The Beginning of the End Asara BeTevet is one of the four fast days Chazal instituted after the destruction of the first Beit HaMikdash. The Prophet Zecharia alludes to them in a more positive tone: “Thus says the Lord of hosts: the fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be joy and gladness, and cheerful seasons to the house of Yehuda; therefore love you truth and peace.”[1] The Talmud discusses Asara BeTevet.[2] Rabbi Akiva explains that when the verse states, “the fast of the tenth,” it refers to the tenth of Tevet, for on that day the King of Babylon began to besiege Yerushalayim, as it says (Yechezkel 24:1-2): “The word of Hashem came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month saying, “Son of man, write for yourself the name of the day, this very day, the King of Babylon has begun to besiege Yerushalayim.” And why does the verse call it “the tenth”? Because Tevet is the tenth month (beginning from Nisan.) If Rabbi Akiva’s interpretation is correct, surely the verse in Zecharia should have mentioned it first, since Asara BeTevet is chronologically the first stage of destruction. Why was it written at the end of the verse? In answering for Rabbi Akiva, the Gemara suggests that the verse is written to arrange the months in their proper order in a calendar year.[3] On the other hand, Rabbi Shimon understands “the fast of the tenth” to be referring to the fifth of Tevet, for that was the day the news that Yerushalayim had been destroyed finally reached the Jews already sitting in exile.[4] As it says, “It happened in the 12th year of our exile, in the 10th month, on the fifth of the month that a fugitive came to me from Yerushalayim saying that the city has been sacked. And they made the day of hearing the tragic news a fast day like the day of the actual burning.”[5] The dispute between Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Shimon seems to be about the order of the verse in Zecharia. Rabbi Akiva counts according to the calendar year whereas Rabbi Shimon counts the chronological order. So is “the fast of the tenth” actually on the 10th of Tevet or on the fifth? And how could Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Shimon disagree as to the correct date of the Fast of Tevet? They knew what day was being observed in their time and what day had been observed in the Temple a few years earlier! The Minchat Chinuch proposes an innovative solution.[6] Initially, the prophets did not decree that fast days be observed on specific dates. Rather, they decreed that a fast be observed on one day – any day – in each of the four enumerated months. After all, the verse only cites months, not days. When these fast days were transformed into festive days at the time of the Second Beit Mikdash, the same principle applied, and indeed, diverging customs developed as to when these days should be observed.[7] In the time of Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Shimon, immediately after the destruction of the Second Mikdash, these days reverted to being fast days. Thus, they wanted to standardize the exact dates so all Jews would fast on the same day. Their dispute takes place in this context. As we know, Halacha sides with Rabbi Akiva and we fast on Asara BeTevet. But we are still left with one unanswered question. According to Rabbi Akiva, Nevuchadnezar, King of Babylon, began his siege of Yerushalayim on this day. This would last for about a year and a half, culminating on the 9th of Av with the burning of the Temple. During this 18-month period, conditions within the city would deteriorate slowly until reaching the catastrophic reality as described in Megillat Eicha. The initial verse regarding this siege can be found in Melachim Bet 25:1: “And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it and they built forts against it round about.” However, when we try and visualize the first day of the siege, we don’t imagine it to be such a momentous event. At the outset, it probably only affected very few people, like traveling merchants perhaps. It is fair to assume that the people within the walled city went on with their regular lives in the hope that a negotiated solution could be found. There was plenty of food and raw materials and though the people were officially at war, there was no real evidence of that in day to day life.[8] So why commemorate the first day of the siege at all? We can understand why we commemorate the fasts of Tammuz and Av, the last weeks of the Temple prior to destruction. It is also clear that the Fast of Gedaliah represents the extinguishing of our last hope, but what is so significant about the Tenth of Tevet? The question becomes more emphatic in light of the words of the Abudarham:[9] Asara BeTevet can never technically fall on a Shabbat, but it does often fall on a Friday, and we do fast, even though it is Erev Shabbat (unique to this day alone.) Furthermore, were it to fall on Shabbat we would also have to fast because the verse relating to Asara BeTevet in Yechezkel 24:2 specifically emphasizes the day; “Son of man, write you the name of the day, even of this selfsame day; this selfsame day the king of Babylon hath invested Jerusalem.” What is “this selfsame day”? It is the beginning. It is the metaphorical first chink in the wall; the beginning of the end. Perhaps, if we had realized this, if we had applied ourselves responsibly at the outset, we would never have arrived at Tisha B’Av at all. The signs were there, the situation was slowly deteriorating and we still had 18 months before final destruction. But the Jews did nothing to reverse their predicament. So perhaps this fast day comes to teach us that we must deal with our issues before they get out of hand. As soon as we see “the writing on the wall.” Is it no coincidence that on the Shabbat before Tisha B’Av we read a Haftarah from Chapter 1 of Yeshayahu that is approximately dated some 150 years before the destruction of the Beit Mikdash, why? Why not choose a haftara from sefer Yirmiyahu, as has been done for the first two of the three week mourning period, surely that would be far more to the point? This surely emphasizes the same point. When we look at the final outcome, we have to look for the roots of the problem, where it all began, because that is the key to our redemption. Yeshayahu knew this a century and a half before destruction and the Fast of Tevet drives the issue home. If we want to understand why we are fasting in the heat of the day in the middle of summer, we must look back to that short fast day in the winter, just a week after Chanukah. It was not just a siege around the wall. It was the beginning of the end. In our times, we too must understand what is happening around us. Maintaining our daily lives as normal, as if nothing is happening; as if “that could never happen in this day and age” is not a responsible reaction to anti-Semitic threats or Arab terror. Teshuva, Tefilla and Tzedaka are always a good start, but we must be constantly looking to do the best we can to restore the ideal situation as promised by Zecharia: “Thus says the Lord of hosts: the fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be joy and gladness, and cheerful seasons to the house of Yehuda; therefore love you truth and peace.”