Ra’anana Community Kollel
Flying High on Asarah B’Tevet
Carin Lipson
The tenth of the month of Tevet is a day of calamity for the Jewish people when Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon laid siege to Yerushalayim, which culminated three years later in the destruction of the Temple and the exile of the Jewish people from their land. Consequently, Asarah B’Tevet was designated as a fast day for future generations.
And so, we fast from sunrise to sunset to commemorate our grief regarding these events. Particularly this year, in light of the disengagement from Gush Katif, we have a slightly greater awareness of what it means to be exiled from our land. But will our abstention from food and drink be truly meaningful? It is up to us. Can we allow our hunger and thirst to remind us that we are living in a less- than- ideal situation, tune in to our nation’s collective yearning for something better, and meditate upon what each one of us can do to improve ourselves and thereby our reality as a nation?
The Chayei Adam tells us that those who fast but spend their day engaged in pointless activities grasp what is of secondary importance and forsake that which is truly essential. The aim of fasting is to subjugate our baser instincts by restriction of our enjoyment and to open our hearts and stir us to teshuvah, tefillah, and tzedakah so that the gates of Divine mercy might be opened before us. How can we “make this real” for ourselves?.
Our sages tell us, Chochmah bagoyim ta’amin, roughly translated as . . . there is wisdom to be gained from the nations of the world.. Let us consider what Stephen Covey, famed author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People ,writes about achieving our goals. When a plane is flying from its point of departure towards its destination, the pilot has a certain projected route which he intends to follow, and yet, in the course of the journey the plane will inevitably veer off course. The pilot needs to make constant adjustments to make sure that the plane will eventually reach its intended destination. Wind, rain, and a variety of other external factors affect the plane during its voyage, and it is possible that for more than ninety-percent of its trip, it is not following its plotted course. However, as long as the pilot continues to realign the instruments, it will reach its intended destination.
We are sincere people, trying to do our best in life, and yet, outside factors and influences affect us and push us off course. Even if, for the majority of the time, we are only striving to reach our spiritual goals, and still not succeeding, as long as we are constantly re-aligning ourselves, B’ezrat Hashem, we will reach our destination. Hashem gave us special days scattered throughout the Jewish calendar on which we are commanded to abstain from certain aspects of physicality. One of the goals of this is that we should “sit up and take notice” and ask,” why is this day different from other days?’ Hopefully, with the resulting introspection and reflection, we will make the adjustments that we know we should be making, bringing us one step closer to becoming better and more complete human beings. Regarding teshuvah, Hashem tells us “You open for me a tiny hole, the size of the eye of a needle, and I will enlarge it tremendously . . .”
Our smallest efforts towards change are treasured by Hashem. Just as the tiniest change in the course of a plane makes a major difference in where it eventually ends up, so each one of us making a tiny change for the better, improving in some way, can make a major difference to the destiny of our people. May Hashem bring us yeshuot v’nechamot, salvations and consolations, speedily in our days.
