Rabbi Howard Morrison

This Friday is the Fast of the tenth of Tevet. It is considered a minor Fast in that it begins at sunrise and not the night before. The significance of this day, however, is especially relevant right now.

The tenth of Tevet is part of a unit of Fasts which have to do with the events leading up to and including the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem. On this date in antiquity, the Babylonians besieged the city of Jerusalem. A few months later, the walls were breached on the seventeenth of Tammuz. On the ninth of Av, the First Temple was destroyed, as was the Second Temple by the Romans many generations later. Additionally, the Fast of Gedalia, the day after Rosh Hashanah, harkens back to the First Temple period when a Jew assassinated a fellow Jew in office.

The sequence of siege, followed by breaching of the walls, followed by actual destruction can be understood in our time as well. The evil Hamas monsters planned and knew what they were doing. They besieged areas of Southern Israel, broke down and entered through borders and barriers, and they ultimately brought havoc and destruction to so many lives, families, and an entire Jewish people. Now, two and a half months later, our people are continuing to wage war in Gaza, and Jews around the world are fighting against the surge of anti-Semitism.

This Friday, therefore, is an appropriate time to reflect as we fast. As the celebration of Shabbat will enter our lives right after the Fast, so too, may victory, celebration, freedom, and peace come soon to Israel and to Jews wherever they live.

Sincerely,
Rabbi Howard Morrison