* Translation by Yehoshua Siskin
Someone taking care of her elderly grandfather shared some questions with me concerning forgetfulness:
Just as an individual can be stricken with dementia (or a type of it known as Alzheimer’s disease), and lose memory of the past, can a nation succumb to dementia as well, forgetting its glorious past and its unique mission on earth? Can an entire people forget how it was forced into exile and repeat the same mistakes that brought it there?
This is a danger, but we can confront it successfully together. We simply need to recall the story we share and be cautious not to repeat past mistakes.
We are now approaching the fast of Tisha b’Av which will begin on Motzei Shabbat. This fast will be observed in remembrance of the destruction of the Holy Temple and for everything that is lacking and broken in our world. This will be a day when we share our sorrows together. This is our answer to the threat of "national dementia"...
And as our sages tell us, those who mourn over the destruction of the Temple, will merit to see it rebuilt.
