10th Tevet - a contextual journey

(1) (1) We are obligated to fast on the ninth of Av (Tisha b'Av) and the seventeenth of Tammuz (Shiva-Asar b'Tammuz), as well as on the third of Tishrei (Tzom Gedalia) and the tenth of Tevet (Asarah b'Tevet) (2) on account of the terrible things that occurred on these days.

(1) And in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar moved against Jerusalem with his whole army. He besieged it; and they built towers against it all around. (2) The city continued in a state of siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

Ezra made 10 enactments (1) Reading the Torah at Min'ha on Shabbat - (2) Reading the Torah on Mondays and Thursdays - (3) Beth Din sits to judge on Mondays and Thursdays

It happened that King Ptolemy brought together seventy-two elders and placed them in seventy-two [separate] rooms, without telling them why he had brought them together, and he went in to each one of them and said to him, Translate for me the Torah of Moses your master. God then gave each one of them wisdom and they all conceived the same idea. And they wrote for him,

R. Yohanan further said: Scripture says, “God will enlarge Yapheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem” (Genesis 9:26); [this means] that the words of Yapheth shall be in the tents of Shem.

(2) As soon as you have crossed the Jordan into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones. Coat them with plaster (3) and inscribe upon them all the words of this Teaching. (8) And on those stones you shall inscribe every word of this Teaching most distinctly.

(8) באר היטב EXPLAINING THEM WELL — i.e. in seventy languages

(2) They have taken their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that their offspring has become intermingled with the peoples of the land; and it is the officers and prefects who have taken the lead in this trespass.” (3) When I heard this, I rent my garment and robe, I tore hair out of my head and beard, and I sat desolate. (4) Around me gathered all who were concerned over the words of the God of Israel because of the returning exiles’ trespass, while I sat desolate until the evening offering.

(6) Five events befell out ancestors on the seventeeth of Tamuz and five on the Ninth of Av. On the seventeenth of Tamuz, the Tablets were broken, the Tamid offering was ended, the city walls were breached, Apaustamous burned the Torah, an idol was placed in the temple courtyard. On the Ninth of Av, it was decreed upon our ancestors that they would not be allowed to enter the Land of Israel, the First and Second temples were destroyed, Beitar was captured, The city of Jerusalem was plowed over. From when the month of Av starts, we reduce joy.

(19) Thus said the LORD of Hosts: The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth month, the fast of the seventh month, and the fast of the tenth month shall become occasions for joy and gladness, happy festivals for the House of Judah; but you must love honesty and integrity.