Asara B'Teves
Asara B'Tevet and the Two Covenants: Active and Passive Relationships with Hashem
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.
