The Avudraham says that were Asarah B’Tevet to fall on Shabbos we would fast on Shabbos. Why does it warrant fasting even on Shabbos? Shiur provided courtesy of Torah Anytime

Chanukah occurs during the 8 darkest days (the last days of the month) of the darkest month of the year. Why do they break ground on the Second Temple on the last week of Kislev, the darkest time of the year? Recorded at OU Israel’s L’Ayla Rosh Chodesh Women’s Event

In Zechariah the fast days are not connected to specific days but to specific months. Unlike the other fast days connected to the Churban, were Asara B’Tevet to fall on Shabbos we would fast on Shabbos. The purpose of a fast is to do teshuva for the events that occured on that day. If Asara […]

The Gemara in Maseches Rosh HaShana (18b) says that there are three categories regarding the four fasts (of Asarah b’Teves, Shiva Asar b’Tamuz, Tisha b’Av, and Tzom Gedaliah) : 1) when there is gezeiras malchus (persecution) all four fasts are obligatory as fasts, 2) when there is no gezeiras malchus but also not shalom only Tisha b’Av is obligatory, and the rest are optional, 3) when there is shalom all four are Yamim Tovim.  […]

Why do we fast on Tisha B’av?  The primary answer, of course, is to remember the destruction of the Bet HaMikdash and Yerushalayim. Yet, according to the Navi Zechariah, not only Tisha B’av, but all four of the fast days (in which we remember Yerushalayim) will one day take on an added dimension. In the […]

2 reasons are given for the fast of Asarah B’Tevet: 1 – because the siege of Jerusalem began and 2 –  because the Torah was translated. Why does the beginning of the siege specifically warrant a fast day? Why does the translation of the Torah warrant fasting?

At the beginning of the period of the Second Beit Hamikdash, the Second Temple, the people of Israel lived under Persian dominion. After the fall of the Persian Empire, Greece inherited her place, and Israel was subjugated to Greece. Ptolemy, one of the Greek Kings who succeeded Alexander (The ‘Great’) of Macedonia, wanted the Jewish […]

This task which Ptolemy imposed on the 72 Elders was beyond human capacity. The Torah was written so that its content might be open to a great variety of possible interpretations. The Torah was given in the Hebrew together with a prescribed method for interpreting its words, verses and letters; thereby eliciting the wide range […]

To understand why the translation of the Torah into Greek was a cause for fasting, we need to understand the ramifications of having the Torah translated. An Analysis of the translation of the Torah into Greek and the Fast of the tenth of Teves. Presented by Rabbi Steven Weil.

In the State of 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 it as a day of remembrance for the Holocaust. ‘And it was in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, […]