The Edythe Benjamin חיה בת שלמה beloved mother of Barbara Hanus Rosh Hodesh Tevet Torah Essay
The cold winter month of Tevet is ushered in with the celebration of the final days of Hanukkah. The ever increasing light of the menorah burns more and more brightly, bringing with it the hope and faith that will carry us through the difficult days of Tevet.
Tevet is the month with the shortest days and the longest nights of the year but as the month goes on the days begin to get longer again. This reminds us that Hashem always walks before us, lighting the way even during the darkest moments, with better times ahead.
There are three days in Tevet - the 8th, 9th and 10th – that commemorate calamities that befell Am Yisrael. The 8th and 9th were designated as fast days for the righteous, observed only by individuals who chose to fast. The Asarah B’ Tevet, the 10th of the month, is a public fast day, for the entire community.
What cataclysmic events happened on each of these days? On the 8th of Tevet (approximately 246 BCE), King Ptolemy II, the ruling Greek-Egyptian emperor, sequestered 72 Torah sages into separate rooms and ordered them to translate the Torah into Greek. Rabbi Eliyahu Ki Tov (Tractate Megilah) tells us that Ptolemy instructed each of the sages to “write for me the Torah of Moshe your teacher”. What was miraculous was that they produced exactly the same translation, including making 13 identical necessary textual amendments. This work became known as the Septuagint (Seventy). Rabbi Ki Tov likened the translation to a lion trapped in a cage - the Greeks felt they had trapped the Torah by translating it (Sefer HaTodaah). However, whatever negative consequences may have occurred as a result of the Septuagint, including that Greek became a significant second language among Jews, Ptolemy was not able to discredit the Torah or refute its divinity, which he might have been able to do had there been inconsistencies. Thus the negative was, at least to an extent, counterbalanced by the positive.
Those who fast on the 9th of Tevet do so to commemorate the death of both Ezra the Scribe and Nehemiah, who faithfully led the Jews back to Israel from the Babylonian exile. Ezra in particular was recognized as having improved the spiritual state of the Jewish people; he positively impacted the emerging Jewish community that had returned to Israel. Ezra was the last of the prophets and his death signaled the end of prophecy. This was cause for the righteous to fast.
The public fast day of Asarah B’ Tevet marks the date that Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylonia, laid siege to Jerusalem. The walls were ultimately breached on the 17th of Tamuz and the Temple was destroyed on the 9th of Av. At first glance it may be hard to understand why Asarah B’ Tevet is even part of our national consciousness, let alone a fast day and in fact the only one that is even observed on a Friday if it falls that way. The siege seems “minor” compared to the breaching of the wall on the 17th of Tamuz which portended much more imminent danger and Tisha B’Av was the most tragic day of all, marking the destruction of the First and Second Temples and the exile of the Jewish people for thousands of years from the Land of Israel.
On Asarah B’Tevet we hadn’t yet appreciated the true significance of the overwhelming calamity that was about to befall the Jewish people and the tragic events that were set in motion. Yet it is a public fast day. The reason for this may well be to emphasize the importance of looking backwards and retrospectively examining our behavior in order to understand what’s happening in the present; we need to have in our consciousness the course of events that led to the 10th of Tevet and from there to the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash and our prolonged exile.
We need to try and understand the consequences that flow from our actions. That honest introspection is the first step towards bringing about positive change. Viewed from that perspective, it becomes easier to appreciate the significance of Asarah B’Tevet. Post World War Two, the Israeli Rabbinate designated Asarah B’Tevet as Yom Hakaddish Haklali - the day we recite kaddish for those whose date of death is not known, including commemorating the overwhelming tragedy of the Shoah. This gives the day added depth for us in contemporary times.
So how do we find the light in the midst of the darkness? How do we remind ourselves that Hashem is with us during the good times and the bad, showing us the way? The Sfat Emet in his commentary on Miketz, recounts Pharaoh’s dream of the lean cows that symbolize evil, devouring the healthy cows. He says that the dream gives the impression that evil dominates the world. But he makes it clear that that is not so. The Sfat Emet describes periods of “Hester Panim” – God “hiding from us” and the difficulty of perceiving His presence when He is hidden. It is crucial however to remember that we should be sustained by the times when we are fortunate enough to have a glimpse of HaKadosh Baruch Hu; those times should help to get us through the darker moments of Hester Panim, reminding and assuring us that He will light the way and we will be redeemed.
We need to search for the positive, even during times of Hester Panim. This idea should give us hope throughout the bleak, short days of Tevet and carry us through to the end of the month and the start of Shvat when the beautiful almond trees begin to bloom again and spring is on the horizon. The darkness yields to the light, to rebirth and renewal.
The high quality of the learning and striving for excellence that characterizes Matan is nothing short of inspirational and a constant reminder of our commitment to tikun olam. Our stellar students, taught by renowned faculty, experience and understand the transformative power, both individual and communal, of Torah learning. Our students are determined to be scholars, educators and community leaders who learn from the past and are building the future. Their accomplishments and the contribution they are making to Jewish society are an unwavering source of light that will keep us going throughout the month of Tevet. Chodesh tov.