A Jewish fast that lasts until nightfall tonight recalls the ancient siege of Jerusalem

Hartmann Schedel’s Destruccio Iherosolime (The Destruction of Jerusalem), a woodcut dated 1493, depicting the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II in 587 BCE

Patrick Comerford

Asarah B’Tevet (עֲשָׂרָה בְּטֵבֵת‎), a Jewish fast commemorating the siege of Jerusalem, began at dawn this morning (Friday 10 January 2025). The fast, known by its date in the Hebrew calendar, Tenth of Tevet, the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tevet, is a minor fast day in Judaism. It commemorates the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. Like other minor fasts, Asarah B’Tevet begins at dawn or the first light and ends at nightfall or full dark.

Asarah B’Tevet is unique in two ways: it is the only fast that can fall on Friday and it is the only fast that cannot fall on Shabbat.

Asarah B’Tevet is observed as a day of fasting, mourning and repentance. On this day, pious and observant Jews try to refrain from food and drink from daybreak to nightfall, and add Selichot or penitential prayers and other special supplements to their prayers. The fast ends at nightfall, or as soon as one see three medium-sized stars in the sky.

The fasting is in mourning for the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II, an event that began on this date and that led to in the destruction of Solomon’s Temple, the First Temple, the downfall of the Kingdom of Judah, and the Babylonian exile of the Jewish people.

The fast day is not related to Hanukkah but follows that festival by one week. Whether the 10th of Tevet occurs seven or eight days after the last day of Hanukkah depends on whether the preceding Hebrew month of Kislev has 29 or 30 days in the relevant year.

According to II Kings, on the 10th day of the 10th month, in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign (588 BCE), Nebuchadnezzar II began the siege of Jerusalem. Eighteen months later, on the 17th of Tammuz at the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign (586 BCE), he broke through the city walls. Later, the Romans would similarly break through the walls of Jerusalem on the 17th of Tammuz.

The siege by Nebuchadnezzar ended with the destruction of the Temple three weeks later, on Tisha B’Av, the end of the first kingdoms. The elite of Judah were taken in exile to Babylon. The Tenth of Tevet is part of the cycle of three fasts connected with these events.

The first reference to the Tenth of Tevet as a fast appears in Zechariah 8, where it is called the ‘fast of the tenth month.’ One opinion in the Talmud states that the ‘fast of the tenth month’ refers to the fifth of Tevet, when, according to Ezekiel, news of the destruction of the Temple reached those already in exile in Babylon. However, the tenth is the date observed today, according to another opinion found in the Talmud. Other references to the fast and the affliction can be found in Ezekiel and Jeremiah.

According to tradition, the fast also commemorates other calamities that occurred throughout Jewish history on the Tenth of Tevet and the two days preceding it.

On the eighth day of Tevet one year during the 3rd century BCE, a time of Hellenistic rule of Judea during the Second Temple period, Ptolemy II Philadelphus ordered the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek. It is said 72 sages were placed in solitary confinement and ordered to translate the Torah into Greek. This work later became known as the Septuagint.

Judaism now sees this event as a tragedy, reflecting a deprivation and debasement of the divine nature of the Torah and a subversion of its spiritual and literary qualities. They reasoned that the Torah’s legal codes and deeper layers of meaning would be lost when translated from the original Hebrew. Many Jewish laws are formulated in terms of specific Hebrew words employed in the Torah; without the original Hebrew wording, the authenticity and essence of the legal system would be damaged.

The mystical ideas contained in the Torah are also drawn from the original Hebrew. As such, these would not be accessed by individuals studying the Torah in Greek – or any other language – alone.

Tradition says that Ezra, the leader who brought some Jews back to the Land from the Babylonian exile and who ushered in the era of the Second Temple, died on 9 Tevet. But according to the earlier sources, the specific tragedy of 9 Tevet is unknown. Other sources add that Ezra and Nechemiah died on this day.

Because today is a minor fast day, those who are ill, even if their illnesses are not life-threatening, are exempt from fasting, as are pregnant and nursing women who find fasting difficult. Nor should one refrain from bathing in preparation for Shabbat when the Tenth of Tevet falls on a Friday, as happens this year.

The Tenth of Tevet is the only minor fast day that can fall on a Friday in the current Hebrew calendar. When it does, the unusual event of a Torah and Haftarah reading at the mincha right before Shabbat takes place. This is fairly rare, but happens this year on this day (10 January 2025), and also happened in 2023.

If the Tenth of Tevet falls on a Friday, then the fast is observed until nightfall, even though Shabbat begins before sunset, and even though this requires one to enter Shabbat hungry from the fast, something typically avoided. It cannot be determined for sure whether other fasts would have the same ruling, because no other fast day can fall on Friday, except for the Fast of the Firstborn when Passover begins on Friday night.

In Israel, Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the deceased, is recited on this day for people whose date or place of death is unknown. Consequently, many rabbis have designated this as a day of remembrance for the Holocaust and the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. The kaddish is recited on this day for people whose date or place of death during the Holocaust is not known. Because of this, today’s fast has acquired its unofficial Hebrew name, Yom Ha-kaddish ha-kleli, or the General Kaddish Day.

Shabbat Shalom, שבת שלום‎

Daily prayer in Christmas 2024-2025: 17, Friday 10 January 2025

Reading from the scrolls in the synagogue … ‘Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur,’ Maurycy Gottlieb (1856-1879), Vienna, 1878, Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Patrick Comerford

The 40-day season of Christmas continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers William Laud (1645), Archbishop of Canterbury.

I have an appointment at my GP’s later today for my regular, three-month injection for my B12 deficiency. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘He went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom’ (Luke 4: 16) … inside the Spanish Synagogue in Prague (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 4: 14-22 (NRSVA):

14 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. 15 He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.
16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

18 ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’

20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’

‘He stood up to read and … he unrolled the scroll’ (Luke 4: 18-19) … a scroll in the Jewish Museum in the Ghetto in Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

Traditionally, the Church associates Epiphany-tide with three public, epiphany moments, before beginning to look at Christ’s public ministry:

• The visit by the wise men, who, on behalf of the nations of the world, acknowledge him as king, priest, prophet and king with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh (Matthew 2: 1-12, 6 January 2025).

• Christ’s baptism by Saint John the Baptist in the River Jordan, when he is acknowledged in a Trinitarian movement by both the Father and the Holy Spirit as the Son of God (Luke 3: 15-17, 21-22, 12 January 2025).

• The Wedding at Cana, which is the first of the seven signs in the Fourth Gospel, and which sees Christ reveal his glory so that his disciples believe in him (John 2: 1-11, 19 January 2025).

These three Epiphany moments are brought together in the Gospel reading on the Sunday that follows (Luke 4: 14-21, 26 January 2025). The Lectionary provides a similar Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Luke 4: 14-22):

• Jesus is seen in this reading as king prophet, and priest: King, in the majestic way in which he proclaims the Jubilee Year on behalf of God who is the Sovereign Lord; priest in the way he becomes the mediator between God and his people, in a liturgical context, opening up the way to salvation; and prophet in bringing to their true completion the promises of the prophets of old.

• The Spirit that descended on him at his baptism is manifest that Saturday morning as he declares: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me’ (verse 18). That Epiphany moment at the Jordan was not a once-off experience of the Spirit; the Spirit remained with Christ, and he continues to act throughout his ministry in a Trinitarian movement.

• The miracle at Cana was a foretaste of the heavenly banquet and as a consequence the disciples believed. In this reading, we see that God’s promises are not just fanciful, they are to be fulfilled. And as a consequence of what Jesus said, ‘all spoke well of him and were amazed …’ (verse 22).

Of course, rejection was to follow, and that is the subject of the verses that follow this Gospel reading (Luke 4: 22-30). This rejection story provides the Gospel reading on the following Sunday (Luke 4: 21-30), except on years such as this when the Feast of the Presentation (Candlemas) is celebrated (2 February 2025).

The Gospel reading today bridges the interlude between the Christmas and Epiphany stories and the beginning of Christ’s Galilean Ministry.

Saint Mark’s Gospel places the rejection of Christ by the people of Nazareth at the end of his first year of his ministry (see Mark 6: 1-6), Saint John places it when he returns from Jerusalem and after his meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well (see John 4: 43-45), while Saint Luke places it at the beginning of his ministry, although we are told at the beginning of this reading that there was an earlier period of ministry in neighbouring parts of Galilee (verses 14-15), perhaps in Capernaum.

Instead of succumbing to the temptations of a dramatic but false start to his Messianic ministry (Luke 4: 1-14), Christ begins his ministry in a very slow, thoughtful and considerate way. At the beginning of this reading, we are told that it was habitual in the first stage of his ministry for Jesus to attend the synagogue on a Saturday, and we are told too that he taught in the synagogues regularly (verse 15). Regular worship, scripture readings and teaching are the foundations of this ministry and for any action in it.

There was no ordained minister in a synagogue. Even in those places where there was a resident rabbi, he was an arbiter and a teacher, but not an ordained liturgical leader.

The synagogue would have been controlled by a board of elders, the equivalent of a PCC or select vestry in our parishes today, and by the chazzan or cantor or attendant. On Saturdays, the sabbath service began with the Shema (‘Hear O Israel …’ Deuteronomy 6: 4-9), and included prayers, fixed readings from the Torah or the Law, a reading from the Prophets, a sermon, and a blessing.

The two readings were in Hebrew, with a running translation into the vernacular, which was normally in Aramaic but might have been in Greek in many places.

It would have been normal for literate adult male Jews to be called in turn to read the Scriptures in the synagogue: first those who were of priestly descent, the cohanim; then the Levites; and then the other Israelites. So, on this particular Saturday, Jesus may have been the third person called on to read, or he may even have been further down the list.

The scroll of Isaiah was given to him by the chazzan, the cantor or attendant of the synagogue, who combined the functions that in a parish we might now associate with the sexton, verger, churchwarden, Sunday school teacher and reader. And it is to him that Christ returns the scroll when he is finished reading from it (verse 20).

The portion Christ reads from (verse 18-19) is actually three verses, and we should note that they do not come in sequence: Isaiah 61: 1, part only of verse 2 and a portion of Isaiah 58: 6. And so, even if Christ had been handed a pre-selected portion of Scripture to read – perhaps following in sequence from two or more previous readers – we see a deliberate choice by Christ to roll back the scroll and to insert a portion of that extra verse, Isaiah 58: 6.

So often I hear complaints when the compilers and editors of the lectionary omit or jump over certain verses in readings in order to provide coherence and continuity, but this is what appears to be happening here.

Having read while standing, Christ then sat down, the normal posture at the time for someone who is then teaching. After he sat down, all eyes were on him (verse 20), so it was he who was expected to preach and teach that sabbath day.

Christ tells the congregation that the Scripture has been fulfilled in their hearing. Scripture has not been read that morning just to comply with part of the ritual; it actually has immediate meaning, significance and relevance that day. Christ is not merely reading the words, he is promising to see them put into action, to transform hope into reality.

In reflecting on this Gospel reading, it is interesting to recall that how Abraham Lincoln used his second inaugural address to do something no President had ever done before – to speak in critical terms of the nation. He did so in order to name the evil of slavery, the toll it had exacted in human flesh and warfare, and to address the need to stay the course and bring an end to both the war and the cause of that war.

One commentator has said this Gospel reading is like Christ’s inaugural address. Here he sets out his priorities, his hopes, his expectations, even if people of faith are reluctant at times to co-operate and give him their votes.

If we see who Christ is then we must journey with him towards Calvary and Good Friday and the Garden and Easter Morning. And on that way, we take up the challenge from the previous Sunday at Cana to ‘Do whatever he tells you.’

He tells those who hear him in this reading that at the heart of everything he does and everything he asks us to do:

• to bring good news to the poor
• to proclaim release to the captives
• to proclaim recovery of sight to the blind
• to let the oppressed go free
• to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

This morning’s Gospel reading is good news, and not just to the poor and oppressed in Nazareth in the past. Who are the poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed in our midst today? And are we happy with them knowing that compassion for them is at the heart of Christ’s ministry and mission?

Is it too much for us to recover the message that links Christmas faith and Easter faith – that declares that the Gospel is good news for the poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed among us today?

It is good news that may challenge us – that may take us outside our comfort zones. But if we step outside our comfort zone and recover this good news, then we can play our part in restoring the relevance of the Gospel and of the Church to a society today that is overwhelmed by bad news.

One commentator has said this Gospel reading is like Christ’s inaugural address. Here he sets out his priorities, his hopes, his expectations, even if people of faith are reluctant at times to co-operate and give him their votes.

Donald Trump is due to be inaugurated as President of the US in ten days’ time, at the US Capitol in Washington DC on 20 January 2025, beginning his second term as the 47th President of the US. I can hardly imagine he has the moral fibre of Abraham Lincoln, I certainly cannot imagine him using his second inaugural address to speak in critical terms of the nation, naming the evils of present-day subjugation and slavery, the toll it had exacted in human flesh and warfare, and to address the need to stay the course and bring an end to both the war and the cause of that war.

I certainly cannot expect him to deliver an inaugural address in which promises his priorities for the next four years are:

• to bring good news to the poor
• to proclaim release to the captives
• to proclaim recovery of sight to the blind
• to let the oppressed go free
• to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

‘He went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom’ (Luke 4: 16) … inside La Scuola Greca Synagogue in Corfu (Photograph: Patrick Comerford

Today’s Prayers (Friday 10 January 2025):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘The Melanesian Brotherhood Centenary’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update by Ella Sibley, Regional Manager for Europe and Oceania, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 10 January 2025) invites us to pray:

Lord, guide and strengthen the 50 new novices joining the brothers this year, may they grow in faith and service of you.

The Collect:

O God,
who by the leading of a star
manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth:
mercifully grant that we,
who know you now by faith,
may at last behold your glory face to face;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Lord God,
the bright splendour whom the nations seek:
may we who with the wise men have been drawn by your light
discern the glory of your presence in your Son,
the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Creator of the heavens,
who led the Magi by a star
to worship the Christ-child:
guide and sustain us,
that we may find our journey’s end
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

Jesus in the Synagogue, as imagined by the Northern Ireland-born artist Greg Olsen

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org