Snow in Tevet

though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow
Yeshayahu 1:18

אִם-יִהְיוּ חֲטָאֵיכֶם כַּשָּׁנִים כַּשֶּׁלֶג יַלְבִּינוּ

The words "yalbinu" - will be white  and "levanon" - Lebanon - share many of the same Hebrew lettters. Our hearts go out to the family of the soldier killed by a Lebanese sniper.

Shirat Devorah has an image of the tractate Yoma 35b which talks about snow on a Friday in Tevet. This daf was the one assigned for this past Friday, the 10th of Tevet, when snow fell in Yerushalayim.

If you click on the dafyomi calendar over here, you can see that the daf for today is Yoma 38.

On Friday, December 13, 10 Tevet, it was Yoma 35.

Our rabbis taught: A poor person, a rich person and a evil person come before the heavenly court. They ask the poor person, “Why did you not study Torah?” If the poor person answers, “I was poor and worried about earning a living,” they will ask the poor person, “Were you poorer than Hillel?” For it was told of Hillel that every day he used to work and earn one tropaik [small amount], half of which he would give as tuition to the doorkeeper at the House of Learning; the other half he would spend on his and his family’s needs. One day, he was unable to earn anything and the doorkeeper would not permit him to enter the House of Learning. So he climbed up to the roof and sat upon the window to hear the words of the Living God out of the mouths of Shmaya and Avtalion. That day was a Friday in the middle of winter, and snow fell on him from the sky. When the dawn rose, Shmaya said to Avtalion, “Brother Avtalion, every day, this house is light and today it is dark.” They looked up and saw the figure of a man in the window. They went up and found Hillel covered by four feet of snow. They brought him down, bathed and anointed him, and placed him in front of the fire...
http://www.on1foot.org/text/babyloniam-talmud-yoma-35b

The “snow siege” of Jerusalem is a God’s direct response to the recent jailing of yeshiva students who refused to accept draft orders to report for duty in the IDF, claimed Kabbalistic Rabbi Yaakov Addas Sunday.

“There is a general principle that when there is an evil decree, such as a tsunami, everyone must do some soul searching” he told the Kikar HaShabbat Haredi website.
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/kabbalah-rabbi-storm-is-gods-reply-to-arresting-yeshiva-students/2013/12/15/

Incidentally, the same daf discusses Potiphar’s wife who threatened Joseph with imprisonment. What was Joseph's response?

"G-d frees the imprisoned."