Today Is The Solemn Day Of The Tenth Of Tevet

The 10th of Tevet (this year, December 22, 2015) is observed as a day of fasting for many, mourning and repentance. Why you may ask? Well, a mere 2.000 years ago, on the 10th day of the Jewish month of Tevet, in the year 425 BCE, the armies of the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem. This was the beginning of the chain of events that culminated with the destruction of the First Holy Temple in Jerusalem (The Beit HaMikdash) and the subsequent exiles of the Jewish People from their land. As you may know, that exile scattered Jews around the world, where they both flourished and suffered greatly, but that is of course a whole megillah that I won't go into right now.

What is important right now is to focus on the specific energy of this day. The Jewish faith and all aspects of it, while rooted in the past are just as relevant to us today as they were thousands of years ago…..you just have to pull back the veils of the modern world and quiet all the noise that distracts us from our true inner core, to realize this and more importantly to embrace it.

Today is a day to think about what we as individuals can do for the world, how our speach and actions in our homes and in our workplaces and with everyone we meet have an influence, and how we must strive to be the very best versions of ourselves. In doing so we can each contribute goodness to the world, a world where goodness must prevail over evil. There is no time like the present to get to work, so I encourage each and every one of you to take baby steps, if necessary, but start doing good things and thinking good thoughts. That is the only answer. And today on the Tenth of Tevet is the perfect time for new beginnings.

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