This short but interesting text has forged and inspired the Jewish concept of education for generations. We, as Jews, are proud that historically the levels of literacy among our people have always been very high, and that no matter the economic situation of the families in each community, every child would learn to read at the age of five to be able to begin the study of the Torah.

The figure of the moreh (or teacher) as the guardian of the city constitutes a strong metaphor. Without teachers, the cities would not physically fall, but without a solid educative net, no social structure can endure.

The scholars of our tradition play the paradigm of the builder. When the educational construction stops working, our people identify that as a synonym for danger. When the conduits through which learning is made possible are stifled, societies end up losing their identity, their culture is condemned to dilute, and its members to assimilate.

It is not by chance that this Shabbat we speak of cities, of walls, and of the dangers that threaten society. This next Sunday, according to our calendar, we commemorate the 10th of Tevet. On that day, the Babylonian armies began to lay siege to the city of Jerusalem, destroying it a year and a half later. On the 10th of Tevet, the asphyxia began; the 10th of Tevet marks the beginning of the end for our people.

Said suffering translates ritually into a day of semi-fasting. This means that during the hours of the day, we do not eat or drink and our Tefillot have special prayers and different readings than the rest of the year.

Also, several decades ago, the Rabbinate in Israel decided that the 10th of Tevet would be established as the day to recite Kaddish for all the people that perished in the Shoah, for whom we do not have an exact date of death. Therefore, we encounter a scenario of destruction, but we also find the blossoms that allow us to believe in the hope of rebirth and renovation.

The connection between the Talmudic tale and the fasting could be the image of the city and the challenges we face trying to define the most effective policies for its defense and conservation. Nevertheless, the relation is even more complex, because the guardians of the city, or in Aramaic, Neturei Karta, is the name adopted by a group of ultraorthodox Jews that deny the existence of the State of Israel and support those governments that propose its destruction. These men, paradoxically attempting to guard the city, are those very men that a little while ago were in Iran participating in a pseudo-congress that seeked to deny the Shoah. Through them we find a group that took that beautiful Talmudic text and transformed it into a nightmare. The blind fundamentalism of these men has transformed them from guardians to destroyers. These men have become soldiers of the Babylonian army that generation after generation wished to demolish our presence and our memory. Their denial of the State of Israel and of the Shoah is more than enough reason to fast this 10th of Tevet and to lament.

Despite this, we cannot simply weep and lament. If we really want to silence the voice of the harmful, if we really want to rise above the attempts of destruction from within and without, it is our responsibility to turn back to the foundations of education and continue building. The answer for our people is education and continual learning of our traditional values, because it is in these actions that we find creative and renewed hope. May we then devote ourselves to this task, and as the Psalm says, may G-d help us build the house with us as worthy constructors.