In observance of Asarah b'Tevet, a minor fast day, Jews commemorate the beginning of the Babylonian siege on Jerusalem and the subsequent destruction of the First Temple.

In this short story, Joel Bar Yehia, the owner of a golem factory, is facing a drought that has caused production to come to a halt due to a lack of resources.

The text discusses how British reports in the 1930s highlighting water scarcity in Palestine to limit Jewish immigration inadvertently drove Zionist efforts to manage water resources efficiently.