Entering the Fast Cycle - Exiting the Destruction Cycle

The month of Tevet marks the darkest time during the year, physically and spiritually. The sages teach us to be careful during the hotspots of this cycle - not to get aggravated, not to start fights, to keep a low profile, and not to set out on daring and dangerous endeavours.

The 10th of Tevet marks the beginning of the 2.5-year destruction cycle, when the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar began the final stage of Jerusalem's destruction with its fateful culmination on the 9th of Av, the Destruction of the First Temple.

It is important to note that the Babylonian exile progressed in phases. First, only the influential and high-profile Jews were exiled, allowing the lower classes to maintain the Land under Babylonian rule. But as the rebellions continued, Nebuchadnezzar understood that the only way to break the Jewish spirit was to go for the core of Jewish life, the Temple, the seat of the Torah. The Tablets with the 10-Commandment and a Torah scroll were kept inside the Ark of the Covenant, seated within the Holy of Holies.

"And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about."

2 Kings 25:1

The prophet Zechariah mentions this cycle in chapters 7 and 8. He emphasizes that if these fasts are accompanied by the correct intentions and consciousness, we have the power to turn the cycle of destruction into times of joy and gladness.

'Thus says the L-RD of hosts: 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 truth and peace.'

Zecheriah 8:19

The fast of the 10th of Tevet falls this year on Tuesday, 30 December. We are in the time between Hanukkah, when a great light enters our world, and Purim. It is a sgula (symbolic act acting as a spiritual tool) that you need to have a dreidel (the top that we spin during Hanukkah) on your table till Purim, as there is a deep connection between Hanukkah and Purim - both times of miracles, victory, and salvation. During Purim, the Book of Esther says, "V'Nafoch Hu" - and it was turned around, turned on its head. The decree of annihilation was turned into victory.

Let's use this auspicious arch of turnarounds to dismantle the destructive cycle and usher in times of Joy, heeding to Zecheriah's instruction:

'These are the things that you shall do: Speak 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, says the L-RD.'

Zechariah 8:16-17