However, historically Tevet is generally associated with unhappiness. On the tenth of Tevet, the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, laid siege to Jerusalem. This led to the eventual destruction of the First Temple and the end of Jewish independence for seventy years. This catastrophic episode is memorialized with a fast day, which begins on the tenth of Tevet (Asarah B'Tevet).
All across American Jewry and specifically in the life and theological impulse of this community, the month of Tevet is the month that recalls with great sadness the Yarzeits (anniversaries of the deaths) of two of the most dynamic and leading Jewish figures in the 20th century, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel Z"T"L and his student, Rabbi Marshal T. Meyer Z"l. The message of both of these luminaries was that Judaism was not a stagnant religion of comfort and complacency, whereby a Jew cuts her/himself off from the sorrow and pain of others less fortunate.
Their message was of Jewish action, a call to move from that readily available and toxic emotion, egocentrism, to a spirit of Ahava (love) and K'vod Habriot (honoring other beings created by God). They saw modern Jews as inheritors of the prophetic legacy where we are called on to be partners with God in the work of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world). This is, of course, not a new message here at BJ. In fact, how many times do we hear this very message expressed by our own rabbis and teachers? It is repeated so often that after a while it could simply be discarded or ignored, because by now it should have penetrated to the deepest parts of our souls. But is that really the case? Is the world at a place where we can cease to protect those who are hungry and left alone?
In this, the month, where our Homeland Security department has elevated the security code to "Orange", it would be very easy to become fearful and turn inwardly to protect ourselves and loved ones. Additionally, in a month where we as Jews recall the tragic siege of Jerusalem thousands of years ago, it would also be very easy to concentrate on the fasting and mourning of the loss of Jewish sovereignty, again another method of ethnocentrism, if it is only about the nostalgia of the past and not about the recognition of our responsibility in this world.
On this, the month that begins with two more days of "increasing the light" of hope and harmony, a month which celebrates the legacy of two major visionaries, what if we instead, turned our souls outwardly? What if we turned our hearts to other human beings in need? What if we realized that this was the most admirable way to honor sacred monuments and teachers who have added significantly to our own sense of religiosity and spirituality?
What if we saw this as a realigning of our souls in the direction of God as evidenced by our interaction with another being, created in the "image of the Divine"?
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