Tenth of Tevet
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Tenth of Tevet (Hebrew: עשרה בטבת, Asarah b'Tevet), the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tevet, is a minor fast day in Judaism. It falls out either seven or eight days after the conclusion of Hannukah, depending on whether Rosh Chodesh of Tevet that year is observed for one day or two. The Tenth of Tevet commemorates the onset of the siege that Nebuchadrezzar of Babylonia laid to ancient Jerusalem, an event that ultimately led to the destruction of Solomon's Temple (the First Temple) and Babylonia's conquest of southern Israel's Kingdom of Judah.
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[edit] History
The text in II Kings (25:1-4) tells us that on the 10th day of the 10th month, in the ninth year of his reign, (588 BCE), Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, began the siege of Jerusalem. Three years later, on the 17th of Tammuz, he broke through the city walls. The siege ended with the destruction of the Temple three weeks later, on the 9th of Av, the end of the first Kingdoms and the exile of the Jewish people to Babylon. It can thus be considered part of the cycle of fasts connected with these events: Tzom Gedaliah (3rd of Tishrei); Shivah Asar B'Tammuz (17th of Tammuz) and Tisha B'Av (9th of Av).
The first mention of this fast appears in Zechariah (8:19) where it is called the "fast of the tenth month..." (counting from the month of Nisan, which was the first month in Biblical times). Other references to the fast and the affliction can be found in Ezekiel 24:1-2 (the siege); Jeremiah 52:4-6.– The Tenth of Tevet – Asarah B'Tevet, http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Jewish+Education/Jewish+Time/Festivals+and+Memorial+Days/The+Tenth+of+Tevet++Asarah+BTevet.htm
According to tradition, as described by the liturgy for the day's selichot, the fast also commemorates other ignominious events that occurred throughout Jewish history on the the tenth of Tevet and the two days preceding it:
- On the eighth of Tevet, 246 BCE (year 3515 on the Jewish calendar), during Greek rule of Israel during the Second Temple period, Ptolmey, Greek of Egypt ordered the Septuagint, the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek. This was seen as a meddling in religious affairs by Greek interlopers and a debasement of the divine nature of the Torah and a subversion of its spiritual qualities by packaging it for a gentile audience whose interest in it was academic instead of theistic.
- Ezra the Scribe, the great leader who brought the Jews back to the holy land from the Babylonian exile and who ushered in the era of the Second Temple, died on the ninth of Tevet.[1]
[edit] Observance
As with all minor Jewish fast days, the Tenth of Tevet begins at dawn (alot ha-shahar) and concludes at nightfall (shkiat ha-chamah). In accordance with the general rules of minor fasts as set forth in the Code of Jewish Law,[2] and in contrast to Tisha B'Av, there are no additional physical constraints beyond fasting (such as the prohibitions against bathing or of wearing leather shoes). Because it is a minor fast day, Halacha exempts from fasting those who are ill, even if their illnesses are not life threatening, and pregnant and nursing women who find fasting difficult.[3]
A Torah reading and Haftorah reading, and a special prayer in the Amidah (the Aneinu), are added at both Shacharit and Mincha services. At Shacharit services, the Avinu Malkenu prayer is also said.[4]
The fast can occur on a Friday resulting in the unusual event of a Torah and Haftorah reading at the Mincha service right before Shabbat. No other Jewish fast day can occur on a Friday in modern times (with the exception of the Fast of the Firstborn, on which the Torah and Haftorah reading at Mincha do not even occur).
A few have chosen to observe the Tenth of Tevet as a "general kaddish day" for the victims of the Holocaust, many of whom lack identifiable yahrtzeits (anniversaries of their deaths).[5]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ This is what the selichot states. According to the Talmud, however, while a great tragedy is known to have occurred on this date, the nature of that tragedy is unknown.
- ^ Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 549-550, 561-562
- ^ Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 550:2. The Mishnah Berurah notes that it is still commendable to observe all the restrictions of Tisha B'Av on the minor fast days. Even so, he says, one should not refrain from bathing in preparation for Shabbat when the Tenth of Tevet falls out on a Friday. (He probably singles out the Tenth of Tevet because it is the only minor fast day that can coincide with Friday with the current Jewish calendar.
- ^ Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 566
- ^ http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?AID=102698
[edit] External links
- The Tenth of Tevet
- Jerusalem Under Siege: A Tenth of Tevet Anthology
- Short Video (2 minutes, in Hebrew) about The Tenth of Tevet.
- Aritcle by Berel Wein, a noted Orthodox Jewish historian.
- Good collection of links
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| Jewish holidays | Shabbat · Rosh Chodesh · Rosh Hashanah · Fast of Gedalia · Yom Kippur · Sukkot · Hoshanah Rabbah · Shemini Atzeret · Simchat Torah · Hanukkah · Tenth of Tevet · Tu Bishvat · Fast of Esther · Purim · Fast of the Firstborn · Pesach · Counting of the Omer · Lag Ba'omer · Shavuot · 17th of Tammuz · The Three Weeks · The Nine Days · Tisha B'Av · Tu B'Av |
| National holidays of Israel | Jerusalem Day · Yom HaShoah Yom Hazikaron · Yom Ha'atzmaut · |
