By Hillel Fendel
Today, the 10th of Tevet, is a day of fasting, commemorating the siege
of Jerusalem led by Nebuchadnezzar - the ancient Babylonian despot of
whom Saddam Hussein claimed to be a reincarnation.
Just a day after the hanging of Saddam Hussein, Jews around the world
remember another cruel tyrant - Saddam's self-proclaimed role model -
and his murderous plans for the Jewish People. Nebuchadnezzar was
more successful than Saddam in this regard, in that he destroyed
Jerusalem and the Holy Temple, and put hundreds of thousands of Jews,
including the nation's king and leaders, to death with unspeakable
cruelty.
On this day, the 10th of Tevet, Nebuchadnezzar instated a tight siege
on Jerusalem, setting off the chain of events that led to the
destruction of the First Holy Temple and a 70-year exile of the Jewish
People from their Holy Land.
Today, nearly 2,500 years later, Jews around the world - and
especially in the modern renewed edition of the Jewish State that
Nebuchadnezzar tried to rub out - refrain from eating and drinking
until sunset to remember the calamities that occurred at that time.
Saddam Hussein, who was hanged yesterday in Baghdad, just 90
kilometers from Nebuchadnezzar's palace in the ancient city of Babyon,
modeled himself in many ways after Nebuchadnezzar.
Much of the brickwork in the throne room of King Nebuchadnezzar's
palace, for instance, was built by Saddam Hussein's workers. Just as
the original bricks are inscribed with words praising Nebuchadnezzar,
the newer ones - 60 million of them! - state that they were fashioned
in "the era of Saddam Hussein, protector of Iraq, who rebuilt
civilization and rebuilt Babylon."
In addition, in his book "Saddam Hussein, the Stairway to Heaven and
the Return of Planet X," William Henry writes, "Saddam is saying he is
the reincarnated Nebuchadnezzar... He is attempting to recreate and
outdo the feats of the biblical king... It is well known that [he]
has connected himself with Nebuchadnezzar, spending over $500 million
during the 1980s on the reconstruction and the re-establishment of
ancient Babylon, the capitol of Nebuchadnezzar."
Nebuchadnezzar was Divinely changed into an animal for a period of
time - an event that many recalled when the once-opulent Saddam
Hussein was captured two and a half years ago living in nearly
animal-like conditions.
The Tenth of Tevet has also taken on another facet, in connection with
the Holocaust. Many bereaved Jews who do not know the date or place
of death of their loved ones recite Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for
those who have died, on this day. For this reason, some consider this
day as a Holocaust remembrance day.
Yishai Fleisher contributed to this article.
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