THE FAST OF THE TENTH OF TEVET

The day on which the 72 Elders concluded their Greek translation of the Torah - the 8th of Teves - was a sorrowful day for Israel. The sages described the event in M'gillas Ta'anis as follows:

"On the 8th of Teves the Torah was rendered into Greek during the days of King Ptolemy and darkness descended upon the world for three days."

The day was a turning point in the history of religion and Judaism much like the day the golden calf was fashioned. For until this first translation of the written Torah was made, one who desired to study the essence of Torah was obliged to become familiar with the language of the document and learned it from teachers who never separated the text from its Oral Torah - the essence of its understanding and application. Now that the text of the Written Torah was available and could be read without a feel of the original language or its oral tradition of interpretation, the sages saw in this situation ominous consequences.

Sensing that Ptolemy's desires were less than noble, the Elders were forced to change the literal meaning of certain passages, altering the text with insertions and deletions so that no aspirations may be cast on the contents of the Torah.

In a greater sense, however, the Torah - held to be a way of life for its followers - was now a literary document available to those who did not nor cared not to come under the living influence and dynamism of its tenets.

The Teneth of Tevet -

Why commemorate it as a fast day?

From the day they entered the Land of Canaan under the leadership of Joshua, the people of Israel inhabited their land for a period of 850 years. Of this period, 440 years elapsed until King Solomon built the First Temple, and another 410 years passed till the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnetzar, led his Chaldean forces to Jerusalem to destroy the Temple.

On the Tenth of Tevet, we commemorate as a fast day the day on which the Babylonians successfully laid seize to Jerusalem and beleaguered it until its final conquest.

World Kaddish Day

"In recent years, the Tenth of Tevet has been singled out as the Remembrance Day for the Jewish victims of Nazi barbarism during the tragic years of the Hitler regime. From 1939 to 1945 it is estimated that six million Jews, over one third of the entire world Jewish population, were put to death in the most savage onslaught against human life ever recorded in the whole of history. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel, not wishing to add yet another fast day to those already in the calendar, suggested that the six million martyrs be remembered on the Fast of the Tenth of Teves. The justification for choosing this day, is that the fast day which commemorates the first national tragedy of the Jews should also commemorate the most recent.Special prayers of memorial for the six million Jewish dead are read, while the Kaddish is said by all, and other rituals of remembrance are observed in Israel.

"It must be pointed out, however, that outside Israel, and perhaps even within the Jewish state itself, the Tenth of Tevet is hardly known as a day of memorial for the six million martyrs, and comparatively few people are aware of the new significance which has been attached to this day. It may because the Tenth of Tevet is after all, even in the minds of some observant Jews a "minor" fast, often neglected and forgotten, and it is not easy to raise the significance of a fast which is not widely observed.

"It is too soon to come to any conclusion about this aspect of the Tenth of Tevet, and it may well be that as a result of further education, and perhaps with new and appropriate liturgy to give religious expression to a people's unforgettable sorrow, this day may yet take its place as a sacred Day of Remembrance for the Jewish martyrs of the twentieth century."

(Quoted from "Minor Festivals and Fasts")