Tuesday: The Fast of Asara b’Teves

Zmanim for Brooklyn, NY 11213:
▪ 5:47 AM Fast Begins (Alos HaShachar)
▪ 12:00 PM Chatzos
▪ 5:12 PM Fast Ends (Tzeis HaKochavim)

From Chabad.org:
What Is Asara b’Teves (Teves 10)?
The 10th of Teves (known as Asara b’Teves) is observed as a day of fasting, mourning, and repentance. We refrain from food and drink from daybreak to nightfall, and add Selichos (penitential prayers) and other special supplements to our prayers. The fast ends at nightfall, or as soon as you see three medium-sized stars in the sky. See our calendar for exact times.

What does it commemorate?

Jerusalem Surrounded

For years, G‑d had sent His prophets to warn Israel about the impending destruction of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple if they didn’t mend their ways. But they derided the holy men as bearers of “false prophecies of doom,” bent on demoralizing the nation. They even went so far as to kill one of the prophets.

Then it finally happened. On the 10th day of the Jewish month of Teves, in the year 3336 from Creation (425 BCE), the armies of the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem.

Ever patient, G‑d delayed the destruction to give the Jews yet another chance to repent. He repeatedly sent the prophet Jeremiah to admonish His nation, but they foolishly had him imprisoned. Thus, 30 months later, on Tamuz 9 (or 17, the very date the walls would be breached when the Second Temple was destroyed), 3338, the city walls were breached, and on 9 Av of that year the Holy Temple was destroyed and the Jewish people were exiled.

It is viewed as the beginning of the chain of events that culminated with the destruction of the Temple and the subsequent exiles, something that we have never fully recovered from, because even when the Second Temple was finally built, it never returned to its full glory.