From the "halacha yomi" from Yeshiva Har Bracha (my translated paraphrase ):
There fast of 10 Teves commemorates three things. Firstly and primarily, it commemorates the siege placed on Yerushalayim that eventually led to the destruction of the city and the Mikdash. Secondly, in our slichos we mention the passing of Ezra, which occured on 9 Teves. Lastly, we remember the forced translation of the Torah into Greek on 8 Teves.
R' Tzvi Yehudah Kook suggested that in response to these three events, we use the day to work on a three-pronged "tikun": 1) In response to the tragedy of the siege, we dedicate ourselves to building Yerushalayim and Eretz Yisrael, both physically and spiritually; 2) In response to the tragedy of Ezra's passing we dedicate ourselves to spreading even more Torah, in particular by encouraging even more people to return from the golah to Eretz Yisrael, the source of Torah, just as Ezra tried to do; 3) In response to the Torah being translated into the foreign language of Greece and the foreign culture of Greece we work to restore the authentic culture and spirit of the Jewish people and weed out the foreign influences that have infiltrated during our many years in galus.
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[1] "it commemorates the siege"
ReplyDelete[3] "we remember the forced translation"
but was [2] "the passing of Ezra...on 9 Teves" an act of violation like both 1 and 3? was his physical dying itself somehow a stressful national tragedy?
the start of pasuk tet of the selichos text, tarofe toraf, tells us that dying Ezra was as a thorn twice torn from wool (Berachot 8a): first he had the men cease clinging to foreign wives by clinging instead to Torah; next he helped husbands and Israelite wives in their clinging to each other, the men by way of garlic, the women by access to peddlers (B.K. 82a-b)... the people as it were clung to Ezra, and Ezra clung to them [to their clinging], making for a twice 'violent'* separation of soul from body, of leader from klal, at his death {meanwhile, getting "people to return from golah to Eretz Yisrael" can be like pulling on wool-wrapped thorns...}
*by contrast, G-d by His kiss offered Moshe the most peaceful soul release of all (Ber. 8a)