In the Selichos that are recited on the fast of Asorah B’Teves, it is mentioned that the Greek king, Ptolemy, forced the gedolei hador to translate the holy Torah into the Greek language. This is one of the three reasons that the fast of Asorah B’Teves was declared. The Beraisa in Mesechta Sofrim writes that the moment that this took place, was as difficult a moment as the day that the Yidden made the Golden calf- the egel.
This begs further understanding. We are fully aware that the day that the egel was made was a day of ignominy that shook the foundations of our nation. This horrible event altered the course of our nation’s lives for the rest of history. This caused the shattering of the first luchos that were never fully replaced. Any future tragedy that took place subsequent to the incident of the egel is a result of that horrible communal aveirah. How is it at all possible to equate the translation of the Torah into the Greek dialect to the chait ha’egel?
We have a tradition that a maddening darkness gripped the world for three days when the Torah was translated into Greek. Chazal tell us that the Yidden davened for three days intense tefilos to avert this tremendous tzorah.
How can we adequately define this tragedy whose negative ramifications reverberate even to this day?
The danger that the Yevanim posed for Klal Yisroel was their concerted campaign to infiltrate Yiddishkeit with impurities and secularism. They did not intend to destroy the Bais Hamikdosh. Instead, they schemed to defile it. They did not try to eradicate and kill the Jewish people. Rather, their focus was to break the barriers between them and the holiness of the Yidden. They sought to assimilate the Yidden into their modernized culture. The goal was to wipe away any sign of the special character that is the trademark of a Yid.
The tragedy of translating the Torah into the Greek language was the most visceral of their campaign and remains a challenge to this day. They took our treasured, heilige Torah and transformed it into a book of wisdom, alongside their major essays and publications espousing modern philosophies and the modern sciences. They sought to equate the Torah with their secular wisdom and to divest the Torah of its divinity and connection to the Eibershter.
Until that dark day, one who wanted to transgress and remove himself from being a practicing Yid, would renounce the Torah precepts and the mitzvos. However, once the Torah adopted this new form, one was free to adopt a liberal lifestyle and still proclaim connection to the Torah. There now existed a new possibility- Torah, drained of its kedushah. Torah masqueraded as another of the sciences and alternate wisdom devoid of any sanctity or relationship to the Creator of the world. Torah had become flexible to the whims and contemporary theories and arguments. It became clay in the hands of secularism to adjust and mold to the preferences of irresponsible uncommitted folk. Apikursus became rampant. Commitment to mesorah was not guaranteed. Subjugation to the chachomim was not necessary. The principles of the Torah were manipulated to the contemporary trends and personal whims. Emunah in the Torah was not anymore steadfast and taken for granted.
This was the tragedy of Asorah B’Teves when the Torah took on the new form in the Greek language. This was, and is, a generational tragedy, altering the Jewish lives on the level of the sin of the Golden calf. This is ample reason to fast and agonize on Asorah B’Teves.
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