Rabbi Roodyn

Asarah B’Teves seems like the ‘little brother’ of the other fasts that commemorate the destruction of Yerushalayim. In the northern hemisphere we can get up for breakfast and be done in time for an early supper. There is none of the dehydration of the long, hot summer fasts, so all in all it’s a pretty easy one to get through.

Asarah B’Teves is essentially the start of the cycle of churban, destruction, as it commemorates the start of the siege of Yerushalayim. The walls will not be breached for another years and a half on the seventeenth of Tammuz and so the destruction of Tisha B’Av and the desolation of Tzom Gedalya seem very far away. Few of us are sitting on the floor today weeping bitter tears of the events of some 2,500 years ago. So what are we meant to feel today? How do we tap in to the power of the day in the few hours that remain?

Perhaps one insight is that today is the start of a new cycle of fasts, but that the end of this cycle is not inevitable. The churban did not happen in one fell swoop, it took place over time. Hashem is patient with us, He sends us a wakeup call and it’s up to us to listen. This is a ‘light touch’, a tap on the shoulder, a day to wake us up before it’s too late.

The Rambam famously writes that the purpose of a fast day is not merely to endure a day of no eating and drinking, rather “There are days when the entire Jewish people fast because of the calamities that occurred to them then, to arouse [their] hearts and initiate [them in] the paths of repentance. This will serve as a reminder of our wicked conduct and that of our ancestors, which resembles our present conduct and therefore brought these calamities upon them and upon us. By reminding ourselves of these matters, we will repent and improve [our conduct], as [Leviticus 26:40] states: “And they will confess their sin and the sin of their ancestors””  (Hilchos Taaniyos 5:1)

Today we are under siege, a spiritual siege, it is hard to break out of our own small mindedness, away from the inner voice that holds us back from connection to Hashem,  but it is absolutely possible.  This is true both on a personal level and a national one too. If we are able to take this message to heart, the maybe, just maybe, we can break this cycle and change the course of destiny to the path of redemption.