1. Asarah B’Tevet The Fast of 10 Tevet and other sad events

2. A Month of Sad Events
We remember three sad events that occurred in this month:
The Torah was translated into Greek
The death of Ezra
The city of Jerusalem came under siege

3. The Torah was translated
Event #1
The Torah was translated
into Greek
8th of Tevet

4. The Greeks Take Control
After the fall of the Persian Empire, the Greeks took control.
They controlled much of the Middle East, including Israel.
King Ptolemy (of Egypt) was appointed ruler of the region.

5. The Decree Ptolemy ordered that the Torah be translated into Greek.
He assembled 72 of the greatest Torah scholars of the time.
Each scholar was ordered to write his own translation of the entire Torah.
Scholars were assigned to different rooms, so that no two scholars shared the same location.

6. Why Was This Decree So Bad?
Until now, the Torah had always been written in its original Hebrew.
Translating it meant that other nations could read it…and possibly misinterpret it.
Ptolemy intentionally put each scholar in a different room – so that they could not communicate with one another.
Prevented them from speaking about which changes to make.

7. A Miracle – But Not Enough
A miracle happened – even though the 72 scholars couldn’t speak to one another, they all made the same changes.
Changed the words of the pesukim that were hard to understand.
Despite the miracle, the Torah was now officially translated into Greek.
The final translations were made on the 8th of Tevet.

8. Event #2
The death of
Ezra
9th of Tevet

9. Who was Ezra? A scribe (wrote Torah scrolls)
Came from Aharon’s family line of kohanim
One of the first leaders after the period of Nevi’im finished
Led the Jews back to Israel after the first Beit HaMikdash was destroyed
Granted permission by the Persians
Many Jews accompanied him, but many did not
Did not want to leave their comfortable homes behind
Introduced new decrees to make people more religious

10. What His Death Meant
The death of Ezra created a big loss for the Jewish people.
Losing your star quarterback for the entire season
Lack of leadership created chaos and confusion
He died on the 9th of Tevet

11. Jerusalem is under siege
Event #3
Jerusalem is under siege
10th of Tevet

12. Consequences The Jews were not observing Torah and mitzvot
Hashem decided that they must receive a consequence for their bad choices.
The Babylonians (Bavel) were chosen by Hashem to carry out this consequence.
King Nevuchadnezer led the attack

13. The Beginning of the End
The Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem
Siege = when nothing can leave or enter the city, including food
Built forts all around the walls of the city to make sure that nothing passed through
The siege lasted for three years
Intense famine
Hope is lost

14. Timeline of Events 10th of Tevet 10th of Av 9th of Av
THREE YEARS LATER…
Babylonians
lay siege
around
Jerusalem
City walls
are
breached
Beit
HaMikdash
destroyed

15. Why We Fast On the 10th of Tevet
Even though the actual destruction of the Beit HaMikdash did not occur until the 9th of Av (7 months after the siege), we fast on the day when it all began, the day of the siege.

16. Write a thoughtful response to the following questions
Think and Respond
Directions:
Write a thoughtful response to
the following questions
What three sad events took place around
the time of Asarah B’Tevet?
2. In terms of the sad events that took place, how
is the 10th of Tevet different from the 9th of Av?
3. How do you think the people of Israel felt
on the 10th of Tevet? Describe a scene from
Israel from that day.
4. How can we make changes in our daily routine
to prevent something like from happening again?