The Tenth of Tevet & The Mourning After

(1) We are required to fast on the 9th of Av, [and] on the 17th of Tammuz, and on the 3rd of Tishrei, and on the 10th of Tevet because of the bad occurrences that occurred on those [days].

(1) We are obliged to fast, etc. This obligation derives from the words of the prophets, as it is written in Scripture (Zech. 8:19), "The fast of the fourth, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth..." Our Sages, may their memories be for a blessing, explained that "the fast of the fourth" is the 17th of Tammuz, since it is in the fourth month according to the way we count the months; that "the fast of the fifth" is the Tish'ah B'Av [the 9th of Av], since it is in the fifth month; that "the fast of the seventh" is the Fast of Gedalia, since it is in the seventh month [Tishrei]; and that "the fast of the tenth" is the 10th of Tevet, since it is in the tenth month. On all of these days, all Israel fasts because of the misfortunes that befell them on these days, in order to arouse their hearts to open up to the paths of repentance [teshuvah]. This [fasting] will be a recollection of our evil deeds and the deeds of our ancestors which were like our deeds now, such that they caused them--and us--these misfortunes, and in the recollection of these things we will return [nashuv] to become better [people], as it is written (Lev. 26:40), "And they will confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their ancestors..." Therefore, each person is obliged to take to heart on these days to examine their deeds and to repent [lashuv] of them, because the fast [itself] is not the essential [thing], as it is written [in Jonah 3:10] about the people of Nineveh: "And the Eternal saw their deeds, that they repented [turned back] from their evil path..." The Sages, may their memories be a blessing, said that their sackcloth and their fasting were not mentioned--just their deeds. Fasting is nothing but a preparation for repentance. Therefore, those people who, as they are fasting, go on walks or [pursue] trivial matters grasp the issue of secondary importance, but loses track of the essence. But in any case, one may not exempt oneself by means of repentance alone, because to fast on these days is a positive commandment from the prophets, as we wrote above.

(35) There is a distinction between them - the four public fast days are pushed off when they fall out on Shabbat, except for the Tenth of Tevet. It never falls on Shabbat but it does sometimes fall out on Friday, when we do observe the fast. Even if it did fall out on Shabbat, we would not be able to push off this fast to another day because it says regarding it "...this exact day..." (Ezekiel 24:2) just as it says regarding Yom Kippur...and when the other fast days fall out on Shabbat, even Tishba b'Av, we push them off until after Shabbat.

(20) ... On the eight of Tevet the Torah was translated into Greek in the days of King Ptolemy, bringing darkness to the world for three days. What occurred on the ninth was not recorded by our rabbis. On the tenth of Tevet the king of Babylon laid his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it....

It once happened that five elders wrote the Torah for King Ptolemy in Greek, and that day was as ominous for Israel as the day on which the golden calf was made, since the Torah could not be accurately translated.

It happened that King Ptolemy assembled seventy-two elders and placed them in seventy-two rooms without telling them the reason for which he had assembled them. He then went to each one of them and said to him, ‘Write for me [a translation of] the Torah of Moses your master’. The Omnipresent inspired them and the mind of all of them was identical, so that each on his own wrote the Torah, introducing thirteen corruptions as follows: ‘God created in the beginning’. ‘And God said I shall make a man in image and likeness.’ ‘And He finished on the sixth [day] and rested on the seventh [day].’ ‘Male and female He created him.’ ‘Come let Me go down and there confound their language.’ ‘And Sarah laughed among her relatives, saying.’ ‘For in their anger they slew oxen and in their self-will they digged up a stall.’ ‘And Moses took his wife and his children and set them upon a carrier of men.’ ‘Now the time that the children of Israel dwelt in Egypt and in the land of Canaan and in other lands was four hundred and thirty years.’ ‘And he sent the elect of the children of Israel.’ ‘And upon the elect of the children of Israel He laid not His hand.’ ‘I have not taken one desirable thing from them.’ ‘The [beast] with small legs.’ ‘Which the Lord thy God hath allotted to give light unto all the peoples under the whole heaven.’ ‘Which I commanded should not be served.’

Rather, say in explanation of the baraita: And our Rabbis permitted them to be written only in Greek. And it is taught in another baraita that Rabbi Yehuda said: Even when our Rabbis permitted Greek, they permitted it only in a Torah scroll, and not for other books of the Bible, which must be written only in Hebrew.

(LXX 13:3) πάντες ἐξέκλιναν, ἅμα ἠχρεώθησαν, οὐκ ἔστιν ποιῶν χρηστότητα, οὐκ ἔστιν ἕως ἑνός. τάφος ἀνεῳγμένος ὁ λάρυγξ αὐτῶν, ταῖς γλώσσαις αὐτῶν ἐδολιοῦσαν· ἰὸς ἀσπίδων ὑπὸ τὰ χείλη αὐτῶν, ὧν τὸ στόμα ἀρᾶς καὶ πικρίας γέμει· ὀξεῖς οἱ πόδες αὐτῶν ἐκχέαι αἷμα· σύντριμμα καὶ ταλαιπωρία ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτῶν, καὶ ὁδὸν εἰρήνης οὐκ ἔγνωσαν· οὐκ ἔστιν φόβος θεοῦ ἀπέναντι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῶν.

(LXX 52:3) πάντες ἐξέκλιναν, ἅμα ἠχρεώθησαν, οὐκ ἔστιν ποιῶν ἀγαθόν, οὐκ ἔστιν ἕως ἑνός.

it was not known - In our selichot penitential prayers it says that on this day Ezra the Scribe died.

(3) ... And the fast of the tenth — This is the Tenth of Tevet, when the king of Babylon began to besiege Jerusalem.

(1) Mourner: Yitgadal v’yitkadash sh’mei raba: [cong. Amen.]

(2) Mourner: b’alma di-v’ra chirutei, v’yamlich malchutei b’chayeichon uvyomeichon uvchayei d’chol beit yisrael, ba’agala uvizman kariv, v’im’ru: “amen.” [cong. Amen.]

(3) Cong. and mourner: Y’hei sh’mei raba m’varach l’alam ul’almei almaya.

(4) Mourner: Yitbarach v’yishtabach, v’yitpa’ar v’yitromam v’yitnaseh, v’yithadar v’yit’aleh v’yit’halal sh’mei d’kud’sha, b’rich hu, [cong. b’rich hu.]

(5) Mourner: l’eila min-kol-birchata v’shirata, tushb’chata v’nechemata da’amiran b’alma, v’im’ru: “amen.” [cong. Amen.]

(6) Mourner: Y’hei shlama raba min-sh’maya v’chayim aleinu v’al-kol-yisrael, v’im’ru: “amen.” [cong. Amen.]

(7) Mourner: Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya’aseh shalom aleinu v’al kol-yisrael, v’imru: “amen.” [cong. Amen.]