The Tenth of Tevet

Judaism has four fast days commemorating events that led to the Jewish exile. The tenth of Tevet is the first historically, marking the day that the Babylonian army, under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar, laid siege to Jerusalem. The siege lasted two and a half years and culminated with the breaching of Jerusalem’s walls and the destruction of the First Temple. The Jewish people were then exiled to Babylonia for 70 years. In recent times, the tenth of Tevet was instituted as the day to recite the Kaddish prayer for the victims of the Holocaust whose dates of death are unknown.