December 10, 2007 - January 7, 2008

Printer-friedly version The poster shows the last three Chanukah candles in a backdrop of Jerusalem stone, the building blocks of the Holy Temple.   The name of 'This New Month' is Tevet Rosh Chodesh Tevet is Monday, December 10, 2007 and the month of Tevet ends on Monday, January 7, 2008 The Themes for Tevet are: Winter around the world Jewish Identity Holidays in Tevet are: Hanukkah   Tevet is the fourth month of the year counting from Tishrei, but in the Tanach it is called "the tenth month" because it is the tenth month counting from Nisan (the first of the months of the year.) During the first few days of Tevet, anyone taking a walk in Israel after nightfall will see windows full of chanukiyot as Hanukkah draws to a close. People who live in apartment buildings will often light their chanukiyot in specially designed glass cases outside the front door of the building. In many homes, each of the children lights a chanukiya of his/her own, so that it looks like the whole country is lit up. Still, Tevet is primarily associated with sadness. On the tenth of Tevet, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem, an event that eventually led to the destruction of the First Temple, the sacking of Jerusalem, and the end of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel for seventy years. This tragic event is commemorated with a fast day. As with all the other names of the months that we use today, the name "Tevet" was borrowed from the Babylonian name for the month and was incorporated into the Hebrew language during the seventy year exile between the destruction of the First Temple and the building of the Second Temple. Goats: the symbol of Tevet Tevet’s sign of the zodiac is "gedi" ("goat" or Capricorn) because in the Land of Israel, if there has been good rainfall during Heshvan and Kislev, the goats are taken out to pasture on the newly green, well-watered slopes. The appearance of the hills in Tevet is very important, because the winter months are the only time it rains in Israel, and there are no big lakes or rivers to provide a backup for the rainwater if it is scanty. Shevat, the month that follows Tevet, is considered the cutoff point for the majority of the year’s rain. Good pasturage for the goats in Tevet means a good year for the farmers, shepherds, forests, and wildflowers of the land. A month of sadness and struggles Tevet is not considered a happy month. Instead, it is associated with both physical and spiritual struggles in Jewish history. Aside from the tenth of Tevet, another significant date in this month is the eighth of Tevet, the day on which seventy Jewish elders were ordered by the Greek emperor Talmai to commence translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek. This translation is known as the Septuagint, or "the translation of the seventy." Traditionally, this compulsory translation is viewed as a tragic event in Jewish history, because it marked a loss of Jewish spiritual independence from foreign culture.   CREDITS: The JCC Association would like to thank the following individuals for their contributions to the Tevet portion of the "This New Month" Project. Simi Peters

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