Tevet Newsletter 5785

 Initiated by the "Beyadenou "Association , for the second time in the past three years, the Knesset’s Education Committee is demanding that the Ministry of Education include the topic of the Temple Mount as part of the school curriculum. 

During the discussion, the need to increase awareness among the younger generation of the importance of the Temple Mount and the Third Temple to the Jewish nation.
At the end of the discussion, MK Moshe Taieb, Chairperson of the Education Committee, announced the Committee decision that repeats its call to include the topic of the Temple Mount and the Holy Temple as part of the core curriculum in the education system.

In 2024, 52,332 Israeli Jews and 28,419 tourists ascended the Temple Mount.
What about you ?

On the Fast of the Tenth of Tevet, Ezekiel states: ‘And the word of the LORD came unto me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, saying: Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this selfsame day; this selfsame day the king of Babylon hath invested Jerusalem.” (Chapter24)

Abudahram notes that the tenth of Tevet is different than other fasts. If it had fallen on Shabbat, it would not have been postponed to another day, because it says
"in fact this day", similar to Yom Kippur and Taanit Halom (Fast for a Bad Dream), which also postpones Shabbat.

Fasts such as the Seventeenth of Tammuz, Tisha be’Av and the Fast of Gedalia note tragic events from the past.Therefore, they cannot apply on Shabbat, a day of rest and joy . In contrast, Yom Kippur and Taanit Halom involves correction, repentance and renewal, a fast pertaining to pleasure, and as such can be performed on Shabbat.

Moses Sofer explains that the period of Nebuchadnezzer’s siege was a time of discussion in the Heavenly Court about the fate of Jerusalem. In the first years, the people of Israel were given opportunities to repent. However, in the end, the city was ultimately destroyed, the Temple was expanded and the Nation was doomed to exile.
Every year, on this day, God judges and another decision is made: whether the Holy Temple be built, or, Heaven forbid, the exile will continue. Hence, the fast of the Tenth of Tevet focuses on what will happen in the future.

The Taanit in the Gemara states: “I shall not enter Jerusalem above, in heaven, until I enter Jerusalem on earth down below.” The Sages teach us that the way to influence the decision of the Heavenly Court is by correcting actions and relationships between people.

As the Prophet Zechariah explains, the house was destroyed “but they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.”
The way to correct it is in the following words: "Speak ye every man the truth with his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates; and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath; for all these are things that I hate, saith the LORD.'" (Zecharia 8:16)

The key to redemption lies in reinforcing the bonds between people.
"Who is rich?One who is happy with is lot" .
We must rejoice in our part and the part of others, praise and focus on their virtues. By doing so, we can bring the redemption closer and transform the days of fast to days of happiness and joy, as stated: 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 to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful seasons; therefore love ye truth and peace”

Because the Tenth of Tevet is a day of fast that symbolizes the future, it reminds us to engage in the building of the Third Temple - in studies, education, family, acts and prayers, for it to be rebuilt quickly in our time. 

That's why the Tenth of Tevet gets tremendous power in this aspect.