Why I’m not fasting on Tisha B’Av by Rabbi Elyse Goldstein
...And I’m not fasting because, ultimately, the destruction of the Temple lent way for the democratization of Judaism, wresting power and authority out of the hands of an elite and corrupt priesthood and placing it in the hands of scholars, and then rabbis, who represent the people. Eventually in our day, all Jews have the authority to be their own priests, to hold holiness in their own hands, to read their own Psalms as they ascend the stairs of their synagogue, to lead their own prayers, and even to make their own halachic decisions. I celebrate that democratization. It doesn’t make me sad, even though my husband and sons are kohanim and would, in the time of the messiah, be those powerful priests again. (And I’d get to eat from their terumah as the wife of a priest. As a vegetarian, it doesn’t appeal to me. As a feminist, I don’t want to eat their leftovers.) I don’t mourn the loss of a hierarchical, inherited caste of priests — I would, however, mourn the loss of democracy.
In a way, the very existence of the rabbis and the Talmud undermined the Temple. To rebuild the Temple would undermine the existence of an interpretive Judaism. The Pharisees won in the end, and interpretation won too over the fixed, hegemonic ritual of the Sadducees.
And I’m not fasting because I believe we are already living in the third period, in the time of the sovereign nation of Israel, and though the Temple doesn’t exist anymore, Israel certainly does. I am a Zionist. I don’t mourn the loss of our sovereignty, because we finally got it back.
(ו) חמשה דברים אירעו את אבותינו בשבעה עשר בתמוז. וחמשה בתשעה באב. בשבעה עשר בתמוז נשתברו הלוחות. ובטל התמיד. והובקעה העיר. ושרף אפוסטמוס את התורה. והעמיד צלם בהיכל. בתשעה באב נגזר על אבותינו שלא יכנסו לארץ. וחרב הבית בראשונה. ובשניה. ונלכדה ביתר. ונחרשה העיר. משנכנס אב ממעטין בשמחה:
(6) Five events befell our ancestors on the seventeenth of Tamuz and five on the Ninth of Av. On the seventeenth of Tamuz, the Tablets were broken, the Tamid offering was ended, the city walls were breached, Apaustamous burned the Torah, an idol was placed in the temple courtyard. On the Ninth of Av, it was decreed upon our ancestors that they would not be allowed to enter the Land of Israel, the First and Second temples were destroyed, Beitar was captured, The city of Jerusalem was plowed over. From when the month of Av starts, we reduce joy.
אבל מקדש שני שהיו עוסקין בתורה ובמצות וגמילות חסדים מפני מה חרב מפני שהיתה בו שנאת חנם ללמדך ששקולה שנאת חנם כנגד שלש עבירות ע"ז גלוי עריות ושפיכות דמים
However, considering that the people during the Second Temple period were engaged in Torah study, observance of mitzvot, and acts of kindness, and that they did not perform the sinful acts that were performed in the First Temple, why was the Second Temple destroyed? It was destroyed due to the fact that there was wanton hatred during that period. This comes to teach you that the sin of wanton hatred is equivalent to the three severe transgressions: Idol worship, forbidden sexual relations and bloodshed.