Rabbi Howard Morrison

Dear Congregational Family,

The original meaning given to the Fast of the Tenth of Tevet is over 2500 years ago when the Babylonians besieged the city of Jerusalem in 588BCE. Ultimately, the First Temple was destroyed two years later on Tisha B'Av in 586BCE. The Tenth of Tevet is the oldest still practiced historical Fast day on the Jewish calendar.

In 1950, the Chief Rabbinate in Israel declared the Tenth of Tevet as a Yom Kaddish Kelali - A day of reciting Kaddish for those who lost loved ones in the Shoah and for whom there was no verifiable Yahrzeit date on which to commemorate a time for lighting a memorial candle and reciting Kaddish. Long before a separate date for Yom Hashoah was established, the Israeli rabbinate in 1950 chose the longest established historical Fast day to ritualize the memory of the Shoah, thereby connecting a history of sadness from over 2500 years ago to the most horrific tragedy in modern Jewish history.

Nowadays, many Jews associate Tisha B'Av,  Yom Hashoah and the anniversary of Kristallnacht as designated dates for remembering the Shoah. While those dates occur in the Summer,  Spring and Fall respectively, let us not forget the contemporary significance given to the Tenth of Tevet, a date in the Winter time, by which to remember the Holocaust. In Jewish life, we now have a specific date in every season of the year to ritually remember the unforgettable. 

Sincerely,
Rabbi Howard Morrison