Today is the anniversary of when the Babylonians laid siege on Jerusalem, meaning the beginning of the end of the First Temple. We are reminded that this happened because we did not treat each other morally or ethically.
A Reflection on Asarah b’Tevet (the 10th of Tevet)
Today is Asarah b’Tevet, one of the fast days mentioned in Tanakh. It commemorates the day when the Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem, marking the beginning of the end of the First Temple (Beit HaMikdash).
If we look at the Jewish calendar, there are six fast days that we observe.
- Yom Kippur is biblical, explicitly commanded in the Torah.
- The Fast of Esther relates to the events in Persia during the Purim story.
The other four fast days—
- the 10th of Tevet,
- the 17th of Tammuz,
- Tisha B’Av, and
- the Fast of Gedaliah—
are all connected to the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash and the loss of Jewish sovereignty during the First Temple period.
What is striking is that the reason for these calamities is always described in the same way by our sages. It was not simply that the Babylonians had a larger or stronger army. If Hashem had not allowed it, no empire—no matter how powerful—could have conquered Israel.
The Rabbis explain that the true cause was moral and ethical failure: Jews were not treating one another with respect. There was corruption, injustice, and ethical decline. Hashem tells us, in effect:
If you bring offerings incorrectly, I can deal with that. But if you mistreat one another—if you behave immorally and unethically toward your fellow human beings—that is something that cannot be ignored.
There is a powerful story about the Chafetz Chaim. In 1933, on a Friday night, he was sitting with students who were discussing how horrific World War I had been. Many had called it “the war to end all wars,” especially given how devastating it was for Eastern European Jewry.
The Chafetz Chaim interrupted them and said:
If you think the last war was terrible, people will laugh at it compared to what will come after the next war.
They were shocked and asked what he meant. He answered that such devastation would come because Jews were not treating each other properly—because of lashon hara, unethical behavior, and a lack of respect between people. And, tragically, his words proved prophetic.
The message is clear. Hashem wants our prayers, our mitzvot, and our devotion in matters between man and God. But what brings punishment most swiftly—and what sustains redemption—is how we behave between one person and another.
If we mistreat each other, act unethically, or lack basic human decency, those failures come back to haunt us. That, perhaps, is the most important lesson of these fast days.
Something to think about.
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