* Today is Tisha B'Av. The day of the destruction of the Temple and the beginning of exile. The saddest day in our calendar. Unfortunately, we received a reminder: our enemies are sharing harsh and painful images of our brothers in captivity, reminding us that there is cruel and incomprehensible evil in the world that sees every Jew as an enemy. They remind the world of the horrors of October 7th, which unfortunately some have forgotten - and blame us. They remind us that the people of Israel still have many more complex and painful challenges - on the path to restoration and progress.
* But why do we need to add more sorrow and sadness today? Why is this day important now? Well, this is the day to take everything that is broken and sad in our world, all the personal and national tragedies, in all generations, and connect them to the root: there is a reason for this. Everything is connected to the destruction of the Temple. It's not just a building of stones, it expresses a perfect, corrected reality, where everything is in its place. This world is still not perfect, but we do not accept the current reality. This is the day for prayer, for crying, for sorrow. It is customary to read the Book of Lamentations and kinot (elegies) on this day, and of course - also private prayers. The Temple was destroyed because of baseless hatred, bloodshed, idolatry, and a series of other moral and spiritual corruptions. The relationships between ourselves, and the relationships between us and God, still need repair.
* I discovered Tisha B'Av only as a teenager. In my Israeli-secular childhood, everything apparently continued as usual in the summer. At school there was no Tisha B'Av notebook, like the Hanukkah or Purim notebooks. It always falls in July-August, during summer vacation, and thus this important day didn't quite enter my consciousness. But in adolescence I discovered what the Temple is and what its meaning is. What exile is and what redemption is. We didn't come here just to establish a safe refuge, we have a greater message. Without understanding deeply what we lost and what we are sad about, we won't succeed in emerging from the current challenge either, and being what we are supposed to be. We must zoom out, at least once a year, otherwise we are constantly tossed between the crises and campaigns. Our story is greater and more sacred.
* Most importantly: the goal is not to suffer and sanctify the sorrow, but to end it. To repair ourselves and the world. A famous rabbi scolded parents who brought their children to synagogue only on Tisha B'Av, on Holocaust Remembrance Day and on days when "Yizkor" (memorial prayers) are said. He asked them to come on Purim, Passover, Sukkot, so the children would base their identity on joy and meaning. The prophecies of destruction read on Tisha B'Av are only part of the Bible. We ask for the fulfillment of all the prophecies of comfort.
Tisha B'Av 5785. More relevant than ever. Besorot tovot.
