We Are Now in The (Eisavian) Month of Teves

Yehezkiel 24:1

1 Then the word of the Lord came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, saying:

אוַיְהִי֩ דְבַר־יְהֹוָ֨ה אֵלַ֜י בַּשָּׁנָ֚ה הַתְּשִׁיעִית֙ בַּחֹ֣דֶשׁ הָֽעֲשִׂירִ֔י בֶּעָשׂ֥וֹר לַחֹ֖דֶשׁ לֵאמֹֽר:

2 "Son of man, write for yourself the name of the day, this very day; the king of Babylon has besieged Jerusalem on this very day.

בבֶּן־אָדָ֗ם כְּתָב־ (כתיב כְּתָוב) לְךָ֙ אֶת־שֵׁ֣ם הַיּ֔וֹם אֶת־עֶ֖צֶם הַיּ֣וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה סָמַ֚ךְ מֶלֶךְ־בָּבֶל֙ אֶל־יְר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔ם בְּעֶ֖צֶם הַיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּֽה:

11 Facts About the Month of Tevet 

1. Tevet Is in the Winter

The 10th month on the Jewish calendar, Tevet occurs in the wintertime. In fact, the entire winter season is sometimes called tekufat (season of) Tevet in Jewish tradition.

2. Tevet Always Has 29 Days

The two months preceding Tevet (Cheshvan and Kislev) can each have either 29 or 30 days, depending on the year. From Tevet and onward, things are simple. Tevet has 29 and Shevat has 30, establishing a pattern of alternating months that continues for the rest of the year.

3. Chanukah Bleeds into Tevet

Chanukah begins on 25 Kislev and continues for 8 days. This means that the final few days of Chanukah extend into Tevet, an otherwise dreary and ordinary month. In the event that the first day of Tevet is on Shabbat, this Shabbat is one of the few times when three Torah scrolls are removed from the ark during morning services. The Torah portion of the week (Mikeitz) is read from one scroll, the Rosh Chodesh reading is read from the second, and the Chanukah portion is read from the third. The Grace After Meals for that Shabbat (which includes additions for Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh and Chanukah) is also the longest of the year. 

4. Esther Was Taken to the Palace

In the book of Esther we read that Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus’s palace “in the 10th month, which is the month of Tevet.”¹ The Talmud explains that the month of Tevet was a particularly opportune time, since the cold causes “the body to take pleasure from the body [of another].”²

5. The Siege of Jerusalem Began

Even before it got the name Tevet, when it was known simply as the tenth month, this was a significant time in Jewish history: “In the 10th month, on the 10th of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylonia, came—he and his entire army—against Jerusalem, and encamped against it, and they built siege works around it.”³

6. The 10th Day of the Month Is a Fast Day

The book of Zechariah tells us that four fast days will become days of “joy and gladness and good festivals” in the era of Moshiach, including “the fast of the 10th,” a reference to the 10th day of Tevet (the 10th month). On this day Jewish people mourn the destruction of Jerusalem, the result of the siege which began on that day. From daybreak to nightfall no food or drink is consumed, and extra prayers are recited.

7. Two Other Tragic Events Happened As Well

Tradition tells us that the fast of 10 Tevet commemorates two other tragic events.

On 8 Tevet, at the behest of Ptolemy of Egypt, the Torah was translated into Greek, marking a sharp decline of Jewish spirituality, the Torah now perceived as just another book of wisdom in Ptolemy’s great library.

9 Tevet is the yahrtzeit of Ezra the Scribe, the spiritual leader of the Jews who returned to the Land of Israel from Babylonia and rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem. The death of this great leader, who left an indelible mark on Jewish life and observance, was deeply mourned.

Yet a single fast was declared for all three events, so that the month would not be full of sadness and mourning.

Ezra the Scribe [https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4166669/jewish/Ezra-the-Scribe.htm]

8. Agents Were Not Dispatched from Jerusalem

In Temple times, at the start of every Jewish month that contained a holiday, agents were dispatched from Jerusalem to notify the Jewish people in every community of when the month had begun, so that they would know when to observe the holiday. But no runners were sent out at the start of Tevet. Since the fast would one day be abolished, it was not considered binding at that time, and did not warrant special notification.⁴

9. Tevet Is Babylonian

The name “Tevet” was adopted by the Jewish people during the Babylonian exile.⁵ It is believed to connote “sinking” or “immersing.” This is possibly related to the fact that the heavy winter rainfall turns much of the Middle East into a muddy swamp at this time of year.

[Why Babylonian Names for Jewish Months? article follows]

10. The Mazal of Tevet Is the Goat

Every Jewish month is associated with the zodiac symbol which is dominant at that time. The symbol of Tevet is the gedi (goat, Capricorn).

11. 5 Tevet Is Special in Chabad

The 5th day of Tevet is marked with celebrations in Chabad, as it is the date when a U.S. federal judge ruled that the extensive library left by the sixth Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, of righteous memory, belonged to the community, recognizing the extraordinary nature of a rebbe as a communal figure.

The 24th day of Tevet is also significant in Chabad. It is the anniversary of the passing of the Alter Rebbe, the first Chabad rebbe, in 1812.

Source:  https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4223896/jewish/11-Facts-About-the-Month-of-Tevet-Every-Jew-Should-Know.htm

* * *

Why Babylonian Names for Jewish Months:

In the pre-Babylonian era, we find in the Scriptures only four months on the calendar that are identified by name:

The first month (Nissan): Aviv
The second month (Iyar): Ziv
The seventh month (Tishrei): Eitanim
The eighth month (Cheshvan): Bul

The other months were just known by their place in the calendar—e.g., third month, fourth month—starting from the first month: first by virtue of the fact that it is the month when our nation left Egypt, the month when we became a nation.

(Apparently, even the four months that had names were more often than not referred to by their numeric place on the calendar, with the names serving as secondary titles accompanying their numbers.)

The Jerusalem Talmud tells us that the modern names of the months “came up [to Israel] with [the returnees] from Babylon,” at the onset of the second Jewish commonwealth, approximately 350 BCE.

So, why did we begin to use these names? Why didn’t we stick with the biblical practice of referring to months by their number?

Nachmanides suggests that this is consistent with Jeremiah’s prophecy: “Therefore, behold days are coming, says G‑d, and it shall no longer be said [by one who wishes to pronounce an oath], ‘As G‑d lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but rather, ‘As G‑d lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the north land [Babylon] . . .’”

The original system was to count months in numeric order, starting from Nissan. Thus, any time a person mentioned a month, he was in effect recalling the exodus from Egypt: we are in, say, the sixth month—six months since the month of the Exodus. Thus, the numeric naming served as a constant reminder of our deliverance from Egypt.

After we were delivered from Babylonian captivity, however, we started using the names that we became used to using in Babylon. And now, these names served to remind us that G‑d has redeemed us from this second exile.

Source:  https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/987524/jewish/Why-Babylonian-Names-for-Jewish-Months.htm