Should We Still Mourn on Tisha B'Av? If So, How?

A. What is Tisha B'Av (the 9th day of the Hebrew month of A

1. Destruction of the First Temple

2. Destruction of the Second Temple

3. Other Disasters on the 9th of Av

4. Why the Ninth of Av?

B. Should We Still Lament the Destruction of the Temples?

1. Ancient Approaches

2. Medieval Commentary

Rabbi Hiya opened his discourse with the verse: "Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you that love her, rejoice for joy with her, all who mourn over her." (Isaiah 66:10) Come and see: When the Temple was destroyed and sins proved decisive and the Children of Israel were exiled from their land, the blessed Holy One withdrew above, above--not looking upon the destruction of the Temple or upon God's people who had been exiled. Then Shekhinah went into exile with them. When God descended, God saw that God's house was burnt. God looked at God's people and behold, they were in exile. He asked for Matronita [the Shechinah] and learned that she had been exiled. Then, it is written, My Lord GOD of Hosts summoned on that day to weeping and lamenting, to tonsuring and girding with sackcloth (Isa. 22:12) And regarding her [the Shechinah] – also Her – what is written about Her? "Girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth…" (Joel 1:8) because "…he is no more (Jeremiah 31:15)," for God has left her, and they are separated.

Even heaven and earth themselves mourned, as it is written, "I clothe the heavens with blackness and I make sackcloth their covering." (Isaiah 50:3). All the supernal angels mourned for Her, as it is written, "Behold, the mighty ones shall cry outside; the angels of peace weep bitterly." (Isaiah 33:7). The sun and moon were in mourning, their lights darkened, as it is written, "the sun shall be darkened in his going forth." (Isaiah 13:10). All Above and below wept for Her and mourned. Why? Because the Other Side reigned over Her, in that it ruled over the Holy Land.

He [Rabbi Hiya] opened a discourse with the verse: "You son of man, thus says the Lord Adonai to the land of Israel: An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the earth." (Ezekiel 7:2). This verse contains a deep mystery. What does "to the land of Israel: an end" mean? Does it mean that the land of Israel is an end? Surely this is true. We have learned there is an end to the right and an end to the left. An end to the right, as it is written, "at the end of the right*" (Daniel 12:13) and an end to the left, as it is written, "He puts an end to darkness,...(Job 28:3)." This is the "end of all flesh (Gen. 6:13)".

The end on the right is written of in the verse, "to the land of Israel an end;" "...the end is come"--the end of the left. The end on the right, the Good Inclination. The end on the left, the Evil Inclination; because, as a result of the power of sin, sovereignty was granted to the kingship of evil to rule and destroy God's house and God's dwelling-place, as it is written, "Thus says Lord Adonai! An evil, a singular evil, behold, is come." (Ezekiel 7:) It is all one [teaching].

Therefore there was mourning above and below, for sovereignty was given to the end of the left. Thus, because the kingdom of holiness, the kingdom of heaven, was subjugated and the kingdom of evil prevailed, it behooves anyone to mourn with Her and be subdued with Her. Then, when She arises and the world rejoices, God shall also rejoice with Her, as it is written, "rejoice for joy with Her, all you that did mourn for Her." (Isaiah 66:10)

3. Finding Meaning on Tisha B'Av

a. Reform Perspectives

OLAT TAMID: BOOK OF PRAYER FOR ISRAELITISH CONGREGATIONS, REV. DR. DAVID EINHORN (1872),

Reading following the Kedushah (italics added below)

With profound emotion, O Lord, we think now of that fatal day on which the foe entered thy stronghold, and thy temple became a prey to devouring flames. Then lay desolate the populous city, the princess of countries a mourning widow. Then sank into the dust the pride and crown of Israel, the magnificent sanctuary on Moriah's proud height, in which the scions of Abraham praised the glory of thy name beforeall nations; the seat of light, on which stood the ark with the divine testimony, the Cherubim with wings turned heavenward, the altar of atoning sacrifices, the candlestick with theseven flaming tongues. Then became silent the lovely song of the Levites, which had risen towards thee in choruses of thousands of voices, and there resounded only the woeful cries of priests robbed of their office and ornaments, and the wails and groans of the homeless children of thy people. O, heavy and bitter was the doom which befell the house of Jacob on that day. With bleeding hearts they wandered through strange lands without love, like sons repudiated by their father, everywhere surrounded by the fury of hostile nations, everywhere satiated with woe, marked with the garb and gait of servitude, stricken and stung to death, so that, in their deep distress, they often cried to thee: Thou hast thrust me into a deep pit, into a dark abyss; thy wrath lies on me, and all thy waves afflict me ; thou hast driven from me all my friends, and rendered me an abomination to them; I am imprisoned, andcannot move; my eye is consumed with grief; I cry to thee every day, God, and stretch my hands towards thee; wilt thou work miracles for the dead? Shall ghosts arise and praise thee? Why, Lord, castest thou off my soul, and hidest thou thy face from me? The flames of thy ire, thy terrors, overwhelm me; thou hast taken from me my friends and intimates; my only companion is darkness. Nameless, indeed, are the ills Israel has suffered in the numberless years of his wandering. His shoulder, once the bearer of power, became the target of assaults; his eye, once beaming with the light of happiness, became an ever-flowing fountain of tears. Wherever his foot carried him in his flight, he found but the yoke of oppression, the curse of hatred, the envenomed dart of calumny ; and myriads of his sons and daughters had to offer up their blood in the struggle for thee and thy holy law they were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions, in the fulfillment of thy sublime will; undetachable, in life and in death, from their allegiance to thee, Inscrutable One, who bringest pure things out of the impure, and light out of darkness, and who wilt carry thy people, too, through the deepest disgrace and humiliation toa most glorious goal, and the loftiest triumph. And it is this exalting reflection which inspires us with consolation, courage, and hope ; which turns our mourning into rejoicing, our laments into exultation. However deeply and keenly our soul may be touched by the recollection of the ineffable pangs with which our ancestors quitted their beloved home at Zion, to enter the vast wilderness of a heathen world; or by the recollection of the thorny path of martyrdom which our people has since had to tread yet, in all these sore trials we recognize only the merciful hand of paternal guidance, an instrument working for the fulfillment of thy inviolable promises, a means of glorifying thy name and thy law before the eyes of all nations. Truly, not as a disowned son thy first born went out into strange lands, but as thy emissary to all the families of man. Israel was no longer to dwell in separation from all the rest of thy children, who groped in darkness and folly; but he was to spread like a fertilizing stream. The one temple in Jerusalem sank into the dust, in order that countless temples might arise to thy honor and glory all over the wide surface of the globe. The old priest-dignity and the old sacrificial worship were swept away , in order that the whole congregation, as its original destination required it, might become a priest, and offer up those sacrifices which are more agreeable to thee than the blood of animals, than thousands of streams of oil sacrifices of active love of God and man ; sacrifices of a pure, holy life, which neither distress nor death is able to turn from the path of truth; sacrifices of that unexampled fidelity to God the greatness of which a hundred ages proclaim. The sanctuary itself, thy imperishabletestimony, remained intact, and came purer and brighter out of the bitterly-lamented conflagration; freed from an enclosure of walls which had become prison walls, and which kept it hidden from the eyes of millions of beings around it, all created in thy image, and destined to be educated by thy priest to become thy people. Out of the flames of Zion arose the messiah the martyr, Israel, who, freed from the bonds ofchildhood, marches through all the world, a man of sorrows, without form and appearance, despised and spurned; to deliver, through his fetters, his own tormentors; to bring healing, in his wounds, to them who wound him; to see seed after his soul has been the sin-offering; to carry out the will of his Lord, and delight in the countless hosts gathering around him. And thus, Lord, according to the word of thy prophet, this day, formerly a day of mourning, has become a day of joy through the recollection of the glorious preservation of thy law and of our high messianic vocation, which began with the event commemorated to-day. True, this vocation has cost us painful sacrifices, and long is still the way before us ; yet our heart is full of gratitude for the boundless grace which thou bestowedst on us in selecting us to be sacrificing priests for all mankind; and unshaken is our trust in thy promise, that the time will come when every being animated by thy breath will bend before thee. Grant, God, that Israel may recognize the aim of his wanderings and tend towards it with undivided strength and cheerful courage. Let his mourning end where ever he still languishes under the load of hatred; and open thou the eyes of all those who fancy thy messenger still driven from thy presence, and the home of thy princely conqueror of the world limited to that narrow spot on which once stood his cradle. strengthen us all for thy service and the fulfillment of our vocation; and may that promised time soon arrive when the wide world will be an altar of atonement, where all spirits and hearts will flame up in love towards thee; where the doctrine of truth and the law of self-sanctification will spread their wings, like cherubim, over the sanctuary of mankind inspired with thy revealed word, and living in union within itself and with thee ; where mankind, like yon candle stick beaten out of one piece and of pure gold, will shine with sevenfold lustre, and the temple will arise sublime which thy own hand erected with the very fire that consumed the temple built by the hand of man, with the heavenly fire, in which thou wast revealed to the people of Israel on Mount Sinai, andon Mount Zion to all thy children and thus may be fulfilled thy promise of a new Jerusalem, surrounded by thee as by a wall of flames.

Sermon by Rabbi David Einhorn on the subject of Tisha B'Av (italics added)

Is the present day and its solemn nature meaningful to us also? Do we, indeed, have reason to commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem devoutly? Does the religion of Judaism, from our point of view, still take an interest in the incineration of the holy Temple, in the death of Jewish peoplehood, in the historic event of universal import which, like a hurricane tearing through the autumn leaves, drove Israel away from its motherly soil, scattering its people in all directions– a few here, a few there, forever hunted anew, driven and drawn into the spinning whirlpool, so that they invented the fairytale of the wandering Jew, on whom God has inflicted the horrible punishment of dragging along his tormented life in eternity, phantomlike plodding along through the millennia, his shoulder used as a roadway for all the world to step upon, hoping in vain for the coup de grace from even his most wrathful woe? “No!” say those who are unable to value either the root or the goal of our endeavors; for in their opinion today's commemoration can have no other characteristic than that of mourning Zion and Jerusalem and, where such mourning does not take place, there is, according to them, no room for anything else.

Actually, however, today's commemoration has, particularly for us, no lesser importance than the revelation of Mount Sinai; for -hear and remember this word, my friend!- the reform of Judaism recognizes in the destruction of the Temple and its consequences a deed in which God, in the most solemn and decisive manner, reformed the law God had revealed to Moses. Reform recognizes and the decline of the sacrificial cult, of the priesthood, and of the state of Israel, a wise divine revelation to all of Israel, which, though seemingly appearing in conflict with the first one on Mount Horeb, actually is in close harmony with it. Reform recognizes in the flaming Temple mount not a curtailment but rather a continuation of the Divine work of salvation, which had begun on flaming Mount Sinai, marking the real beginning of the priestly mission, the conveyance of the divinity to all the children of this earth, for which Israel had been ordained at the Sinaitic choice.

Oh, how many preachers in Israel today strive in vain to find the words which have the magic power to make the long dried-out source of tears flow once again; who use the radiant glow of phantasy to breathe new meaning into a long since died-out suffering. Mine is a more beautiful and easier task, namely, that of showing forth the pleasing stately flower that has arisen from the decay, the healing change our religious life has undergone threefold through the dispersion of Israel, in that it has gained more freedom, more spiritual depth, and wider dissemination.

The Sinaitic doctrine could never be content with purely external works, but, on the contrary, is everywhere most insistent on the sanctification of the soul, on the removal of any sinful temptation, on the love of God with all of one's heart, soul, and might. Therefore, an attempt to keep its adherents forever under the rule of religious restraint would mean a contradiction of its very spirit. Indeed, Judaism regards self-determination is the very life-breath of piety; it relies on levers of obedience entirely different from the knout. Therefore, the more the word of God was strengthened in the hearts of Israel, the more in the course of centuries God's people followed the call of the prophets and a destiny full of the most miraculous divine guidance, the more they were cleansed from all pagan customs. The more they open their hearts to God the more did the state-aspect of their religious life, and with the Jewish national life as a whole, begin to decay. And when, at last, the love of God had gained full mastery, the holy Temple, and with it the shackles of religious coercion, melted away in its flames, to let freedom emerge from the ashes as the triumphant queen and master. God's people went down into dust, and in their stead arose a religious congreation whose members were to endure scouring and death, not because of their faithlessness, as has been the case until then, but, on the contrary, because of their faithfulness to God. From now on, it was no longer the threatening sword of judgment but rather the heart which was to determine the relationship between God and man, and the divine Maxim: “Ye shall be holy, for I, Adonai your God, am holy,” was to be truly realized.

From the ashes of that one Temple thousands of places of worship came forth; from the grave of animal sacrifice and separate priesthood rose the magnificent phenomenon of the congregation of priests scattered over the entire world, who offered themselves as sacrifices in the holy service of God. From the ruins of a pompous cult that flattered our hearts by its appeal to sensuality, we received the Divine service of the noblest and simplest forms, borne by the strength of world-conquering truth, shaded by the cherubs' wings of prayer and Torah, far from the art of flattery and deception, but powerful in edification, stimulation, and exaltation. And should we not be able to find in this rich inner development an adequate replacement for that external pageantry? To be sure, there are some who, in complete denial of our history, consider the ceremonial law as the core of Judaism and who deplore the immense unbridgeable gap that has separated us from it through the dispersion of Israel. We, however, rejoice over it, for through this gap a ray of light has penetrated the heart of Israel which in dispersion bore fruit thousandfold. In this respect, Israel, like Joseph of old, lost a coat of many colors and like him wandered into exile, to grow up into the prince of God and to become fruitful in the land of his oppression!

And just as Joseph bore two children in exile and was made fruitful by Adonai in a land that he had entered as a slave, so, near that stream, born from his loins, two mighty torrential currents rose, Christianity and Islam, two gigantic sons, eternally nourished by a never-aging mother. It is their mission to prepare the nations in the outer court for their admission into the mother's sanctuary. Yes, my beloved! If our heart wants to bleed in memory of the countless martyrs who were sacrificed for the holy cause of God and the nameless sufferings which our tribe had to endure for almost two thousand years, ever since the day we had to leave our homeland, then let us think of the glorious goal of the sufferings and sacrifices, the many millions who do not belong to our house, but who, nevertheless, owe us their noblest and best.

We should think of the countless, proud churches reaching far into the skies, in which other non-Israelitish congregations raise their souls the heavens and prayer, reciting our Psalms. There shall be in our hearts not only comfort– nay, a joyful pride and heavenly jubilation shall thrill our being, because of the magnificent, glorious thing God has done for his people, and because of the even greater and nobler future which awaits us. No! We must not weep over the ruins of Jerusalem; for beyom she-neherav bet ha-mikdash nolad ha-moshiah — the Messiah was born in those very ruins! Israel lost the structure of wood and stone so that he might win more souls for God. It lost its homeland so that it might conquer the world. To be sure, its sons despaired when they saw the Temple go down in flames; but God sees farther than man. God recognized in the fallen Temple merely the foundation and cornerstone for the house of prayer for all people. Before God's eyes, God could then already view an altogether different scene of distant millennia, unfolding from the dismal devastation; the miraculous sight of a sea of light flowing forth from the flaming fire, and Israel no longer wailing and weeping, but on the contrary, radiant in its messianic glory, shouting with exultation; “God hath made me forget all my toil and all my father's house… Got hath made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. God hath made my seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which upon the seashore.”

RABBI MARK WASHOFSKY

The observance of Tishah B’Av (literally the 9^th day of the month of Av) poses some interesting questions for Reform Jews. The day is one of fasting and mourning, for the destruction of both the First and the Second Temple in Jerusalem is said to have taken place on that day. While other tragic events in Jewish history may have coincided with the ninth of Av, it is the Temple’s destruction (churban habayit) that dominates the day’s ritual and liturgy. Reform theology has not generally looked upon the loss of the Temple and the expulsion of the people of Israel from its land as a catastrophe to be lamented by liberal Jews.

Some Reform prayerbooks do not acknowledge Tishah B’Av altogether; others have gone so far as to transform the day into one of joy as well as sadness, for on the day when the Temple was laid waste and the Jewish people was scattered over the face of the earth, Israel accepted the religious mission to disseminate the knowledge of God to all mankind. Since some Reformers regarded this as the essence of Israel’s eternal religious mission, they saw the destruction of the Temple and the sacrificial cult as a progressive and positive moment in our history as a people. This point of view was never a unanimous one. Other Reform thinkers emphasized that, however much we feel at home in our Western lands and however little we feel the need to pray for a restoration of sacrificial worship, the tragedies and sufferings of Jewish history cannot be erased by the experience of but a few years of Enlightenment and Emancipation. The ninth of Av is a moment of great power in the Jewish calendar, the time when we give voice to our sadness as a people for the calamities that have befallen us.

It is part of the traditional observance of Tishah B’Av to fast from sundown to sundown. In this way, the fast of the ninth of Av is more stringent than any other of the Jewish year save Yom Kippur. It is customary not to hold weddings on Tishah B’Av, since the day is not a proper time for the expression of joy. Even if we do not observe this fast, we avoid conducting weddings on Tishah B’Av out of historical consciousness and respect for K’lal Yisrael, the Jewish people.

RABBI VICKI TUCKMAN

My first summer at URJ Camp Harlam I was given the task of leading a service for Tisha B'Av. I grabbed a Gates of Prayer out of the camp sifriyah (library) and simply followed its lead. I had trouble relating in my heart to the ninth of Av as one of sorrow and destitute, even though I knew at a cognitive level that Tisha B'Av marked the destruction of The Temples which once stood in Jerusalem. For me, the Kotel (also referred to as the Western Wall, the only remaining wall from the once mighty and majestic Temple built by King Solomon) was a place that I did not feel comfortable at. With men and women divided into separate sides for prayer at the Kotel, and women denied the right to read Torah or worship as a united group, I relegated this day of grief and mourning to the more traditional sects of Judaism.

As a Reform Jew, was I not happy with the development of modern-day Judaism? I certainly had no desire to focus on an old form of Judaism based on a hierarchal, priestly system of animal sacrifice. We Jews had thrived in the Diaspora, having spread our newly created customs throughout a myriad of communities and countries over the past 2,000 years. The Jewish People had truly flourished in spite of our exile from our Holy Land.

With so much emphasis on The Temple, I did not readily think about the pain of our people as first the Babylonians (in 586 BCE) and then the Romans (in 70 CE) stole something that was most precious and real. I have come to realize that the primary emphasis on the destruction of The Temples eclipses where the real focus should be; on the People. Therefore, I try to put myself in the shoes of my ancestors living in eretz Yisrael all those years ago when the skies turned black and their future burned to the ground. The loss of a home and a sense of security. Families forced to leave a familiar place; a place where memories had been made. A child birthed or buried. A baby's first step. First love and a kiss, sealed under the shade of an olive tree. Hopes and secrets suspended. A future never to be had. A belief in goodness and innocence consumed in the flames.

The prophet, Jeremiah, penned Psalm 137, capturing his pain in the line "by the waters of Babylon, we lay down and wept for Thee Zion". I challenge each of us to remember a time in our lives when we were leveled by something painful; where we wept in grief, mourned for something precious, wanting to throw ourselves on the ground in despair.

Every summer I now take Tisha B'Av very seriously at camp and teach it to our Reform community. Yes - I do emphasize that a very beautiful Judaism developed because of our forced exile on Tisha B'Av. But even the more so, I teach about empathy and compassion, two middot (Jewish values) that I wish each and every one of our campers to know and live.

b. Conservative Perspective

This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared: The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation, Alan Lew

(41-2): "Tisha B'Av comes exactly seven weeks before Rosh Hashanah, beginning the process that culminates on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Tisha B'Av is the moment of turning, the moment when we turn away from denial and begin to face exile and alienation as they manifest themselves in our own lives---in our alienation and estrangement from God, in our alienation from ourselves and from others. Teshuvah---turning, repentance---is the essential gesture of the High Holiday season. It is the gesture by which we seek to heal this alienation and to find at-one-ment; to connect with God, to reconcile with others, and to anchor ourselves in the ground of our actual circumstances, so that it is this reality that shapes our actions and not just the habitual, unconscious momentum of our lives....

(52-3): "The natural event connnected to Tisha B'Av is the height of summer, the fullness of the year. Six days later, on the fifteenth of Av, the summer actually reaches its peak and begins to decline; the sap in the trees reaches its full strength and begins to turn toward dryness. The days reach their full length and begin to shorten. Fullness and decline are intimately linked. The end of one is the beginning of the other. Conversely, decline and destruction necessarily precede renewal; tearing down is necessary before rebuilding is possible. And all these things---fullness, decline, destruction, renewal, tearing down, rebuidling---are actually part of the same process, points on a single continuum, consecutive segments of a never-ending circle.

The time between Tisha B'Av and Yom Kippur, this great seven-week time of turning, is the time between the destruction of Jerusalem---the crumbling of the walls of the Great Temple---and our own moral and spiritual reconstruction. The year has been building itself up, and now it begins to let go---the natural cycle of the cosmos, the rise and fall, the impermanence and the continuity, all express themselves in this turning. The walls comes down and suddenly we can see, suddenly we recognize the nature of our estrangement from God, and this recognition is the beginning of our reconciliation. We can see the image of the falling Temple---the burning house---that Tisha B'Av urges upon us so forcefully, precisely in this light.

c. Orthodox Perspective

The Koren Mesorat Harav Kinot (Lookstein Ed.) Recollection of a Tisha B'Av Shiur Given by the Rav, Haskel Lookstein.

"We arrived in Tel Aviv on Erev Tisha B'Av, August 14, 1967, just in time to eat a meal before the fast and go to Rabbi Shlomo Goren's synagogue for the Tisha B'Av night service. The mood in Israel was anything but Tisha B'Av-like. There was simply no mourning or sadness. On the contrary, there was a feeling of exhileration, confidence, excitement and redemption. It was clear that Israelis were in no mood to observe or even to feel the sadness and mourning of Tisha B'Av....Ten months later June 26 , 1968, the Rav [Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik] gave expression to our feelings in one the most memorable shiurim I ever heard from him.

The Rav asked: How can one mourn for events that occurred 2,000 and 2,500 years ago? Tisha B'Av marks the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. and 70 C.E. They are historic events, long gone from memory. How are we able to sit shiva on Tisha B'Av, night and morning, for events that occurred twenty centuries ago? If a close relative of ours had died, and we didn't learn about it until after 30 days, there would be no formal shiva. We would sit shiva symbolically for an hour and then get up and go about our business. How then, can we sit down on the ground for an event that happened two millenia ago? The Rav gave three answers to that question, answers which were not only relevant to a halakhic analysis of our behavior on Tisha B'Av, but which also shed light on why our Israeli brethren, as well as we, should have been more conscious of the need for Tisha B'Av even in the aftermath of the dramatic victory of the Six Day War.

The first answer to the question of how we can observe the rules of shiva--sitting on the ground, not washing ourselves nor annointing our bodies--for an event that happened so long ago, is that in our Jewish consciousness the event did not happen in the past. It is the approach of the Jew to all of our history and its recollection in all our festivals

The second answer to the question of why we observe Tisha B'Av in so dramatic a fashion when the event we remember occurred so long ago, rests on another question. What did the Jewish people do during the period of the Second Temple, from the end of sixth century B.C.E. until 70 C.E? Was Tisha B'Av observed or not? ....If they observed Tisha B'Av during the days of Second Temple, it was observed not in mourning, but in prayer; that what happened once should not happen again.

Finally, the Rav offered a third answer to why Tisha B'Av is mandatory and meaningful today. He pointed out that Tisha B'Av has been understood throughout our history as a day devoted not only to our mourning the destruction of two Temples, but also to our historic recollection of all the tragedies that have befallen our people over the centuries, from the destruction of the First and Second Temples, through Beitar, the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the expulsion of Jews from many lands, the pogroms of eastern Europe and, finally, in the Holocaust. Our history has been long experience of Eikha? How come? How could it be? Why is our people constantly persecuted?....He said that, ultimately, when the Messiah comes, we will understand the entire course of Jewish history. At that point, Eikha will have period after it and not a question mark. As long as Eikha still has a question mark the Jewish people must observe Tisha B'Av.

d. Other Perspectives

By Yoav Schaefer and Jacob Samuel Abolafia

An appeal to solidarity has particular power on Tisha B’Av, a day that is often connected, at least in the American Jewish imagination, to the sin of sinat hinam—senseless hatred. The tradition of connecting the destruction of the Temple with needless enmity between Jews has an ancient pedigree. In the Babylonion Talmud (Yoma 9b), the rabbis suggest that the Second Temple was destroyed due to senseless hatred, and elsewhere (Gittin 56a) they provide an example of that hatred through a story of two rivals whose discord led, indirectly, to the Roman invasion: The story of Kamsa and Bar Kamsa—a friend of Kamsa’s hates Bar Kamsa, and insults him to the point where he turns to the Romans—has a neat pedagogical clarity, which partially explains why contemporary Jews turn to it again and again in their sermons, school lessons, and camp activities.

It’s not clear, however, that this focus on sinat hinam takes the right political lessons from the story of Tisha B’Av. A closer look at that same Talmudic passage suggests that the lesson of Tisha B’Av is not about mending divisions within the Jewish community. It’s about the danger of failing to stand up for a set of values—even at the cost of intracommunity strife.

The very next paragraphs in the Talmud recount the rabbinic reaction to Bar Kamsa’s actions: “The sages thought to kill [Bar Kamsa] so that he would not go and speak [to the Romans],” but ultimately they did nothing. Rabbi Yochanan (other versions say Rabbi Yossi) says it was this act of “humility” that “destroyed our temple, burned our sanctuary, and exiled us from our land.” The Talmud is not shy in assigning blame for the destruction: It happens because of the unwillingness, or inability, of the rabbis to challenge the actions of their fellow Jews.

The Babylonian Talmud was redacted some 500 years after the events described in this story, but the outlines of the rabbinic account agree in large part with the version of events related by Flavius Josephus, who was present outside the walls of the city on the 9th of Av. Despite his later reputation as a Jewish quisling, Josephus was and remains the most reliable witness to the siege and loss of Jerusalem. The heroes, in Josephus’s story, are the leaders who take a stand against those whom Josephus calls “the so-called Zealots” (he prefers to use the Greek word lestes, meaning “thug” or “pirate”).

One of the turning points in Josephus’s narrative is the stirring speech one such leader, the High Priest Ananus, makes against the Zealots. “O bitter tyranny that we are under! But why do I complain of the tyrants? Was it not you [the people of Jerusalem], and your sufferance of [the Zealots], that have nourished them?” The actions Ananus describes the Zealots as committing—the forceful monopoly over the sacred spaces of Jerusalem, the pillaging of houses and the wanton destruction of property—have a distinctly modern ring, as does the striking language Josephus chooses to use for the two parties. The Zealots are “tyrants,” and what is at stake, Ananus argues, is nothing less than the “political liberty” of the Jewish people.

Josephus later describes Ananus as “equal-minded, freedom-loving, and a pursuer of democracy.” Of course, these words didn’t mean exactly the same thing to Josephus that they do in modern usage, but they ring clearly enough to give the contemporary reader pause. Even more alarming is a verdict Josephus delivers twice: It was the defeat of Ananus and his party that doomed the city. The victory of zealotry over equal respect (Greek: isotimia) and tyranny over democracy was not, in Josephus’s opinion, inevitable. Nor was it the outcome of unhealthy rancor or an excess of ill feeling. It was not even due to the external pressure of Roman imperialism. It was a question of Jewish politics. While Ananus defended democracy, the idea of a government that works in the interest of all, there was hope. But once the self-interested and reckless politics of the Zealots prevailed, the destruction of Jerusalem could not be prevented.

Oz, Amos. Dear Zealots: Letters from a Divided Land (pp. 54-56). HMH Books. Kindle Edition.

We have been taught since childhood that the earlier iterations of the State of Israel were brought down by internal strife, having collapsed under the weight of “unjustified hatred.” Lately there are those who insist that if we finally set aside our disagreements and unite as one, we will vanquish the whole world. But the truth is that the uprising against the Romans, which led to the destruction of the Second Temple, just like the earlier war against Babylonia, which had caused the destruction of the First Temple, did not fail because of “brotherly strife” or “unjustified hatred” among Jews, but because of nationalist and religious fanaticism, because of the delusions of grandeur suffered by both leaders and subjects who had lost all sense of reality. Even if the Jews of the First and Second Temple eras had loved each other more than David and Jonathan did, even if they had banded together as tightly as a block of concrete or steel, Babylonia and Rome would still have effortlessly crushed the impudent little nation bent on slamming its head against the wall. The destruction of both temples did not stem from “unjustified hatred”; it was the fault of the zealots who lost all sense of proportion and reality and dragged the people of Israel into a fatal clash with forces infinitely stronger than they were. They had unwavering and delusional faith that God would intervene at the last moment and drown Pharaoh and his chariots.

D. Kinot

1. Traditional

2. Modern

Do not mourn for the Temple Mount. The stones mourn for you.They mourn for you who have forgottenThat God’s VoiceCan still be heard in the hills.The stones mourn for youWho have forgottenThat God’s Voice can still be heard in the valleys,In the forests and deserts,In the waters and skies.

Do not mourn for the lost priests. The tribes mourn for you.They mourn for you who have forgottenThat God’s people are one.Ephraim and Judah,The Levites and the daughters of Zelophehad,Ask why we still divide the House of Israel, Why we still cast judgment,Why we spurn each other with anger. The tribes mourn for you who haveForsaken your brothers and rejected your sisters,Closing your minds and hardening your hearts.

Do not mournFor the lost sacrifices.The yearling without blemish,The ephah of fine flour and the hin of oil,Mourn for you.They mourn for you who have forgottenThat God requires your love and your power,Your hope and your deeds.The yearling, the flour and the oil mourn for youWho have forgottenThat God wants the blood that flows through you,The strength of your days,Your song and your laughter,Your wisdom and healing.

Tear your clothes And sit in ashesIf you must.Then, rise up!Rise up and listen to God’s call:

Love My People Israel,Love all of My People IsraelThen, you will know the depth of My righteousnessAnd will drink from the well of My compassion.Give them your heart.Give them your days in service,With joy and thanksgiving,So that My Glory will dwell among you,And that your days are long on this earth.

“The Temple” is © 2012 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Lamentations (2018) HIAS

Eicha – Al֣as! A cou֝ntry once bui֙lt on the pro֗mise of lib֖erty and jus֥tice for a֑ll now isol֤ates her֝self fr֣om the cri֔es of tho֖se seeking saf֥ety on֣her shoֽres.

Bui֤lt by the ha֝nds of ref֣ugees and immig֔rants, she

ch֖ips aw֥ay at the r֖ight to asyl֑um,

disp֝ensing with fou֣nding prin֔ciples so

ess֖ential as her DNֽA.

For֝gotten are the tir֙ed, the po֗or, the hu֖ddled masses yea֥rning t֣o breathe frֽee.

G֝one is the dre֙am of prot֗ection in the fa֤ce of viol֝ence a֣nd persec֔ution.

“H֖er ene֥mies are no֖w the mastֽers” (1:5).

Inhum֝ane exe֤cutive ord֝ers bar֖ring Mus֥lims an֣d ref֑ugees.

Jar֛ringly sepa֖rating par֥ents fro֣m childֽren.

Kee֝ping out compa֙ssion and dece֗ncy, a w֖all in their pla֑ce.

La֖dy Liberty we֥eps at her shut֖tered gatֽes.

Mi֝xed multit֤udes we we֝re whe֣n we left Mitzr֗ayim, the nar֖row pla֑ce;

no֛w, the world narr֤ows around the֣ 68 millio֔n disp֖laced pe֥ople aro֣und the gloֽbe. On֝ly Go֤d’s voi֝ce ca֣n be hea֔rd bello֝wing ca֣lls to welc֔ome, pro֖tect, and lo֥ve the stra֑nger –

part֛ners in con֖tinued rede֥mption we a֣re no longeֽr.

Quie֗t in the fa֝ce of mo֣ral depr֔avity ar֖e her citiz֑ens,

reinf֛orced by hat֖eful rhe֥toric spe֖wed from se֖ats of powֽer.

Self-e֝vident tru֙ths –

that hu֤man bei֝ngs are cre֣ated eq֔ual, end֝owed by֣their Cre֔ator w֖ith cer֥tain unalie֣nable righ֑ts –

und֖one by cowa֥rdice, mal֣ice, and greֽed.

Ve֗rily, we kn֝ow wh֣ere God dw֔ells am֖idst this suffe֑ring – Go֛d is in the ey֖es of those flee֥ing for֣their liveֽs.

Why, th֝en, hav֤e we forsa֝ken the D֣ivine call to lo֤ve the stra֝nger as֣ we wo֔uld lo֖ve ourse֑lves –

xenop֖hobia inst֥ead taking ro֖ot in our soֽuls?

Yo֝u are the he֙ro fo֣r who֔m you֣ are sear֑ching:

Zi֝on can֤not be returne֝d to if we֖ do not first t֥urn to those ca֣lling our naֽmes.

Between the Fires by Rabbi Arthur Waskow

We are the generation that stands between the fires: Behind us the flame and smokethat rose from Auschwitz and from Hiroshima And from the burning of the Amazon forest; Before us the nightmare of a Flood of Fire, The flame and smoke that could consume all earth.

It is our task to make from fire not an all-consuming blaze But the light in which we see each other fully. All of us different, All of us bearing One Spark.

[Light a candle, or a torch, or clump of sage]

We light these fires to see more clearly That the earth and all who live as part of it Are not for burning. We light these fires to see more clearly The rainbow in our many-colored faces. Blessed is the One within the many. Blessed are the many who make One.

>>> Here! I will send you>>> Elijah the Prophet>>> Before the coming>>> of the great and terrible day>>> of YAHH, the Breath of Life.>>> And he shall turn the heart>>> Of parents to children>>> And the heart of children to their parents.>>> Lest I come and>>> Smite the earth>>> With utter destruction.>>> (From Malachi 3)

Here! We ourselves are coming Before the great and terrible dayof smiting Earth –For we shall turn the hearts Of parents to children And the hearts of children to their parents So that this day of smiting Does not fall upon us.