The Tenth of Tevet is one of the four fast days that commemorate dark times in Jewish history. The others are Tisha B'Av (the day of the destruction of both Temples in Jerusalem), the 17th of Tammuz (the day of the breaching of the defensive wall of Jerusalem by Titus and the Roman legions in 70 CE), and the third of Tishrei (the day that marks the assassination of the Babylonian-appointed Jewish governor of Judah, Gedaliah ben Achikam. He was actually killed on Rosh Hashanah but the fast day was advanced to the day after Rosh Hashanah because of the holiday).
The Tenth of Tevet is viewed as such a severe and important fast day that it is observed even if it falls on a Friday.
The Tenth of Tevet marks the onset of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylonia, and the beginning of the battle that ultimately destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon, and sent the Jews into the 70-year Babylonian Exile. The date of the Tenth of Tevet is recorded for us by the prophet Yechezkel, who himself was already in Babylonia as part of the first group of Jews exiled there by Nebuchadnezzar, 11 years earlier than the actual destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem itself.
The Tenth of Tevet is viewed as such a severe and important fast day that it is observed even if it falls on a Friday (erev Shabbat), while our other fast days are so arranged by calendar adjustments as to never fall on a Friday, so as not to interfere with Shabbat preparations.
GREEK TRANSLATION
However, there are other commemorative days that fall immediately before the Tenth of Tevet and their memory has been silently incorporated in the fast day of the Tenth of Tevet as well. On the eighth of Tevet, King Ptolemy of Egypt forced 70 Jewish scholars to gather and translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek. Even though the Talmud relates to us that this project was blessed with a miracle -- the 70 scholars were all placed in separate cubicles and yet they all came up with the same translation -- the general view of the rabbis of the time towards this project was decidedly negative. The Talmud records that when this translation became public "darkness descended on the world."
The 'koshering' of the Greek language by its use in translating the Hebrew Bible had wide ramifications in Jewish society.
This translation -- the Septuagint -- eventually became the basis for the Old Testament section of the Christian bible a few centuries later. The Greek translation of the Bible also further aided the advance of the agenda of the Hellenist Jews to bring Greek culture into Jewish life, and to attempt to reform Judaism in the image of Greek values and lifestyle. The "koshering" of the Greek language by its use in translating the Hebrew Bible had wide ramifications in Jewish society and undermined some of the efforts of the rabbis in combating the allure of Greece in Israel of then.
DEATH OF EZRA THE SCRIBE
The ninth day of Tevet is held to be the day of the death of Ezra the Scribe. This great Jew is comparable even to Moses in the eyes of the Talmud. "If the Torah had not been granted through Moses, it could have been granted to Israel through Ezra." Ezra led the return of the Jews to Jerusalem from their Babylonian exile. It was under his direction and inspiration, together with the help of the court Jew, Nechemiah, that the Second Temple was built, albeit originally in a much more modest scale and style than the grandeur of Solomon's Temple.
Ezra also renewed the covenant of Moses between Israel and God, staunched the flow of intermarriage that afflicted the Jews returning to Jerusalem, strengthened public and private Sabbath observance, and created the necessary schools and intellectual tools for the furtherance of the knowledge and development of the Oral Law of Sinai within the Jewish people.
A man of incorruptible character, great compassion, deep vision and erudition and inspirational charisma, Ezra the Scribe is responsible for the survival of Judaism and the Jews till this very day. It is no wonder therefore that Jews marked the day of his death as a sad day on the Jewish calendar. Since fasting on the eighth, ninth and 10th days of Tevet consecutively would be unreasonable, the events of the eighth and ninth were subsumed into the fast day of the Tenth of Tevet.
COMBINING DAYS
The rabbinic policy has been to attach other sad commemorations onto the established fast days, so as not to fill the calendar with so many days of sad remembrances. Thus the memorial for the destruction of the Jewish communities of Worms, Speyers and Mainz by the Crusaders in 1096 is marked on the fast day of Tisha B'Av, even though that destruction actually took place in other months.
This policy of minimizing the number of days of commemoration of sad events became accepted practice throughout the Jewish world until the Holocaust. However, the enormity of the tragedy of the Holocaust subsumed everything that preceded it in the story of the Jewish people in the Diaspora. Hence, it is understandable why the Knesset would look to designate a specific day alone for Holocaust remembrance. Nevertheless, the rabbinic policy of minimizing days of tragic remembrances played a role in assigning the Holocaust remembrance to the Tenth of Tevet for a large section of the Israeli population.
May we only commemorate days of goodness in our future.
For more information on The Tenth of Tevet see:
Siege of Jerusalem
(15) myron timinsky, December 18, 2018 6:25 PM
Thank you. I found the information to be interesting. I was not aware of all the history and I appreciate your efforts.
(14) Barbara Latham, December 21, 2015 7:42 PM
My gratitude for your history lesson.
I am in my first year at the Melton School so your added teachings are extremely meaningful. Also, I, too, congratulate the Binstock family on their newest member. Cathy is the only one I know personally so I can honestly say she is one of the finest people I have had the good fortune to meet and no doubt her family is also so blessed. Good health and happiness to you and your readers in the coming year 2016. .
(13) Anonymous, January 1, 2015 4:16 PM
This is excellent. Thank you so much for posting this and may Moshiach come soon!
(12) Yishhaq Ben-Qoheleth, January 5, 2012 8:07 PM
BS"D Great write up! It seems odd to me that we changed millennia of tradition because of the holocaust , as if that was different to any genocide and subjugation of the Bnei Yisra'el before or after . I never knew that , sooo interesting. One point though, The Septuagint done by the 72 sages wasn't the biases of the Xtian bible. They use the Septuagint from the 3rd century AD which was a full Greek translation of the Tanakh done by the church. The event recorded in the Talmud is about the the Greek translation of the Torah alone. I know it seem minimal but Xtians for centuries have used the Greek translation to prove concepts about yeshu and say "Even your rabbi's believe it" even though the Septuagint they quote isn't the same as the one done by the sages of blessed memory (ex Yeshayahu 7:14)
Anonymous, December 23, 2012 1:41 PM
The day of commemoration for the holocaust is a nationally, rather than religiously ordained day, and the Torah leaders of the time disagreed with going against the tradition. Though the holocaust was the biggest genocide, the previous genocides were big enough that one would have thought to add a day to commemorate them. That was not done. May we all see the time very quickly when the four fast-days commemorating the churban become days of celebration and joy.
Anonymous, January 2, 2015 12:48 AM
To: Yishnaq
Doesn't matter. Darkness befell the world from the time the Torah was translated into Greek. Everything the non-Jews took for their bible originally derives from that oriignal translation where they were able to interpret thereon how they wished. Their interpretation differs completely.
(11) Jesse, December 17, 2010 4:10 PM
Berel Wein's is the best historical resource! thanks!
Thanks a lot for including Rabbi Wein's article today. I've listened to his cd's in my car and find them really interesting & easy to understand. I've had the honor to hear him speak and he is also a mensch!!!
(10) Rona Rubin, December 19, 2007 10:42 AM
Excellent explanation for why there is a fast day!
(9) SK Sharma, January 20, 2005 12:00 AM
Today I learnt something a fresh , something new I can't describe it here in my words. Thanks for all the information on this site. My regards to Rabby Berel Wein for all his efforts.
(8) Anonymous, December 20, 2004 12:00 AM
Rabby Wine's recorded history lessons
I recomend to enyone interested in our Jewish history, Rabbi Wine's cassettes. Wonderful, encompassing knowledge, humor, anything one would enjoy in a lecture. It left me addicted.
(7) Joshua Bendahan, November 3, 2004 12:00 AM
We can learn a lot about the mistakes we made as Jews in our Biblical past. I am calling on all of us jews to now correct our mistakes and start learning some Torah, loving all jews and bringing jews back to beliving in the almighty G-d and understanding he is truly controlling everything and we must never forget this. We can't let the gap get bigger. You want the Utopia you want Peace Its up to us the Jewish people to make it happen. In order for us to bring Messiah we must first start with bringing us Jews back together United as one United as All and standing up for our Selfs our land and using our Free will and the power of TORAH.
(6) Anonymous, December 30, 2003 12:00 AM
Scholarly and comprehensive. More outstanding history pieces please!
(5) Tom Halley, June 10, 2003 12:00 AM
Important information
Thank you for providing a window to the intimacy of Jewish history.
(4) Jason Levinson, February 16, 2003 12:00 AM
Wow
Every time I come to this site, I find myself learning so much. Articles like this are why I recommend aish.com to others.
(3) Jessie, December 17, 2002 12:00 AM
Great site
Hello, just wanted to comment on the site. It is informative and very easy to get the information.
I am not Jewish myself, brought up as a Catholic but have wonderful friends who are and they do follow the Jewish calender and remembrance celebrations.
I wanted to surpise them with my well wishes as we have a wonderful funny banter together about it all and I guess this also helps breaks the wall of mystery surrounding the Jewish faith down.
So I have added the site to my favorite column and will continue to surprise my friends with my knowledge !!!
Cheers
(2) Anonymous, December 15, 2002 12:00 AM
wonderful synopsis of the history of the day,
your information was enough to make my fast so much more meaningful. thank you.
(1) N., December 12, 2002 12:00 AM
I never knew all of this
Outstanding thumbnail sketch. Filled with facts and information. Thank you.