusalem, merits to see its rejoicing, and whoever does not mourn for Jerusalem, does not see its joy, as is written: 'Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all that love her... and mourned for her' (Isaiah 66,10)" – indicating that those who did not mourn for her, will not merit to rejoice with her.
Whoever does not protest against the problem of Jerusalem construction today, cannot be considered one who mourns for her. One who sees the Prime Minister or other government official and does not protest aloud over this situation is ignoring the Prophet's exhortation: "For Zion I will not be silent, for Jerusalem I will not remain still" (Isaiah 62,1). And if we do not demand the building-up of Jerusalem, then why are we fasting?? Even in the Exile, it is required of us to remember the city and its unsatisfactory state of development.
A final point: The Chief Rabbinate of Israel instituted, some years ago, that the Fast of the Tenth of Tevet also be known as the Day of General Kaddish for all those Holocaust victims whose day of death remains a mystery.
It's true that the Knesset legislated that the 27th day of the month of Nissan be known officially as Holocaust Remembrance Day – but this law did not receive Rabbinic approval. This is because Nissan, the month in which we celebrate Passover and our original Redemption from Egypt, is one of joy and happiness. This is manifest in many laws, such as that we do not recite penitential prayers in Nissan, nor do we fast, nor do we eulogize. Thus, the Tenth of Tevet is the proper time to remember and say Kaddish for all those whose date of murder in the Holocaust is unknown.
[On a technical note, the fast begins on Friday at daybreak, when the sun is 17.5 degrees below the horizon, and ends when three stars can be seen. In Jerusalem, the fast begins at 5:25 AM and ends when we say Kiddush, no earlier than 5:04 PM; in New York, it begins at 5:50 AM and ends at 5:21 PM.]
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