Translation by Yehoshua Siskin
Today is Tisha B'Av. Two years ago, 19-year-old Naama Har Kesef lost her father and was badly injured in a traffic accident. Here is what she wrote about Tisha B'Av.
"Did you ever love someone and lose him? Are you unmarried and in a desperate search for love? Were you ever thrown out of your house? Have you ever felt that you didn't belong? Has your brother or sister ever hated you for no reason? Has your family fallen apart? Have you ever missed someone so much that your heart literally ached for them? If so, this is your day.
Furthermore, if you have ever experienced any of the above, you understand what it means to be God and how much He misses you. You know how much it hurts Him to see His children fighting among themselves. You appreciate how horrible it is for Him not to have a home, when his children don't keep in touch with Him and just argue all the time.
We are lacking something and this is the day to acknowledge it. This is the time to weep, to cry out, and to pray for an end to every hardship, whether personal, national, or global. True, there is much good in the world but today, for a change, we will not think about it. Today we will weep over evil. We will tell God that we miss Him, that we are sick of waiting, that we -- exactly like Him -- want the final and complete redemption now."
