For thousands of years we have fasted on the 10th of Tevet, a day marking the beginning of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, at the end of the First Temple period. On this day, nothing had yet happened in Jerusalem and the Temple. The city continued to stand for a long time, until the breach of the wall on the 17th of Tammuz and the destruction of the Temple on the 9th of Av.
And yet, the 10th of Tevet is a strict fast, because on this day the process that ultimately led to destruction began.
There is excess severity at the starting point.
The 10th of Tevet teaches us the importance that must be attributed to the beginning of processes. When a small crack forms in a dam, it must be treated with the utmost seriousness, even though the dam is still standing and everything seems pastoral and peaceful. Because this small crack, if not plugged soon, may expand and cause the entire dam to burst.
Identify buds
In spiritual life too, one must be alert to the starting point of a process of deterioration. Usually, deterioration does not occur all at once, but rather in a gradual process. The beginning can be so small that the person does not see it as important.
""Nothing happened," he reassures himself, "it's a minor and unimportant matter." However, in time it will become clear that that 'small' thing was the beginning of a much larger process.
The Sages say that this is the tactic of the evil inclination to drag a person down to the bottomless pit. It does not come to a God-fearing Jew with a direct offer to deny the God of Israel, because it is clear to him that he will be rejected out of hand. It begins by tempting him with small and seemingly unimportant things: "This is the art of the evil inclination - today it tells him to do this and tomorrow it tells him to do that, until it tells him to worship idols.".
It turns out that those little things are the source of a process that could deteriorate to the point of idolatry!
Anyone involved in the field of education knows how important it is to identify processes immediately at their beginning, because then it may be too late.
Parents and teachers need to recognize the first signs of a child's trauma. These can be minor things: social rejection, an insult from a teacher, a sense of failure. But if the wound that has opened up is not treated, it may expand into a general crisis.
Destroy the threat now
The public consciousness does not sufficiently recognize the need to address destructive processes immediately at their inception. They disregard the incitement taking place within the education system of the Arabs of Judea and Samaria. They turn a blind eye to the arming of terrorist organizations. They remain silent in the face of alliances with the axis of evil.
As long as the situation on the surface appears calm, they prefer to avoid action.
But it is clear to everyone that the outbreak will come, and then it will exact an even heavier price. Destroying the Hamas and Hezbollah tunnels is the obvious step, even if it involves confrontation. It is better to thwart the threat now, when the initiative is in our hands, than to leave it in the hands of the enemy, at a time and under conditions convenient to him.
We must do what is incumbent upon us, and God will help us.
Join the Haredim 10 Facebook page >>
Join the X page of Haredim 10 >>
Want more news, videos and stories? Join the Haredim 10 WhatsApp channel >>
