Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis has called for all who are able to “commit to a day of prayer and fasting” on Friday.

In a statement on X/Twitter, the chief rabbi said that this year the fast is a “spiritual response” to contemporary human suffering.

Tevet 10 falls on December 22 and is known as Asarah Betevet, one of six public fast days in the Jewish calendar.

Mirvis said: “The day recalls a time when the ancient City of Jerusalem came under threat”.

He went on: “It also provides us with an opportunity to respond to the current traumatic war in the same way that Jews throughout history have responded to moments of adversity – by turning our hearts Heavenwards in prayer and fasting.”

The date is also designated as Yom Hakadish Haklali, a day of Kaddish for those who perished in the Holocaust and whose precise date of death was unknown.

Mirvis said that “as such, it provided a day for a spiritual response to the most unspeakable human atrocity.”

Mirvis said: “Today, we are in need of a spiritual response to unbearable human suffering. So, I urge all who are able, to observe the fast of Asarah Betevet, and may Hashem, Who hears our prayers in times of distress, bless all people with His peace.”