The Tenth of Tebet and ezra haSofer

This coming Friday, December 13th we will observe the Tenth of Tebet, a fast day which remind us of three tragic events.  The main event we remember on this day is the onset of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuhadnezzar, the King of Babylonia.  But there are two other events that we also recall on this fast day. The translation of the Tora to Greek (which occurred on the 8th of Tebet,  see this) and the death of Ezra haSofer (9th of Tebet).  
 
Seventy years after the destruction of the Bet haMiqdash, approximately the year 516 BCE, the Jews were allowed to come back to Erets Israel by the Persian Emperor Cyrus. Roughly forty thousand Jews were led back to Israel by Zerubabel and years later  by Nehemia and Ezra the Scribe. 
 
Ezra had the tremendous responsibility of reeducating the Jews who, after two or three generations in exile without Jewish institutions (schools or synagogues) and living, and in many cases marrying, with the local population.  Most Jews had forgotten the Tora and its laws, and adopted many customs and values from the surrounding Babylonian culture. Ezra established  the Anshe Keneset haGedola, the first Jewish Parliament, composed of 120 scholars and prophets.  With the court that he presided, Ezra issued many new rulings to reclaim and revive Jewish values and reeducate the Jewish people.  He increased the days of public reading of the Tora,  composed the text of the Amida (main prayer), adapted the names of the Hebrew months and the fonts of the Tora-text, etc.  Ezra also had to make very tough decisions, like excluding the Samaritans, a semi-pagan mixed population living in Israel from the times of the destruction of the Bet haMiqdash, who reclaimed to be considered as Jews. Thanks to his wisdom and courage the Jewish people was able to survive and reestablish again in Israel as the Nation of God.  Ezra was also considered by the Rabbis as the historical link between the written Tora and the oral Tora, which was forgotten in the long Babylonian captivity and retrieved by Ezra the Scribe. Together with Nehemia, they also concluded the building of the second Bet haMiqdash and the protective wall around the city. Ezra died on a 9th of Tebet. He was regarded by our Rabbis as second to Moshe Rabbenu.
IMPORTANT NOTICE 
about the 
FAST DAY TOMORROW
The Tenth of Tebet is the only fast that might fall on a Friday. In NYC the fast will begin tomorrow morning, Friday Dec. 13th, at 6:16am.  We will be receiving Shabbat while fasting and we will break the fast with the Kiddush, which cannot be said before 4.49pm, NYT.  Minha service this Friday will probably be early than a normal Friday, because we will have Tora reading and birkat Kohanim.  Follow your community’s calendar and notifications.

 



The Tenth of Tebet and the Septuagint

This coming Friday, December 13th, we will observe the Tenth of Tebet, a fast day which remind us of three tragic events.  The main event we recall on this day is the onset of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuḥadnezzar, the King of Babylonia.  But there were other two events that we also remember in this day, the rendition of the Tora into the Greek language and the death of Ezra haSofer. 
On the 8th of Tebet (=today), approximately in the year 300 BCE, in Alexandria, Egypt, King Ptolemy ordered 72 Jewish scholars to translate the Tora (the five Books of Moshe or Pentateuch) to Greek. King Ptolemy sought to disprove the existence of an unified Jewish tradition to find an excuse to humiliate the Jews. The 70 scholars were placed in separate workrooms. Yet, they all translated the Tora in the same exact way.  
This translation of the Tora is known as the Septuagint. Although it was done by prominent Rabbis, the Septuagint is not considered a translation which follows necessarily rabbinical tradition. As explained in Talmud Yerushalmi (Megila 9) in many cases the authors of the Septuagint deliberately deviated from the traditional Jewish understanding of the Tora and adapted the Biblical text to the Greek mentality and sensitivities to please the king and avoid a situation of danger for the Jews 
As a whole, translating the Tora to Greek was considered a dark event by Jewish historiography. Why? Because the new Greek Bible was used to advanced the agenda of the Hellenist Jews who sought to syncretize Greek and Jewish values.  Eventually the Septuagint paved the way for the advancement of non-Jewish “Biblical” religions. Unlike pagan cults which were clearly antagonistic to the Tora, these new religions were now supposedly based on the Jewish Scripture.  The Bible was now reinterpreted and used to justify non-Jewish ideas or beliefs “in the name of the Bible”, all of which caused uncountable tragedies to the Jewish people. 
As Timothy McLay explains, “the Jewish Scriptures as they were known, read and interpreted in the Greek language, provided the basis for much, if not most, of the interpretive context of the New Testament.”
BTW, the official Jewish translation of the Tora is the Targum Onqelos (aka Targum Didan) done ca. 100 CE.



The Tenth of Tebet and the Kaddish haKelaly

This coming Friday, December 25th 2012, we observe the fast of the Tenth of Tebet. We remember the siege of Yerushalaim, in the year 586 BCE, at the time of the destruction of our first Bet haMiqdash (see this).
On the 10th of Tebet there are only two prohibitions: eating and drinking. The fast begins at dawn and it ends at 5:03 p.m. NYT.
NO additional limitations apply, such as the prohibition of wearing leather shoes, working, driving, washing the body, etc.
Most contemporary Rabbis (R. E. Melamed, Rab O. Yosef) authorize to wash one’s mouth or brush one’s teeth in this Ta’anit, when necessary, provided you are very careful to lower your head, avoiding swallowing water unintentionally.
In modern Israel, the 10th of Tebet is also recognized as the day of the Kaddish haKelaly. According to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, on the Tenth of Tebet a remembrance-candle should be lit in the Synagogue and the Hazkara leHalale haShoah should be recited. Additionally,  all those whose parents are not alive should say the Kaddish Yatom (luach dinim uminhaguim 5772, pages. 55,109).
This point requires more explanation.
In 1949, and before the day of Yom HaShoah was established, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel decided that the Tenth of Tebet should be assigned as the national remembrance day for the victims of the Holocaust. They recommended traditional Jewish ways of remembering the dead, such as the study of Mishna Mikvaot, saying Tehilim, lighting a candle and a communal recitation of the Kaddish for the victims of the Holocaust whose names and date of death remain unknown. Fasting, the most common Jewish expression of sorrow, was already prescribed for this day.
In Israel many people felt that the horror of the Holocaust should be remembered on its own, and a special day should be dedicated to the Shoah’s victims’ memory.   “For the Holocaust survivors there was only one day worthy of being a memorial anniversary for the Holocaust–April 19, the beginning day of the Warsaw ghetto revolt the greatest revolt of them all, the uprisings that had held the Nazis at bay for a longer period than the great French army”  (I. Greenberg). That is how the 27 of Nissan was chosen to commemorate Yom haShoah. Yom HaShoah was inaugurated in 1953, by a law signed by the Prime Minister of Israel David ben Gurion.
Since then, and in practical terms, there are two days in which we mourn for the Holocaust: Yom haShoah, the official day, and‘asara beTebet, in which people say the Kaddish haKelaly to remember the victims of the Nazi genocide.


The Tenth of Tebet and the Greek Translation of the Tora

Yesterday we mentioned two of the three events that we remember in the Tenth of Tebet (see here). Once again, it is important to clarify that the main reason for which we fast on this day is the siege of Yerushalaim. The other two events are brought to our memory because they roughly coincide with the same date. 
  
3. Approximately in the year 300 BCE, on the 8th of Tebet, in Alexandria (Egypt) King Ptolemy forced 70 (some say “72”) Jewish scholars to translate the Tora (the five Books of Moshe or Pentateuch) into Greek. King Ptolemy wished to disprove the existence of an unified Jewish tradition on the understanding of the Scripture, so the scholars were placed in separate workrooms. Yet, they all translated the Tora in the same exact way.  
This translation of the Tora is known as the Septuagint. Although it was done by prominent Rabbis, the Septuagint is not considered a translation which follows necessarily rabbinical tradition. As explained in Talmud Yerushalmi (Megila 9) the authors of the Septuagint in many cases deliberately deviated from the traditional Jewish understanding and adapted the Biblical text to the Greek mentality and sensitivities to please the Monarch and avoid a situation of danger for the Jews 
As a whole, translating the Tora to Greek was considered a dark event by Jewish historiography. Why? Because the new Greek Bible advanced the agenda of the Hellenist Jews who sought to incorporate Greek values into Jewish life.  Moreover, eventually the Septuagint paved the way for the advancement of non-Jewish “Biblical” religions. Unlike pagan cults which were clearly antagonistic to the Tora, these new religions were now supposedly grounded on the Jewish Scripture! The Hebrew Bible was now interpreted and reinterpreted to justify whatever ideas or beliefs non-Jewish monarchs or priests wished to say or teach “in the name of the Bible”. 
(BTW, the official Jewish translation of the Tora is Targum Onqelos (=Targum Didan) done ca. 100 CE).
Read here more about 
the month of Tebet , 
from ou.org.



The fast of the Tenth of Tebet

This coming Sunday December 23rd, 2012, we will observe the Tenth of Tebet, a fast day, which reminds us of three tragic events. 
1. The main event we remember in this day is the onset of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuḥadnezzar, the King of Babylonia. The siege of the city signaled the beginning of the battle that ultimately destroyed Yerushalayim and the first Bet haMiqdash in the year 586 BCE. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed or sent as captives to the Babylonian exile. The date of the Tenth of Tebet was recorded by the prophet Yeḥezqel, who was already in Babylonia, with the first group of Jews exiled by Nebuḥadnezzar, eleven years earlier than the actual destruction of the Temple.
2. On this day we also remember the death of Ezra haSofer (=the Scribe).  Approximately in the year 516 BCE a group of Jews (roughly forty thousand) came back to Ereṣ Israel with the blessing of the Persian Emperor Cyrus. They were led by Neḥemia and Ezra the Scribe. Ezra had the responsibility to reeducate the Jews who, after more than two generations in exile, had forgotten their language, the Tora and its laws and adopted many customs and values from the Babylonian culture. In the absence of a King or any other political institution, Ezra formed the Anshe Keneset haGedola, the first “Jewish Congress”, composed of 120 scholars and prophets. They established many rulings to maintain and retrieve Jewish values. For example, the days of Tora reading, the text of the Amida (main prayer), many decrees to prevent intermarriage and much more. Ezra was considered by the Rabbis as the historic link between the written Tora and the oral Tora. Together with Neḥemia, they began the building of the second Bet haMiqdash. Ezra died on a 9th of Tebet. He was regarded by our Rabbis as second to Moshe Rabbenu.
(To be continued…)  

Click here to read 
Talking to your kids about the Connecticut school shooting.
by Yvette Alt Miller, from Aish



What do we commemorate on the 10th of Tebet?(1)

7th of Tebet, 5770

Approximately in the year 300 BCE, on the 8th of TebetKing Ptolemy of Egypt forced 70 Jewish scholars to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek. The Talmud relates 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. Still, the rabbis of the time considered this project negative. The Talmud records that when this translation became public “darkness descended on the world”.
Why? Because the Greek Bible –known as the Septuagint- aided the advance of the agenda of the Hellenist Jews to bring Greek culture into Jewish life and was strategically used by other religions to, eventually, create a new religion. In fact, as the Talmud tells us, the translation of the Bible would allow the nations of the world to claim, “Anu Israel!” “We are the NEW Israel!”

The 9th day of Tebetcommemorates the death of Ezra the Scribe (5thCentury BCE). 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. (adapted from rabbi Berel Wein)
This coming Sunday 12/27 is the 10th of Tebet, a fast day, and these two events are among the tragedies that we commemorate then.

 

More on the impact of the Septuagint: http://www.ou.org/publications/ja/5763/5763winter/THINKING.PDF