Tenth of Tevet (Hebrew: עשרה בטבת, Asara BeTevet), the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tevet, is a minor fast day in Judaism. It falls out either seven or eight days after the conclusion of Hannukah, depending on whether Rosh Chodesh of Tevet that year is observed for one day or two. The Tenth of Tevet commemorates the onset of the siege that Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia laid to ancient Jerusalem, an event that ultimately led to the destruction ...
more
Tenth of Tevet (Hebrew: עשרה בטבת, Asara BeTevet), the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tevet, is a minor fast day in Judaism. It falls out either seven or eight days after the conclusion of Hannukah, depending on whether Rosh Chodesh of Tevet that year is observed for one day or two. The Tenth of Tevet commemorates the onset of the siege that Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia laid to ancient Jerusalem, an event that ultimately led to the destruction of Solomon's Temple (the First Temple) and Babylonia's conquest of southern Israel's Kingdom of Judah.
The text in II Kings (25:1-25:4) tells us that on the 10th day of the 10th month (which is Tevet when counting from Nisan, the "first month" in the Tanach), in the ninth year of his reign, (588 BCE), Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, began the siege of Jerusalem. Two and a half years later, on the 9th of Tammuz (cf. Jeremiah 52.6-7), he broke through the city walls. The siege ended with the destruction of the Temple three weeks later, on...
less
