Rebuilding - 10 Tevet 5785

Tomorrow, Friday, we experience a rare phenomenon - a public fast on a Friday.  The tenth of Tevet is a fast day commemorating the beginning of the Babylonian siege on the City of Jerusalem in the year 587 BCE - 3175 from creation.

(Pardon the interruption.  The “year 3175 from creation” may sound strange to some, given scientific studies that show the age of the universe to be billions of years.  This subject will be discussed at length by our remarkable guest speaker Rabbi Krisch, scientist, former science writer for the New York Times and Rabbi, this Saturday night.  Please see the details here.)

Fasting on Shabbat is generally not allowed, because it is a day of joy and pleasure.  A day when the physical becomes elevated to a higher level, and it is a Mitzvah to enjoy food on Shabbat.  The only exception isYom Kippur. The prohibition against fasting begins right at the beginning of Shabbat, at sunset, and we therefore make sure to at least eat or drink something during the day.

For this reason, the Fast of Esther is sometimes “pushed back” to Thursday.  Let me explain.  When a fast day (except Yom Kippur) occurs on a Shabbat, the fast is postponed for a day to Sunday.  This cannot be done with the Fast of Esther which is the day before Purim, since that would mean fasting on Purim which is also forbidden.  So we push the fast back to before Shabbat, not one day to Friday, but two days to Thursday, because we cannot fast on Friday and begin Shabbat fasting.

Yet when the Tenth of Tevet occurs on a Friday, we don’t push the fast back and we do fast on Friday until nightfall, about an hour after Shabbat begins.   In fact, our Sages taught, if the Tenth of Tevet would occur on Shabbat, we would even fast on Shabbat, but the calendar is fixed so that never happens. The last three times we fasted on Friday were in the years 1996, 2001, and 2010, and the next time the Tenth of Tevet occurs on Friday will be in 2034.

What is unique about this day that we even fast for the first hour of Shabbat?  The other fasts commemorate the destruction of the City of Jerusalem and our holy Temples, and the exile of our people from our land.  The Tenth of Tevet, however, is not a day of “destruction.”  It is the day a siege was laid around an intact Jerusalem.  

The Sages saw a comparison in scripture between the Tenth of Tevet and Yom Kippur.  About Yom Kippur the Torah says (Vayikra 23:29) “Be’etzem hayom hazze,” meaning “on the essence of this day [we must fast].”  In Yechezkel (24:2) Hashem tells the prophet Ezekiel to write down that on “Etzem hayom hazze - the essence of this day” is the day the Babylonian king Nevuchadnezzar laid siege on Jerusalem, using the same words.  Using a classic Torah method to derive laws, the Sages compared the two and stated that the Tenth of Tevet, like Yom Kippur, supersedes Shabbat.  

The seriousness of this day can also be explained as follows: Although there had not yet been any actual destruction, this was the beginning of the end of Jewish independence in Israel, and this day led to all the subsequent problems.  It is therefore the start of all the trouble and a much heavier sadness than other days.

On a mystical level, we look beyond the negative events themselves and to the inner purpose.  Hashem did not want to punish us.  He wanted us to do Teshuva, to give up the hatred and idolatry and to return to the path of Torah and righteousness. 

The siege was a wake up call, an opportunity to pull together, to reassess our actions and to avert the destruction.  It is truly sad that we didn’t get the message and continued the negative behaviors.  

However, as the Rebbe would often point out, everything Hashem does is for the ultimate good.  You can’t build a new house on top of one that  is crumbling.  You need to first clear away the old and then you can build a beautiful new, sturdy structure.  The first two Temples were holy, Hashem’s “resting place” on earth, but they were not eternal and the people’s behavior was flawed.   The third Temple will be built by Hashem Himself and therefore eternal, never to be destroyed.  The world will be purified and the actions of all humans will reach perfection.  

So while the siege and subsequent destruction were horrific events perpetrated by an evil empire, it all fits into a hidden masterplan, leading to the rectification of the world.

While we fast and mourn the beginning of the end of the ancient city of Jerusalem, we also recognize that this day is the beginning of the preparation for the new, improved and permanent Temple and perfect world.  On this day, besides fasting, we increase our prayers and charity, and consider what we can do to bring closer the fulfillment of the ultimate, deeper Divine purpose of the siege - the ushering in of the days of Moshiach.