The Tragedies of Tevet | Rabbi Yossi Goldin

back to our regular schedule but uh hopefully next week we'll definitely get back to our regular our regular curriculum um and as always as we always open up that our learning should be for should bring back and should be a for and for all those who are suffering and unfortunately impacted by this war and that should give guidance to our leaders to make the right decisions um so what I wanted to do this week was actually once again take advantage of the opportunity to pay attention to what's going on in the Jewish calendar and and to and to use a discussion of as a jumping point to talk a little bit about about the fast Day that's coming up on Friday uh um and what I want to start with is just a quick quick very brief uh background regarding um the special that we say the special we say that we say Obviously as many people are aware of this which we which we've have which we say which we which are generally ass more associated with the time of el and PR roash Shana are also said on each of the fast days each of the public fast days that we have throughout the year including including T now the truth is that according to many sources it's there's a lot of debate regarding the history and development of s in general um but it seems that the the the custom or the minhag to say s on public fast days actually predates the Minh of saying again there's a there a bit bit of a it's a bit it's a bit unclear I mean even even if we go back to the to the in the gar the idea of increasing our increasing our increasing the things that we do in for on public fast days is something that was that is written about extensively because obviously fast days are meant to be a day where we're not just uh simply not eating but using that as an opportunity for for and for cha and for improving ourselves and so um on every public fast day especially the ones that we now observe and and back in the times of the gamar when they used to even Institute fast days that were localized to specific tragedies or challenges that were going on there was this idea this to say um on those fast days as well what I wanted to do uh one one interesting thing to note which many those of us who have been going to are aware of is that is the place is the main difference between the that are said on Fast days and the that are said um before is the placement of those that whereas before during are generally said either at night or if not before daving the of of fast days are actually incorporated into the daving are said afteron before we go into continue the DAV and the truth is that historically it used to be that these according to many opinions used to be actually a part of the K they were actually said during the ofu which is why the name developed because they were actually a part of the nowadays we follow the of where we separated and we say it after karat but they used to be much more incorporated into the which actually fits in with the fact that again the the purpose of this was to increase our to as we commemorate whatever the things that occur these different fast days and then use it as a jumping point to improve our our chva and our in general just a quick uh that was just a quick kind of background to understanding that we say on a fast day what I wanted to do today was actually start with one of the p uh one of the one of the I guess essays or poems that are written for the and use it as a jumping point to kind of try to gain a better understanding of is kind of like a challenging all fast days are challenging but we just finished kanuka we're kind of like you know we've had a eight days of kanuka and hopefully what we eight days of inspiration then a week later we have this fast day it seems a little bit funny you know the fast days of Shas and the fast days of of Tish more there's a specific season for them there's a specific connection between them you could even argue that Tomia which happens during we can it we can kind of connect to T eser is kind of in its own world aavia just kind seems to come in the in the middle of nowhere and I wanted to kind of gain a better understanding of what exactly occurred on and why and why we're fasting and we'll begin with the special with one of the special P team that we say during the of and as obviously we'll also cover one of the one the one of the unique aspects of the unique aspect of which is that is the only fast day that we actually fast on a Friday um when it's the only one that actually can fall out on a Friday according to our modern calendar but the fact that we fast on a Friday usually we don't fast on a Friday because we don't want to go into Shabbat um um hungry because it'll be it's a it's an issue ofab Shabbat and yet specifically as we'll see soon there is there is an idea Hally that we fast even when it falls out on Friday and according to many post even if it were were it to fall out on chabis we would even fast on chabis similar to Yumer and we'll have to understand why that is hopefully we'll discuss that we'll discuss that as well okay so we're going to start with Source number one which is the peute um the first of the of the of the PE team that we say in the the author of this perod is a little bit in debate some people thought that it was the author was someone by the name of yose tuum from 11th century in France um now it seems to be that the author is considered to be again there's a lot of different debates about these about these peim yose Evan Aur who was in Spain in the 10 the 10th Century but I want to focus on the on the text of it we'll read through it I brought you the English translation as well because specifically these PE team can be particularly challenging they're very poetic and sometimes a little bit harder to understand the language um so I brought you the English translation as well I will describe the the distress that is happening to me there were three Mak there were three strikings three things that happened three blows as they translated here that happened in this month again very poetic he cut me down he prevented me he he pulled me back means he hit me even now he is reference to he wears me out again this is the PO this is the poetic of the of of talking about the pain that we're in specifically on this day he crushed me or here it says depressed me on the eighth day of this month both from the right and from the left because of these three events I have established or we have established a so already we're seeing there actually not one thing that happened on but actually three things that happened on the days leading up to us that are all connected to the uh the fast of what is the first one the king the Greek king forced me to write down the the Torah into into Greek as as he quotes in the P those who plow Ed my back to plow they make the FOH long so we see that there was this idea of uh of of of the of the Torah being translated into Greek that happened on the eth of the month continues the the pan sorry means to plow from the wordes it's it's it's a it's a quote from a PUK and it's just it's a description of of being crushed using my back to plow of pushing me to do something that I don't want to have to do yes yes no I think it's just I think it's just poetic language using it to describe the pain of what occurred as a result of that yes excellent excellent question excellent question we're going to we're going to discuss that we're going to discuss that that's an it's an excellent question and we're to see that the that that the way descri is even worse than to describe now they describe it as being as they compare it we're going to see soon to to the to the to serving theel and the question is what exactly was so bad we'll get to that okay let's continue I was angry on the ninth with much shame is embarrassment and and and shame you removed from me my cloak my my my jacket of splendor and of Glory he was destroyed literally means he he he was killed or he died sorry the person who is not imer the person who had beautiful words who Ezra Ezra so what we see is that the second thing that occurred the second tragedy that occurred according to this pan during was the death of Ezra Y what about that that happened on the nth of the month what happened on the 10th of the month y on the 10th of the month the son of Bu The Seer who's the son of Bu The Seer the na the SE was commanded you should write this in your book of what should he write as a remembrance for the nation that has been melted and disgraced the words God commanded will commanded to write the words of what occurred what to write the words are going be very important for us these are the things that happened on this day okay minan now what that's reference to and he's hinting to here which he's we're going to see soon in a second was basically the the the the the um the sorry not not the breaching of the walls but the um the surrounding of the walls the mats think my English keeps constantly going The Siege excuse me thank you The Siege the mats The Siege around yush began on the 10th and that's that's the that is the the tragedy that most of us are familiar with or mostly associate with the 10th with the 10th of the month and that's what he's describing happen that God commanded jesel to commemorate that that happened on the 10th of the month the count of the monthly calendar was awakened against me I stretch out my ma my mouth as he describes here as they translated with durges with Welling by crying the order of these tragedies will burn in my heart okay so obviously very poetic again a little harder to understand his language unless you're paying attention to the words you kind of understand some of the context but what we see here is that the pon is describing three tragedies that occurred around us the eth of the month the Torah was translated into Greek or the theim were forced to translate the Torah into Greek the nth of the month is the death of Ezra and the 10th is The Siege Around The Siege around yush began and in fact where do this where do we see this these three mentioned altogether or at least two of them mentioned it starts with m m in Source in Source number two m is an ancient text that generally would would listed all the different days of of special Kim and special commemorations that happened to um to am Isel um throughout the ages reason why there would be SE days of Celebration and also sometimes would mention certain days of tragedy so this is one of the earliest sources for these three ideas and what does say it says in the eth of the Torah was written into Greek in the king's in the days of king T and that was basically the initiator of three days of darkness That Came Upon into the world the nth we don't we don't know what it is again here doesn't mention something happened on the nth the rabbis aren't going to uh they don't tell us although we know both from our pan and also from other sources the other and other mentioned that it was specifically the death of Ezra on the 10th of the month and on the 10th of the month is when the king of B came to the decision to to begin the process of destroying of destroying um and the and the bet mdash so what I'd like to do now is is is is as we see we have these three different events is to try to go through each of them and try to understand or first of all learn more about each of them and then perhaps hopefully we'll try to come up with some kind of an understanding as to why these all were were tragic events and is there any connection between all three of these or are they just simply three things that happen to happen to occur uh around around the same time the first I want to start with is obviously no no what I meant was the dates the dates you know thank you no you're 100% correct obviously they happened at different years and different times I meant they both is that they all just happen to be n eth n9th and 10th of t or might there actually be some kind of theme that connects the three of them together um that we maybe we should be thinking about on so we'll start with um the first or the main one the earliest one mean the one that happened the earliest and also the one that is perhaps most associated with the which is The Siege around so let's start with Source number three we're going moving toim towards the end of we have the siege then eventually the breaching of and then the destruction of the mdash well just just to understand exactly what happened here Source number three the ninth year of his kingship referring to the king of the king of B in the 10th month which is the month of on the 10th of the month the king of came he and all of his army and he encamped around it and they built and they built towers and they built ditches all around clearly as a symbol of Siege around J and they came upon the city in siege for how many years for three years sorry excuse me for two years until the 11th year of king of King Sido um so actually I think if I'm not mistaken it was three it was two years but and then and they came around the city that The Siege lasted for two years and then the ninth of the month and they were there was no by by the time it came after those two years the the city was so weak there was no food left and as a result they couldn't do anything the people within the city had no way of stopping anything and what happens eventually they're able to break through the walls eventually following this multi-year Siege they were able to break into and what fast day do we have that commemorates the breaking of the siede the the the the the break the breaching of the walls that's the fast of of now interestingly enough we're not going to get into the details here but if you paid attention here you might notice that that actually happened not on the 10th of Tas but it happened on the ninth of Tas so why is it that we fast on the 17th of Tas as opposed to sorry the ninth of Tas so that actually from what I understand from the research that I did they used to fast on the ninth of tamas between the first and second bet mikdash but then once the second beash was destroyed and the breaching of the walls then happened on the 17th of tamuz they moved the fast the 17th of Tas and there because they were commemorating the breaching of of what happened in the second bash as opposed to the first bash again don't get into all the details here but what we have here is the following we have that on the the 10th of Tate we have the beginning of the siege of yush and that is why we fast on and the truth is that in order to really understand this this fast day is really the first of four public fast days that were that were that were all part of a Continuum leading to the destruction of mikdash and also the fall of Jewish sovereignty around Jer because we have is when The Siege began a number of years later we have on the seven on the 17th of thas or the 10th of Tas nth of thas excuse me we have the destruction the breach of the walls which is why we fasted three weeks later we have or a few weeks later we have which is commemorating the destruction of the BAM mikdash and then soon after that we have or commor at on the the month soon after that is we have we have Galia why do we fast on Galia Galia commemorates the the death of of gdal who was gdal Galia was actually after the betas was destroyed the King still allowed the Jewish people to have a certain amount of sovereignty but what happened was there was infighting between between them Galia had been appointed to oversee the small Jews that stayed in Yus and to they were again they weren't F they were not sovereign they were they were they had to they had to pay homage to the king but they were allowed to exist and exist Within yusan there was infighting regarding how to relate to the king people didn't approve of what Galia was doing and what happened he was murdered he was assassinated and that led to the eventual total leaving of the entire of of the rest of the Jewish Community within y leading to the to the the eventually dissolvement of of all of of the Jewish community in Yan so what actually is it continue it didn't all happen in the same year it happened after a couple of years each at different times but then we have these four events that are all on a continuum all connected to each other and those actually correspond to four out of the five public fast dayss that we have the fifth public fast days is tonic Esther again that's really that's really its own little its own its own category because it's it's a unique fast day has unique characteristics to it and it's and it's all obviously connected to to the perm story but it's important to know that doesn't exist in a vacuum is really step one to the rest of the fast days that we have and it's all part of this Continuum leading to the destruction of the BET mikdash and the eventually dissolution of of of of the Jewish Community within within yusa but the question that I want to try to understand better I think is perhaps the question that might that might that might be coming to you which is if we're already commemorating the breaching of the walls and we're already commemorating T we have two fast days to Comm when they broke through the walls and we have another fast day to commemorate the destruction of B mikdash why do we need a fast day to commemorate the beginning of the siege because if you think about it the siege not nothing actually happened no one attacked the Jews meaning there was no physical destruction at that time sorry okay so so so but the question really needs to be like if we're already the breaching of the walls is when they broke in is when the was destroyed why do we need another fast day to commemorate The Siege it see the question really is like why do we have so many different fast days why wouldn't it be enough to okay The Siege was eventually what eventually happened we got so weak we couldn't we couldn't we couldn't defend ourselves and therefore they were able to break through the walls therefore they were able to destroy to destroy the BET mdash and you could argue whe about Galia whether that's necessary that's that's a totally different piece the question is why do we really so that's question number one is to try to understand why exactly do we need a fast day commemorating The Siege when if you think about it all all that happened was the enemy surrounded jerim and they began threatening us obviously that's not a good thing but does it does it require its own its own fast day okay so that's what I want to just put put to the put uh put to the back of our minds and and and then move on I just realized my my things are out of order so give me one second here we go ah so the tum happened happened later meaning the tum happened meaning they didn't happen there as you pointed out they didn't happen in the same time so yeah yeah yeah so so yes ah okay so good so the question is whether whether some meaning the question is whether there really was something that happened on that we need to commemorate that by itself and that's what we have to try to understand yes very good okay but let's let's go on for now and let's discuss the other two things that happened on T8 and hopefully we'll try to we'll try to bring this try to bring this together Source number four this is a this is a section from we've discussed before it's a non-conical part of the of the uh uh it's one of the smaller that that are brought in kazal but it's not officially part of the of the Canon of the of the Talman and it basically discusses different historical events that have happened as well as other so according describes this event of the Translating of the of the Torah there was there was an event where five we're g to see that there's two different it's unclear whether it's two different versions or two different stories but it seems to be two different stories there were five five Elders that that they translated for tal the m translated it into Greek [Applause] and this day was as bad for as the day of okay again as I mentioned before why because the Torah wasn't able to be properly translated as it should have okay so that's just just something we have to understand what exactly does that mean why would this be such a big deal and certainly why would it be as bad as as as what does it mean that the Torah couldn't be couldn't be translated we translate the Torah all the time as you point out right now that not only is translation common it's led to the prance of of Li Torah it's led to many many more people connecting to the Torah and learning Torah so what exactly is the tragedy here and why would it be as bad as as let's keep going on continues in another version it seems to be a second part of the story he he he brought 72 Elders the and he gathered them and placed them in 72 different homes he didn't tell them what he was doing so they couldn't prepare they couldn't arrange between themselves they didn't they couldn't prepare what was going to happen each of them went in I want you to translate for me the Tor of mem made a special n and gave them ADV created a n and each of them there were certain parts of the Torah that needed to be translated or needed to be adjusted in order to be translated into that or in order to not lead to certain misunderstandings and Hashem created a a that each of the 72 on their own had the intuition to write and translate it the right way and therefore when T came looked it over he saw there was consistency in their in their translation okay so that itself was actually a ace a miracle but we we also see at the same time that there was clearly something negative about what happened here and that's question number two question number two is what exactly was so bad and is it at all connected to what we've we've been discussing until now and then question number three which is the death of Ezra okay so the death of Ezra according to kazal as we saw happened on on on on on the 10th of on the on the 10th of Tate and the question is again it what ninth excuse me correct on the ninth of T thank you and the question is again what exactly is is this connected who who was Ezra and why was that such a tragedy um that that it's that it's somehow part of what we commemorate on on so those are the questions I'd like I'd like to answer but first I want to just highlight one other unique aspect of that we saw which is the aspect of of how when when we commemorate our despite it falling out on Friday and potentially even on chabis and that starts with Source number five Source number five turns toes and sa fores around the time it's unclear exactly if it's right on the day or soon after this Siege happened and God turns was not in was in B at the time he was not uh at the time around the around the destruction appeared to me the ninth month uh of the 10th sorry the ninth of the 10th uh sorry the nth year the 10th month and the 10th of that month thank you then sh sh you should write down the occurrence or the name meaning this of this day this exact day the king of B has now laid Siege to on this day and you see I highlighted or I underlined for you the words there's something very weird about this P what exactly is telling him and repeating the phrase on this day it happened well you just told me when it happened you me tell me it happened on the on the 10th the 10th day of the 10th month so why do you repeat that you should write down and make sure to write down so learned from this and the earliest source is the is seems to be the that by saying and stressing it this is when it happened that means that is from there we learn that whenever this fast Day falls out we have to fast that day that year because there's a stress to commemorating it on that day look at source number six says the is quoting the it's different than all the other fast days if were it to happen now this now in our calendar it cannot happen but were it to happen that a would fall out on the 10th of the month we would not be able to push it off why because the phrase that's used is the phrase is also used in reference to Yum and therefore has a similarity to yur just like we fast on yur whenever it falls out right falls out on chabis WE fast on on chabis so too is unique that we're going to fast no matter when when it falls out and then he says I don't understand where he got this from okay however and he also wrote that sometimes will fall out on Friday and we would fast that day but other will never fall out on a Friday to the way that our calendar our calendar works out so B quotesam first he makes a comment like I don't know where he got this from but the truth is that later on when he quotes it in the he actually pasin like the which is that we we would fast were it to follow on chabas we would fast on shabis and we're and now that when if it falls out on Friday we fast on Friday as we're going to have unusually this year so the question again is we know the source the source is it comes from the from this P but the question becomes why why would again now we're it seems to be that not only is herbate an important day to commemorate but it's so important that we have to commemorate on that day no matter when it falls out that's what I'd like to try to understand yes good excellent yes yeah correct no no so we're going to see soon that and that's exactly where I'd like to start with that the phrase highlights something big happening it could be good and it could be bad the words this is something that I heard and I I I read and I saw actually um on in the um in a video by by alive beta by David Foreman has has a lot of Wonder from theal and all of these things and they point out that that think the key to understanding this is is the words that if we look where else in Jewish history the words are what they indicate is a dramatic shift is about to happen or is beginning to happen in Jewish history and that and that but we have to understand exactly what that is here but that's exactly the the way that I'd like to go yes I think you get a question or comment Translating that isal okay there go correct correct we have to understand what exactly that means but yes yes prevent so you are correct you are correct that Rashi you are correct that that we're GNA get to that right now but key to I think really beginning to understand what's happening and the the significance of is to understand this phrase so what you're quoting is there's a famous Rashi well where let's start with this where else is are is the phrase besides Yumer Yumer is not not not an event but is reference to a specific day where else is the phrase sorry Brit excellent so one place is when a is when a is commanded to do Brit Mila and we mentioned sorry well when they left Egypt they left where else anyone know where else whenu dies correct there's one more there's one more and that is when when when the when the when Noah was into the T he also goes the Torah says he goes into okay so you have these four events and all of them now Rashi points out there one of the one of the one of the interpretations of Rashi points out that the phrase is coming to show that it was done in broad daylight because there were some people who said to themselves I'm going to challenge this by Noah there were some who said if he starts to go into the T I'm going to stop him from doing it and there were some people who said when mosha if mosha starts to go up to the mountain to to die we're going to prevent him from going or the Egyptians were said we're going to stop them from leaving Egypt or I think there were some people who said that if aam starts to do bis we're not going to let him to do it because it's a barbaric thing to do and therefore it was done to show that no one was able to stop them that's one interpretation of but perhaps what we can suggest and again this is based off of the idea that I heard from by David Foreman which that but is also meant to highlight that something dramatic is happening in each of these events the is showing a dramatic shift that is going to happen in the world for example let's start with Noah Noah was the earliest one Noah is about to go into the Tava the flood is about to occur and something is about to fundamentally change within the world the world is going to be destroyed and be rebuilt there are many different there are many different things that are now going to be allowed meaning the world as we know it is going to shift one basic just one for one one example would be that before Noah we were not allowed to eat animals after Noah we allowed to eat animals and many many believe that that that had to that that's not just by chance but it has to do with a fundamental shift in the way the world was that the world had a certain reality before Noah and that things shifted after the after the Mable and once Noah exit the Tava he exited to a new reality that was not that was is different from what was before he entered the Tava a aam doing Brit Mila is the beginning of what we would call Kat of a Jew kit we now from then on all children have a again without getting into uh question political political correctness not but we do believe that there is a Kad that Jews have through Brit mil that has achieved what we call K is K is a new reality that did not exist in the world and only exists from the time that ainu and his children and his and his and his uh and his descendants um there are certain and his descendants do complete the Brit Mila there are certain things that only people of Brit can do because they're indicative of a higher level of we would call K is obviously it's it's a fundamental shift in in in our reality the creation of a of a of the Jewish of the Jewish people um moshe's death was a fundamental shift in the people Moses the transition from Moshe to to to Yoshua the transition from the midbar to entering Earth so these were all fundamental shifts and therefore perhaps what we can suggest is the phrase is not just about because it says on that day but seems to be indicating to us the usage of that phrase connected to the destruction or to The Siege see seems to imply that something fundamental happened on the 10th of tavit and that is why we're going to we're going to observe it no matter when it whenever whenever it falls out that is why it has its own fast day even though we're also going to fast on the 17th of tamuz and we're also going to fast on on shab what is unique about there was something that was basic that shifted for and the question is what that what that could be so I think the best way to understand it is we can start with Source number seven Source number seven Yash is is a safeer written by IIT um and he and he basically asked this question he said what exactly is so unique about that not only we fast it fast on that day but we but it has it has its own unique that are different from all other fast days we're in Source number seven have even been worse than the actual destruction of the would never we would never fast according to the establishment of earlier sources and earlier calendars when it could have fallen out on chab so in some way is stronger than or more tragic than it must be that this was a great tragedy and it must be what was it says it was the beginning there was a dramatic shift that happened on because it was the beginning of the end as he keeps going and he keeps going once the once the the the the the uh the band was released and opened up above to attack the city they already after that was already just you know Child's Play meaning once the ability to to the God gave the the kinget the ability to attack everything else was going to be easier what exactly does he mean let's we have in order to really understand we have to put ourselves kind of in the in the moment okay the BET mikash was around for how many years before it was destroy the first bet mikdash 400 410 420 okay so we we're talking about 400 years thousands of not thousands many many generation thousands of Jews but many many generations where the reality was the betam mikdash now things weren't perfect during the we weren't we weren't perfect we sinned there were things that were happening as a nation but it was basically the Glory Days for am Israel you schlomo had built this gorgeous edifice we were under schlomo certainly obviously that started to change uh as the generations as the generations continued but certainly under schlomo he had established the Jew sovereignty and the Jewish Kingdom and this gorgeous bet mikdash and on some level am Israel despite all their failings they felt almost Invincible they and it and and they had many n who were warning them this is if you keep doing this it's going to be bad they had many NV that were coming and saying if you don't if you don't mend your ways if you don't do chuva is gonna punish you but you know what we weren't listening we were almost we were almost just we had we almost had created a facade a certain sense of invincibility this sense that okay might get but he would never let them destroy the mikash he would never let them destroy this is this is this is the center of the world and so am Isel over the course of those 400 and plus some OD years had created this sense of invincibility and this facade that no matter what we do no matter what happens nothing will be destroyed what was the moment when they realized when that when that facade was shattered that was The Siege around Yus The Siege around yush shattered that facade shattered that sense of invis invincibility and made them realize wait a second there's somebody who's coming here and they're going to and and and and it's working they're surrounding us they've created this Siege and there's a reality here that's starting to shift and so although the walls had not yet been breached and although the betam mdash had not yet been destroyed what had been shattered was their was their sense was their sense of comfort their sense of invincibility their sense of strength and that was the dramatic shift that occurred on on the 10th of Tate on the 10th on the 10th of Tate when they saw the Babylonian Army coming around them and doing something that they thought would never happen boom all of a sudden everything their whole worldview began to Shad something that they thought would never happen that had been warned about people said this is going to happen and the vi would get up and say this is GNA happen and you know what everyone said yeah it's not going to happen he'll never do it and so the sense of what we would call in sense of invincibility or what became impossible all of a sudden became possible the Untouchable became touchable things that we thought couldn't happen and that perhaps is what occurred on a and why we fast no matter one we always fast on that day why we have a fast day for that day because that was when the whole reality that we had created for ourselves that Amy Israel had created for themselves was shattered and they were no longer the same from there everything cascaded into infighting amongst the G nation how do we fight again what should we do should we negotiate with them should we try to all everything then began to fall apart beginning with the moment of invincibility that was shattered on on the tenth of Tate excellent we're GNA get to that yes correct correct correct and I think that's an I think that's an important part of what we're going to what we're going to see but we'll we'll talk about that in one minute now if we understand that then I think we can now try to connect how this might connect to the other things that we talked about the other things that occurred in this on TV we talk about the idea of of the sense of something which became Beyond impossible to happen what we would call Untouchable all of a sudden became possible the sense of Y will never be destroyed would never destroy would never hurt us would never allow that to happen all of a sudden on on the 10th of T all of a sudden we that that begin to happen how is that connected at all to to um to to the other two events that happened that happened so perhaps if we think about what what what does it mean when we talk about the Torah being translated into Greek okay why is it such a tragedy that the Torah is translated into GRE we have we have many translations of the Torah nowadays we have to understand what happened here when the Torah was what what is the Torah the Torah fundamentally is dvar Hashem and is dvar Hashem it's not just it's just it's not just another text it's not another discipline that you could take that a science book that you take that book and you translate into whatever language you want because it's all about understanding the content the Torah and especially in its written for Hebrew form is so much deeper than that just as an example this isn't the only example but anyone who's ever who's ever seen the uh you know the amazing The Amazing presentation that is Torah has on the Torah codes and all the different things that are hidden in the depth of the Torah we know that the Torah has tremendous depth that is independent of the actual translation of the words and so when when when when when the king talai demanded that the only other way to say it excuse me the only other way to say is the Torah is beyond this world it's something that's beyond and what what talai demanded that our rabbis do when they translated into Greek was they took something that was really Beyond this world another way to say this Untouchable and they made it into something much more finite it was diluted in such a great way although maybe as many of you are pointing out nowadays we have translations too but even though we have translations too we're well aware when we're reading the translations we're well aware that we're reading a translation and that we're only doing that in order to understand the context or the content but that we all are familiar or all know that the that there's no there's no replacement for the Hebrew text because of the depth and the tremendous and the tremendous depth that that's in that Torah and therefore for us it's just simply an an issue of access somebody who doesn't necessarily not doesn't doesn't necessarily know Hebrew as well and wants to have greater access but we all know and ask any any of your rabbis and any any Rabbi or any of us who have really put thought into this that the Torah is much deeper when accessed in its initial Hebrew and so what happened what what what Tami wanted to do was he wanted to take the Torah which was Untouchable Beyond any discipline and turn it into any other discipline and what what what what was happening here and that's why perhaps it was it was a tragedy that is compared to uh compared toel because what it was doing was cheapening the Torah and turning it into just a a fake version of itself a fake version of what Torah really is translating it into Greek is turning it into a fake version of itself and that is what Isel is a fake version of God it's turning it's turn it's taking the essence of what God is which is beyond this world and turning it into something that is a part of this world it's another discipline it's just or or sorry ago was basically turning it into a physical a physical being and that's the same thing that translating the Torah into Greek was trying to accomplish was to take Torah which is beyond this world which is greater Beyond and turning it into just one another discipline like like everything else just like the the the breach of sorry the siege of yush was taking a city that we believed was was Untouchable was beyond this world and now when we realized it's just any other city like the like the rest of the world I just want to take one other comment and then I'm happy to take any questions and now let's connect that to Ezra s who's Ezra s so according to kazal according to many sources Ezra Sofer was the last of the Nim was the last of the Nim and that with the death of Ezra s the time of n ended once again our connection to the Divine or our connection to something Beyond this world was shattered our connection to something greater our from then on from the death of Ezra now our reality and our connection with and with Judaism was going to shift dramatically without Nim our reality is different we all we live we live in a time now without n our reality to the Torah our reality to God our reality to our Judaism is dramatically change without nvua so the theme is again something which be which was our relationship with nvua with God which was almost Beyond this world has now all of a sudden with the death of Ezra become become something more mundane hard to connect to something which was Untouchable all of a sudden now becomes something normal and so perhaps we can suggest that what connects these three things the the the the siege of the walls the translation of the Torah the death of Ezra SAR is that something which had been beyond beyond this world I'm using the phrase Untouchable had become something Beyond this world was now made much more touchable was made much more um physical and and less and less and less Beyond this world and perhaps that's that's the that's the connection between between between these these three events yes did you want to make a comment or yes so that again there's a lot of debate amongst about exactly what that was it was it two different versions of the same story and just two different understands of the same story was it two different stories it's a very good question I didn't I didn't I didn't get into that and I don't that's a good question as well that's a good question as well I'm under the assumption that we're talking about these as both being the same but I don't but it's it's a very you could you could make that argument they were talking about two different events and the go only one and this was one I didn't get into those details because many seem to just assume that it was it was it was a similar event uh that happened either twice or two different descriptions of the same event it's it's it's come Kings also but I think the Assumption seems to be that it's not but it's a but it's a good point yes we could you could separate those two um I just didn't go that that that that route in terms of in terms of this yes pleas one sh something had a sh on Shabbat on this subject and the mag claimed something different you notice in your Source number two it says on the right we don't know what happened right he claimed that throughout the AG this was a great secret of and what actually did happen in was that a Jew called pilas decided that he was going to make a distinction between Christians and Jews were like all the same the first Jew the first Christians were all Jews and the Rabon were concerned with the fact that this was all people wouldn't be to tell the difference between one and the other and he said I volunteer great T I volunteer and who was he he he eventually became Peter as insane Peter interesting and he created what they call the mother church and he did it specifically in order to save Jews from becoming interesting interesting I didn't I hadn't heard that I had I know that there isn't the whole discussion Regarding why they say l um if you look at other sources the quotes the and then writes and then writes but it was the the death of Ezra so there are a number of sources that seem to indicate we're talking about the death of Ezra um but that's that's interesting I not I not heard that before very interesting yeah well Ezra is thought oh oh that who wrot that who that that P Peter oh that could be that could be that could be okay that now I I just just just just to add a couple of more points I think what this also is interesting there's one other inter aspect to which we haven't mentioned um but first of all I think I think we've answered most of our questions we answered the connection between all three we've answered why it is specifically on the 10th that no matter when it falls out we fast that day we've answered why we needed our own fast day because of the this dramatic shift in our perspective um the shattering of our illusion that that occurred interestingly enough one other aspect of it is that it is it is the day that has been designated by the chief Rabin it to be called the Yad y means that on this day the there is a special M that is said and that is the day when we commemorate and say kades for all those who who perished in the Holocaust and whose date of death are unknown that day of there are many who even claim that this should be the this that is the proper day to have a to to commemorate the Shah more than y that's a that's a totally separate debate which I won't get into but interestingly enough a has been designated as a day where we commemorate the death of those people who have who perished um during the Holocaust and we don't know when they died and this is the day when we to say to say to say Kadesh and to say m I brought for you we're not going to say see it inside but I brought for you in Source number 10 the special Mish that we that we say on this it's a special excuse me that we say on the Yad it's basically a special um k for those who perished in the Holocaust but specifically for those who died and we don't have their we don't have the day we're not going to go through it right now we don't have the day of their death we're not going to go through it right right now but the fact that kazal chose this day and I mean the fact that Chief rabit it chose this day could very well be I wonder if it's connected to again a recognition that what happened on the was the beginning of all the tragedy that is that's going to happen among that is the beginning of the destruction of the first bet mikash after the destruction of the first bet mdash the realities were the reality was very very different the second B mdash was nowhere near the same level as the first bet mdash in terms of its beauty and in terms of what it had in it the Ares wasn't in the second bash there were many things that were missing in the second B it was clear from the destruction the first the that after the destruction of the first mdash things were never going to be the same until until comes and so perhaps the idea was that was the beginning of this illusion being shattered that led to a Cascade of events both in those Generations but also became a symbol of a shattering of an illusion that then continued for generations and generations and that brings us to to today as a number of you pointed on someone pointed out you you pointed out earlier I think that this idea uh of a facade of of shattered Illusions is something that we can very much relate to um this year or this last year and a half in particular when we think about again without getting into any political discussions or anything of that sort what's clear was that there was a certain facade and a certain illusion that we had we in this country had regarding the dangers or lack of dangers that were lurking uh around us and and and within and within our country and and and on one day th those Illusions were totally were totally shattered and we could understand get a taste of what it might have been for them for the for the for the Jewish community in yusal to see the Babylonians surrounding them thinking that they were Invincible all of a sudden seeing this Army surround them and prepare and prepare and having that sense of Illusion be totally shattered is something that I think we can connect to a little bit a little bit on this day yes Tish and tonight be no Tish so everys down us are you ready or not absolutely so that's that's that's a great that's a great uh segue into into the last source that I want to do with you which is Source number eight Source number eight this is a well-known mishura where the Mish writes what the main purpose of every fast day really is the main purpose of every fast day is not that not to not eat food it's not just to think about some of the things that we've been talking about but it's a day of and chuva look at this underlined part in s vers number eight all these days we fast because of the of the that occurred in order to arouse our heart to think about and to embark on the path towards chuva sorry it should be reminder of our of the things that we've done wrong which may have caused this what happened back then what's happening today so that what happened to them is happening to us kind of like we talked about that was talk about the good things that happened so unfortunately we're seeing similar things happening to us that happened to them all because of our actions that way if we remember this we commemorate it hopefully we will return to to do ch and to improve as the Torah says that they should confess their sins and the sins of their forefathers every person should pay attention on these days and to examine your Deeds your actions we should doar is not the fasting but rather is the chuva and this the Mish is referring specifically to these public fasting days which begin with at least in the cycle of what we're describing this this Friday um so I hope that by learning about this really starting with that that text the the P the the that we saw uh Source number one that we're going to say on Friday hopefully that will a add more meaning to the that we're going to say that period that we're going to say on Friday in the but hopefully also give us some food for thought to think about this coming Friday as we fast and think about what happened what might have caused what happened the lessons from what that can take and how we can take those lessons and apply those lessons to our days as well have a great week everybody