Today (1/1/15) is the 10th of Tevet on the Hebraic calendar, which is the calendar started by God and has never changed. It is called the Hebraic or Jewish calendar because the Jews were entrusted in keeping the calendar accurate throughout their challenged history.
The 8th, 9th and 10th of Tevet have great historical significance and all of these 3 dates are dates remembered with fasting.
On the 8th of Tevet 132 BC, the Greek King Ptolemy II had 72 (6 from each of the 12 Tribes) translate the Torah into Greek. It became know as the Septuagint. Following the translation from Hebrew to Greek, there was 3 days of total darkness over the land (Tevet 8-10). It is believed that the darkness was due to the fact that the Torah would no longer be treated with great reverence and holiness, but with the Greek mindset that everything had to be reasoned out and understood mentally. At this time the Holy Torah was downgraded, from the supernatural (spiritual) to the natural (mental).
On the 9th of Tevet, 4th Century BC, Ezra the scribe died. He was the founder of the Great Assembly, a body of 120 prophets and sages who established important matters like the standard text found in Jewish prayer books today.
On the 10th of Tevet, 587 BC, Babylonia King Nebuchadnezzar began his siege of Jerusalem. Actually, there was little damage on that first day and no Jews were killed, yet it began a chain of disasters which ended with the destruction of the Holy Temple seven months later on the 9th of Av. The 10th of Tevet is still observed today by Jews as a public fast day, as mentioned by the prophet Zechariah (8:19).
This is a time to draw close to God, to humble ourselves before Him and bring back the holy fear of God into our lives. So many are beginning their January 1st New Year with reading the Bible in a Year program, fasting or journaling to get closer to God. I think it is amazing that these dates are together to bring us together on this Shemitah Year.
Mbostrom2's Blog 
Fabulous! Thank you so much!