Ari Levisohn: Welcome to Into the Verse, where we share new and unexpected insights about an upcoming holiday… diving deep into the verses to uncover the Torah’s own commentary on itself.

Hi. This is Ari Levisohn. So Tuesday is Asara B’Tevet, one of the minor fast days. This one tends to get forgotten and overshadowed by the other fast days in our calendar - Yom Kippur, Tisha b’Av, even Shiva Asar b’Tammuz. It’s so easy to let this day slip by without even noticing, but that’s a shame, because I think there is so much to gain from it. In this week’s episode, Rivky Stern, a member of the Aleph Beta family, teaches us about the significance of this day, taking a look at how the Torah itself describes it, and emerging with some really powerful insights. 

Just a note, Rivky is going to talk about how the events of Asara B’Tevet are described in a few different books of Tanach: Melachim Bet - which is Kings II, Yirmiyahu - which is Jeremiah, and Yechezkel- which is Ezekiel. And you’ll hear me popping in in the middle, just to clarify a point.  Alright, here’s Rivky. 

Rivky Stern: Every year we have four different fast days that commemorate the events surrounding our national exile. They are:

1. Shiva Asar B'Tammuz, when the Babylonians broke through the walls of Jerusalem to capture the city.
2. Then three weeks later Tisha B'Av, the day that the first and second temples were destroyed,
3. Then right after Rosh Hashanah, we have Tzom Gedaliah, the day that the last hope for Jewish sovereignty in Israel, after the destruction, was violently slashed down.
4. And finally, Asara B'Tevet, when the Babylonian army surrounded the walls of Jerusalem where they waited for two and half years. Oh, and they also built some towers there.

Conquest, destruction, exile, the downfall of a kingdom; each of these is a really big deal – a stand-alone catastrophe – and then there's Asara B'Tevet: a foreign nation surrounds Jerusalem's walls, and puts up some scaffolding. They didn't invade; they didn't shoot any arrows or take any captives. They just came and set up camp. Why fast on this day?

Now it's true that Asara B'Tevet doesn't seem to be so significant when compared to the other three fast days, but if we look at how the day is described in Tanach, a slightly different picture begins to emerge – a picture that helps us understand why Asara B'Tevet is commemorated with its own fast day.

How is Asara B'Tevet Described in Tanach?

The first place it's described is at the end of the book of Melachim Bet where we're given a play-by-play of the siege and the events that followed it. We find a very similar account in the final chapter in the book of Jeremiah. We also hear about it, though, in the book of Yechezkel in chapter 24, and unlike Melachim and Jeremiah, Yechezkel gives us a different perspective.

He was a prophet already living in exile in Babylonia at the time of the siege of Jerusalem. On that day, the 10th of Tevet, Yechezkel received a message from God, but instead of telling Yechezkel about the details of what was happening in Jerusalem, God sends him a different kind of message – a message which might shed some light onto our question about the importance of what was taking place on that day, בַּשָּׁנָה הַתְּשִׁיעִית בַּחֹדֶשׁ הָעֲשִׂירִי בֶּעָשׂוֹר לַחֹדֶשׁ – On Asara B'Tevet, the 10th day of the 10th month, God said:  בֶּן אָדָם כְּתׇב לְךָ אֶת שֵׁם הַיּוֹם  – (O mortal) Write down this date, אֶת־עֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה  – This selfsame day. סָמַךְ מֶלֶךְ־בָּבֶל אֶל יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם  – The king of Babylonia has laid siege to the Jerusalem. And then again God repeats: בְּעֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה – on this selfsame day (Ezekiel 24:1–2). 

This phrase, עֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה – this selfsame day, shows up not once, but twice. Now, throughout the Torah, this phrase is pretty unique. It shows up at critical moments of transition when an era comes to an end, and a new one begins.

A "selfsame day" includes an event that is so dramatic that what came before it is forever changed. For example, when Noach and his family step into the ark as the world around them is about to be drowned out by flood, the Torah says, it's בְּעֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה. The old world is coming to an end, and at the same time, on that "selfsame day," the potential for life in the new world enters into the safety of the ark (Genesis 7:13). 

We see it again at the moment of the Exodus from Egypt. As Israel turns their back on hundreds of years of slavery, בְּעֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה, they're transformed into free people. It marks the moment when their exile comes to an end and their redemption begins (Exodus 12:51).

Here in Yechezkel, it's also בְּעֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה. But how is Asara B'Tevet such a massive transitional moment? Such an epic event that it ushers in a new age of history?

A Closer Look at the Fast Day Chapter in Tanach

Let's take a look at the other text that describes the events of Asara B'Tevet, and we'll see.

וַיהְִי בִשְׁנַת הַתְּשִׁיעִית לְמָלְכוֹ בַּחדֶֹשׁ העָשֲׂירִי בֶּעָשׂוֹר לַחדֶֹשׁ בָּא נְבֻכַדְנֶאצַּר מֶלֶךְ בָּבֶל הוּא וְכָל חֵילוֹ עַל ירְוּשׁלַָםִ וַיּחִַן עלָיֶה וַיּבְִנוּ עלָיֶה דָּיֵק סָבִיב.

(II Kings 25:1) 

In the ninth year of the reign of King Tzidkiyahu on the tenth day of Tevet, Nebu'chadnetzar King of Babylonia moves against Jerusalem with his entire army. He besieges it and he builds towers all around its walls.

The siege isn't just an act of intimidation. The Babylonians aren't merely flexing their military muscles. They freeze the city's resources. Jerusalem is closed off to the outside. No food can enter the city, and soon enough, the people begin to starve. For two and a half years, they encircled Jerusalem, and a terrible famine takes hold of the city.

Then וַתִּבָּקַע הָעִיר, the wall of the city is breached (II Kings 25:4). The Babylonians invade a city that's already too weak and starved to defend itself. This happened on the 17th of Tammuz which would become a day of fasting and morning. Three weeks later an even greater terror strikes: בָּא נְבוּזַרְאֲדָן רַב טַבָּחִים עֶבֶד מֶלֶךְ־בָּבֶל יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִם – Nevuzaradan, the chief slaughterer of Babylonia comes to Jerusalem and a bloodbath ensues. ויַּשִׂרְףֹ אֶת בֵּית יקוָה – he burned down the house of God, וְאֶת בֵּית הַמֶּלֶךְ וְאֵת כָּל בָּתֵּי ירְוּשׁלַָםִ – he burns the king's palace and all of the houses of Jerusalem, וְאֶת חוֹמתֹ ירְוּשׁלַָםִ סָבִיב נתְָצוּ – and they tear down the walls of Jerusalem on every side (II Kings 25:8-10).

This is describing the first Tisha B'Av. There's carnage, destruction, and ruin. The Temple has been burned to the ground, and Jerusalem is left in shambles. Jerusalem is then pillaged. The Temple's gold and vessels are looted, and thousands of Jews are sent into exile in Babylonia.

And then as the dust and ash settle, an unexpected ray of hope is revived: Nebu'chadnetzar decides to appoint a leader over a small number of Jews who remained in the land of Israel.

וְהָעָם הַנּשְִׁאָר בְּאֶרֶץ יְהוּדָה אֲשֶׁר הִשְׁאִיר נְבוּכַדְנֶאצַּר מֶלֶךְ בָּבֶל וַיַּפְקֵד עֲלֵיהֶם אֶת גְּדַלְיהָוּ בֶּן אֲחִיקָם בֶּן שָׁפָן

(II Kings 25:22-26)

King Nebu'chadnetzar of Babylon put Gedaliah in charge of the people whom he left in the land of Judah.

Gedaliah assures his people that they are now safe, that their new rulers will treat them well. But his own kinsmen, they are not convinced. Afellow Jew of royal descent visits Gedaliah with 10 of his men, they murder Gedaliah, and also killed the others who were with him – Jews and non-Jews alike.

This is the final blow to the kingdom. Fearing for their lives, the remaining Jews flee to Egypt. There will be no more Jewish presence in the land. Exile is now a complete reality. The fateful day that this happened would forever be known as the "Fast of Gedaliah."

Ari: Hi, this is Ari popping in. Rivky just ran through the final chapter in Sefer Melachim, the Book of Kings. What Rivky is going to point out is that, interestingly, this whole narrative- the verses that speak of the events of all the other fast days, they all appear jammed together in this final chapter, like it’s one long story. It’s as if we’re meant to view them as a single unit. Here’s Rivky to elaborate on this idea.

The Beginning of the End

Rivky: So when we read about the siege of Jerusalem in Melachim Bet, it's much more than the day that the Babylonians surrounded Jerusalem. It's the first domino to fall in a string of events that include all of the other three fast days: the siege is laid, the walls are then breached, the Temple is destroyed, and Gedaliah is assassinated. It all happens right here in this chapter, and it all begins with Asara B'Tevet.

This day really was an “עֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה“ moment. When the Babylonians lay a siege upon Jerusalem, the tide begins to turn from the redeemed state of Jerusalem in the first Temple period to the beginning stages of the Babylonian exile.

Imagine what it was like. This was during the days of the first Temple. Jerusalem was the pride and glory of the Jewish people – the apple of God's eye. Great prophets like Yechezkel and Jeremiah lived among us. It was a time of spiritual vibrancy, an age of miracles.

And although the people had been warned time and time again to stop straying from God, to stop turning to the idols of their neighboring nations, none of them imagined that God would ever really abandon them. God would never destroy His own palace!

But the day came when they heard the chariots approaching, the blasts of trumpets calling for war. In the distance, they saw the Babylonians approaching, preparing to lay siege on the city of God.

When the Babylonian armies reached Jerusalem and set up camp around its walls, the people's sense of security quickly began to unravel. The unimaginable was taking place before their very eyes. The prominence and protection that they had enjoyed for all these years vanished into thin air.

בְּעֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה. This was the day that everything changed. At sunrise, we were in the lap of God's kingdom, but by nightfall, we were in the palm of our enemies, not knowing what the next morning would bring. Nevuchadnezzar didn’t need to invade the city or even shoot a single arrow; it was the harrowing sight of the Babylonians surrounding God’s city, our city, that pulled the rug out from under our feet. 

So this really is a day of great sadness and loss. It marks the beginning of the end of the first Temple. It was the day when our dreams began to shatter, and they shattered more and more in the days that followed.

Jeremiah's cry, !איכה – "how could it be!" could only be heard once the Temple was burned to the ground, but its seed was planted on Asara B'Tevet.

On this day, we fast and we grieve. It's a day to remember, even now, because throughout history, we continue to witness unthinkable horrors transform into new realities in a moment's glance.

For the Jewish people, Asara B'Tevet is when those moments began.

Ari: We commemorate the day when everything started to fall apart, because we recognize that Tisha B’Av and the destruction of the Temple wasn’t a one time tragedy. It was an event years in the making, and not just in the military sense. The Jews had been straying for generations, ignoring the warnings from the prophets. 

I wonder, perhaps if Jeremiah’s generation had recognized where things were heading they would have been able to change their ways and save Jerusalem before it was too late. We have the benefit of over two thousand years of hindsight to hypothesize about what they coulda-should-woulda done differently. But what I’m taking away from this episode…what I’m thinking about for this Asara B’Tevet, is that we can and should remember to have forethought about where our actions are driving us…will they get us stuck in a place we don’t want to be, surrounded by hostile forces or will we be able to chart a better course. Let’s use this Asara B’Tevet to change the course of history.. 

Credits

This episode was written and recorded by Rivky Stern. 

Into the Verse editing was done by Evan Weiner

Our senior editor was Beth Lesch

Our audio editor is Hillary Guttman. 

Our editorial director is me, Ari Levisohn. 

Thank you so much for listening and we’ll see you next week.