{"id":86151,"date":"2021-01-06T17:43:52","date_gmt":"2021-01-06T15:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=86151"},"modified":"2021-01-06T17:43:52","modified_gmt":"2021-01-06T15:43:52","slug":"a-somber-psalm-for-somber-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-somber-psalm-for-somber-days\/","title":{"rendered":"A Somber Psalm For Somber Days\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Psalm 83<\/span><\/a> is a prayer of the Israelite community for God\u2019s help against enemies.<\/span> The first section<\/span><\/a> begins with a thrice-repeated plea to God not to remain silent in the face of Evil: \u201cO God, do not be silent. Do not hold aloof. Do not be quiet, O God! For Your enemies rage, Your foes assert themselves.\u201d Considering our psalm\u2019s somber tone, it is not surprising that it was selected to be recited as the<\/span> Song of the Day<\/span><\/a> on two fast days: <\/span>Tzom Gedaliah <\/span><\/i>and<\/span> \u2018Asarah be-Tevet. <\/span><\/i>In<\/span> Zechariah 8:19<\/span><\/a>, these two fasts are referred to as \u201cthe fast of the seventh month, and the fast of the tenth month\u201d, which shall eventually \u201cbecome occasions for joy and gladness, happy festivals for the House of Judah\u201d. The Fast of Gedaliah commemorates the tragic assassination of<\/span> Gedaliah ben Ahikam<\/span><\/a>, the righteous governor of Judah, which ended Jewish autonomy following the destruction of the First Temple.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to<\/span> Talmud Rosh HaShanah 18b<\/span><\/a>, the sages determined that the Fast of Gedaliah falls on the 3<\/span>rd<\/span> of Tishre, immediately after the two-day celebration of Rosh HaShanah. In the same Talmudic discussion, it is mentioned that just as the \u201cfast of the fifth month\u201d (<\/span>Tisha\u2019 Be-Av<\/span><\/i>)<\/span> commemorates the burning of the Temple, so too the \u201cfast of the seventh month\u201d commemorates the assassination of Gedaliah \u201cto teach you that the death of the righteous is equivalent to the burning of the Temple of our Lord.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This Talmudic discussion goes on to explain that \u201cthe fast of the tenth\u201d falls on the 10<\/span>th<\/span> of Tevet, the day on which the king of Babylonia laid siege to Jerusalem, as it says in<\/span> Ezekiel 24:1-2<\/span><\/a>: \u201cIn the ninth year, on the tenth day of the tenth month, the word of the Lord came to me. O mortal! Record this date, this exact day; for this very day the king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem.\u201d This was in the year 3336 from Creation (equivalent to 425 BCE).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This fast day also commemorates other tragic events that occurred in the Hebrew month of Tevet. According to<\/span> Shulchan Arukh, Orach_Chayim 580.2<\/span><\/a>, on the 8<\/span>th<\/span> of Tevet the Torah was written in Greek during the days of King Ptolemy and darkness was in the world for three days. According to various medieval traditions, Ezra the Scribe died on or just prior to the 10<\/span>th<\/span> of Tevet. In recent times, the Fast of the Tenth of Tevet (which in 2020 fell on Friday, December 25) has been designated as the<\/span> Yom HaKaddish HaKlali<\/span><\/a>, memorializing those who were murdered in the Holocaust and those whose specific day of death is not known. Like the<\/span> Kaddish<\/span><\/a> itself, our generally somber Psalm ends on a note of hope: \u201cMay they know that Your name, Yours alone, is the Lord, supreme over all the earth\u201d (<\/span>83:19<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

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