Name of the month: TEVES
Other names of the month:
Mazal of the month: GIDI (GOAT)
Tribe of the month (according to the Arizal): DON
Tribe of the month (according to the Zohar): OSHER
The nature of Teves
The month of Teves starts with the ending off the joyous days of Chanuka that started in the month of Kislev. However, it contains a fast day, Asara Biteves, when the walls of Yerushalayim were besieged by the Babylonian King and signifies the start in the serious of destructions that led up to the burning of the Beis Hamikdosh on Tisha BiAv and the leaving Eretz Yisroel on Tzoim Gedalia. This is why all these dates become fast days.
In Selichos we say that the month of Teves was a terrible time with many tragedies for the Jews. Yet we only seem to remember one of them – Asara BiTeves? In Megillas Taanis it brings that there are three consecutive bad days – from the 8th to 10th of Teves. On the 8th of Teves the Torah was translated into Greek while the catastrophe of the 9th is not openly recorded and the 10th was the besieging of Yerushalayim. The mazal, astrological sign, for Teves is Gidi, goat. The tribe that this month parallels is Osher, according to the order of birth, or Don, according to the Degolim, camps.
The end of the month of Teves sees the start of the Shovavim. Shovavim (Hebrew: שובבי”ם ) is an acrostic for the Jewish parshios of “Shemos”, “Voeira”, “Bo”, “Bishallach”, “Yisro” and “Mishpotim”. During a Jewish leap-year one sees references to an eight-week period called “Shovavim Tat”, derived by adding the next two portions, “Terumah” and “Tetzaveh”, to the list.
The extreme nature of Teves
The Maharal (Netzach) tells us that we can see the year based on the movement of the sun. Any times of extremes is not good for the Jews while when in time things are balanced and equal they are good for the Jews, namely the months of Nissan and Tishrei when the day and night are more or less equal. Extreme temperatures, either too hot or too cold and when the day is much longer than the night or the reverse is good for the goyim, examples being the months of Teves, Tammuz and Av. This is borne out by the phrase said in Selichos of Asara BiTeves – ירח טבת מאד לקיתי בו – “The month of Teves we were smitten a lot”.
However, to end on a matter of hope. The period of Tekufas Teves falls after the winter solstice when the days begin to get longer. When Odom sinned, the days began to get shorter and he thought it was because of his sin. When the days began to get longer again, he realized he was not doomed and that his repentance had been accepted. Thus this period is an eis ratzon where one can connect to Hashem.