Search This Blog

Friday, January 12, 2024

Tevet - What is This Month All About?

Why Discover Tevet?

When I was young we used to have T-shirts and  wrist bands with WWJD on them to remind us to stop and think - 

  • What 
  • Would 
  • Jesus
  • Do? 
Are you old enough to remember those too?
Well, Our Messiah grew up observing the Holy Days given to Mose (Moses) according to the Hebrew Calendar.
The Hebrew calendar is a combination of  the lunar and solar calendars and has been used by people around the world for centuries to know when we are to celebrate the appointed times that Our Heavenly Father has set aside as very special days to get together and celebrate or mourn.His Son, Our Messiah  used this same calendar and observed these very special days too.

Have you ever really been in love with someone? When you are in love you try to find out more and more about them and do little things that would be pleasing to them.  


Well, I must admit, I have not been doing a very good job trying to find out more about the One whom I say adore.


For example, here we are already almost through through the month of Tevet, and I still haven't found out anything about the month of Tevet!


So I am sitting down right now to find out what Tevet is all about. As they say, "Better late than never!"

The word Tevet in black font on a white background
Tevet - Simple Month Name Plaque



Note: This blog has referral links that help our writers eat when you make purchases through them. Would you like to write on Turtle Dove Thoughts? Guest Bloggers are welcome. Please drop a note in the comments below.
Faith Gear Christian Men Hoodies
Click Here to Shop Faith Gear Now!

My Tevet Discoveries

The last day of Tevet 5784 in 2024 is January 14th, so I am just squeaking in with this exploration of the month of Tevet.

Tevet is the tenth month of the Hebrew calendar. 
The number 10 is associated with tithe, order, and maturity.
Tevet has mourning days and celebration days.
For example, the 10th day of this tenth month was commanded to be be set aside as a day of mourning, fasting and prayer. What is being mourned? The destruction of the first temple. We find the command to commemorate this day in Yishekel (Ezekiel) 24:2. It is also mentioned as a fasting day in Zecheriah 8:19.There is a very interesting article about the fast of the tenth of tevet here on the My Jewish Learning website.

The name for the month Tevet is mentioned in the Book of Esther!

Tevet comes from two Hebrew words "Tov" meaning "Good" and "Vet/Bet" - the second letter in the alphabet. The second letter of the Hebrew alphabet when pronounced "Bet" looks like an eye - there is a dot placed in the middle of the symbol, but when pronounced "Vet" there is no dot (dagesh) in the middle of the symbol. Many scholars therefore that the month of Tevet means we need to look at things with a "good eye". However, this letter is associated in Hebrew with creation, duality, a dwelling place and Our Creator's desire to dwell with us. There is a fascinating study about Vet / Bet on Hebrew for Christians at the bottom of the page here.

There is one major celebration in Tevet that was celebrated by Our Saviour during his lifetime - Chanukah.
 Chanukah, celebrating the miraculous victory of the Maccabees regaining the temple and the miraculous provision of oil that did not run out for 8 days  is like a bridge between Kislev and Tevet. The lighting of the Chanukiah candles spans the darkest days of the year and as the candles on the Chanukiah are lit, and the light becomes brighter, the hours of sunlight per day also slowly increases. 

In a YouTube video about Tevet, Rabbi Daniel Raphael Silverstein shares a fascinating ancient Hebrew document the  Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Formation). This document is the earliest extant work of Jewish mysticism and it is traditionally attributed to Abraham (18th Century BCE) and/or R' Akiva (2nd Century CE). In it, each month is associated with a Hebrew letter, a constellation, a part of the human body and a human emotion, sense, or faculty. 

I found this to be very surprising indeed!  However, before we go a Gung ho into astrology- it is important to be very wary of falling jnto the trap of worshipping the created- rather than the Creator. 

I was very surprised to hear him say that the Messiah was conceived in the month of Tevet. I think I'd better listen to this video again in case it was just a figment of my imagination and wish for everyone to realize that Our Messiah, Yeshua has already been here , and we are awaiting his final triumphant return.

The emotional  focus for Tevet is anger. It is a time to learn about the importance of  controlling  our anger so we do not miss out on important blessings like Mose did. Rabbi Silverstein has prepared an excellent worksheet on this topic that might be useful for teaching students from age 12 and up that you can download free from his Tevet My Jewish Learnjng YouTube description here.

The body part we are invited to focused on in Tevet is the liver.

The letter for the month of Tevet is Ayin - which is a silent letter and represents the number 70. Ayin is the sixteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Ayin is associated with nothingness. It has no sound of its own, but is a guttural sound in the back of the throat after a vowel.   You can hear an example of the sound of this letter and learn how to draw ayin on the Hebrew for Christians website.
Ayin looks like the English letter y with a crown-like piece of three short sticks on the top of the left side of the "y"
Ayin - from Wikimedia


It is interesting that ancient Hebrew poetry says that Our Creator made Ayin king over anger. This does give a good strategy to use when we feel anger coming to surface within us - to try not to say anything at all, so we will not regret the things we have spoken in anger. Anger, like ayin is influenced by things that happen before it.


The month of Tevet is associated with the idea of putting away childish things and growing up .

It is also apparently connected with the Tribe of Dan, but I have not found anything that I would consider authoritative on this yet.
So... this post is to be continued...

Sources:

About This Author

Sister Su is grateful to God for keeping her alive. She is a Trent/Queen's Concurrent Education graduate with over 20 years of teaching experience. She writes on several blogs, has a YouTube channel and is most easily reached through Twitter @Sister_Su See her link tree for more details:@Sister_Su | Linktree

This post was proofread with the free version of Grammarly
Labels: ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)