Dvar torah

Asara B'Tevet: Caring for the Roots, Anticipating Growth

Asara B’Tevet is a fast that feels strangely anticlimactic. No flames. No breached walls. No dramatic last stand. If you were explaining it to someone unfamiliar with Jewish history, you would almost have to apologize. We are fasting, you would say, because something bad started. Not happened. Started. And that distinction is everything.