Chanuka & the Fast of Tevet

Shabbat Vayigash 5768

In our journey through the Jewish year, we have just left Chanukah and are travelling towards the Fast of the Tenth of Tevet (Asara B'Tevet) which falls this coming Wednesday. Although seemingly opposites, one occasion is happy while the other sad, there is a common theme to both these events.

The Hebrew word Chanukah - is related to Chinuch, which means Jewish Education. As we shall see, Asara B'Tevet too emphasises the fundamental importance of the role that parents play in the education and development off their offspring.

Although many people are unaware of it, the Fast of the Tenth of Teves is in a certain way the most severe of all the Rabbinically ordained fasts, and is akin to Yom Kippur. So strict is the fast that were it to fall on Shabbos, we would actually have to fast all day Shabbos. This is more severe even than Tisha B’Av, which is postponed until Sunday.

What is the reason for this stringency? After all, Asara B’Teves merely commemorates the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzer of Babylon, which occurred a full two and a half years before the destruction of the city and theTemple, commemorated on Tisha B’Av?
In a penetrating insight, the Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that the powerful lesson to be learnt from this is that everything depends on the beginning. Had we drawn the right conclusions at the time of the siege - at the beginning - none of the subsequent calamities would have occurred. But we were complacent and let the problem ride, thinking that it would somehow just go away, until it was too late. To emphasise the importance of intervention at the beginning of the problem, the fast of the Tenth of Teves is the most severe of all fasts.

How many times do we find, with the benefit of hindsight, that what at the time appeared no more than a slight deviation, led to totally unforeseen tragedies? A ship changing course at sea by no more than a degree, can soon find itself many hundreds of miles off course.
 As parents we have a unique responsibility for our children's welfare. Our choices, both the ones we make for them, as well as the ones that they see us making for ourselves, will affect the kind of human beings that they will become. Even small things can have a massive impact - for both good and bad.

It's important to make children aware of the manner in which we observe Jewish laws and customs, support charitable causes, respect Torah learning and of course learn Torah ourselves. There is no room for modesty when it comes to our children. We are their prime role models and the way that we act is sure to have a profound impact on them.
On the other hand, bad behaviours learnt at home can have an extraordinarily damaging effect on the developing child. A child always learns from our behaviour, not from our lectures. "Do as I act, not as I do" always falls on deaf ears, but especially when it comes to our children who can see right through us.

Perhaps not everyone will fast on the Tenth of Tevet, but we can certainly all use the day to rededicate ourselves to one of the only responsibilities that really matters - the nature and manner of our impact on those who will come after us!

Rabbi Benzion Milecki OAM
December 14, 2007