Dawn to nightfall
Eating and drinking are forbidden from dawn until nightfall. One who wants to eat before dawn should decide so before going to sleep.
Holidays10 Tevet · Dawn to nightfall
The day the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem began: a fast of mourning, and of the hope of return.
"In the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against Jerusalem with all his army" (2 Kings 25:1). The siege that began that day ended two and a half years later with the destruction of the First Temple.
The prophet Zechariah calls it "the fast of the tenth month" (8:19), and promises that these fasts will one day become days of joy and gladness.
The Selichot of the day also remember the 8th of Tevet, when the Torah was translated into Greek, and the 9th, the passing of Ezra the Scribe. In Israel, the Chief Rabbinate set it as a day of Kaddish for victims of the Holocaust whose day of death is not known.
Keeping the fast
Eating and drinking are forbidden from dawn until nightfall. One who wants to eat before dawn should decide so before going to sleep.
Healthy adults fast. Following Sephardic practice, pregnant and nursing women do not fast on the minor fasts, and anyone who is ill should ask a rabbi.
Washing, leather shoes and work are permitted, unlike on Yom Kippur and Tisha B'Av.
Asara B'Tevet is the only fast that can fall on a Friday. The fast continues until nightfall, even after Shabbat begins; many pray Kabbalat Shabbat and Arvit early and make Kiddush at home after nightfall.
In the synagogue
Special Selichot for the tenth of Tevet are said in the morning, recalling the siege, the translation of the Torah and the death of Ezra.
The SelichotAdded by the hazzan in the repetition, and by each person in the Minha Amidah.
Shaharit and Minha
"Vayehal Moshe": Moses pleads for Israel and God reveals the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy.
Many communities add the haftarah "Dirshu" (Isaiah 55:6–56:8), "Seek the Lord while He may be found."
Keep learning
Questions
Nebuchadnezzar began the siege of Jerusalem that led to the destruction of the First Temple.
Under our fixed calendar it never falls on Shabbat, but it can fall on a Friday. Then we fast until nightfall, into Shabbat.
Following Sephardic practice, they do not fast on the minor fasts.
Yes. "The Fast of Tevet" and "Asara B'Tevet" are two names for the same fast on 10 Tevet.