י' בטבת
Dedicate a Shiur in Asara B'Teves
L'ilui nishmas a loved one. In honor of a simcha or yahrzeit. As a zechus for a refuah sheleimah. Your dedication helps carry Rabbi Zweig's Torah to learners around the world.
5 shiurim for Asara B'Teves
What makes Asara b'Tevet the most fundamental of the fast days? The shiur explains that the siege of Yerushalayim marked the loss of freedom—being trapped—which parallels the meaning of crying itself: helplessness and inability to act independently. The lesson extends to personal responsibility: healthy parents raise children who can stand on their own, not remain emotionally dependent and "trapped."
Why does the Torah prescribe fasting to commemorate tragedy rather than prayer or introspection? The Gemara (Berachos 6b) declares that "the essential reward of fasting is charity." Rashi and Rambam offer two complementary perspectives: fasting creates hunger that teaches us to empathize with the poor, while charitable giving that genuinely affects our lifestyle transforms us and reconnects us to community.
Why does Asara B'Teves override even Shabbos when Tisha B'Av does not? The shiur reveals two types of teshuvah: behavioral change after sin (Hilchos Teshuvah) versus fundamental self-redefinition after punishment (Hilchos Ta'anis). Suffering strips away the superficial and forces us to redefine who we are at our core—not just what we do.
Why is Asara B'Teves uniquely stringent among fast days, even overriding Shabbos preparation? The siege of Jerusalem marks the reversal of the fourth stage of redemption—receiving the Torah—which grants true freedom. Just as four languages of geulah brought us from slavery to freedom, four fast days trace our return to bondage, with Asara B'Teves destroying our sense of etzem (selfhood) and the ability to go "in and out" that defines Torah Shebeal Peh.
Why does Asara B'Tevet have a unique status among fast days, even superseding Tisha B'Av in severity? The shiur develops the idea that there are two covenants with Hashem: at Sinai (we are the kallah, passive) and through Torah study (we are the chasan, active). Asara B'Tevet mourns the destruction of the active relationship—our creative engagement with Torah—symbolized by Yechezkel's wife's death mirroring the loss of the Beis Hamikdash.
