Tisha B'Av Recalling Destruction, Mourning and Perhaps a Stir to Action
As Jews around the world prepare to begin the High Holy Day season, our hearts and minds are reminded of sorrow and loss through the Three Weeks and ultimately, Tisha B'Av. The 9th of Av is the date which rabbinic authorities marked the commemoration and remembrance of the calamities and losses suffered by the people Israel. Most notably, this list includes the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, the Crusades, and even recently the Holocaust among other events of pain and suffering.
Today, on Tisha B'Av, there is a complete fast, from sunset to sunset. For traditional Jews, no meat is consumed approaching this date, and there is some tradition, as a last meal before the fast, to consume boiled eggs and bread dipped in ashes. On Tisha B'Av, sexual relations are forbidden, leather is not worn, and some have the custom of sitting on the floor in synagogues, schools and homes, whilst reading kinot, dirges reflecting the losses suffered by Jews on, or near this date in history.
Traditional readings in synagogues include passages from the Book of Lamentations- Megillat Eicha. Eicha translates as "How," a strong, desperate, painstaking lament of woe and suffering. According to the Babylonian Talmud, Eicha is the prophetic response of Jeremiah to the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE. Rather than concern with the specific historical aspects of the destruction of the Temple, Lamentations asks how, why, and asks the questions needed to try to make sense of the incredible loss faced by Jews in the destruction of the center of their society and religion. As in any time when we face such painstaking and incomprehensible loss, we ask: Why? How? We yearn for meaning. For hope. For faith. For compassion. For help. For understanding.
The Book of Lamentations offers differing theological issues regarding G-d's role in the destruction of the Temple. The prophet claims that it is due to Jerusalem's sins and loss of faith which led to the destruction of the Temple. Shawn Aster of MyJewishLearning.com writes: "Jerusalem rebelled against God and was punished by God for its rebellion" regarding Lamentations 1:8:
חטא חטאה ירושלם על-כן לנידה היתה
Jerusalem sinned greatly, and therefore became unclean...
In verse 1:12 we read further:
לוא אליכם כל-עברי דרך הביטו וראו אם-יש מכאוב כמכאבי אשר עולל לי אשר הוגה יהוה ביום חרון אפו:
Is it nothing to you all who pass by? Behold, and see if there is pain like my pain, which was brought upon me, through which G-d has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
G-d: Israel's previous redeemer and guiding hand, because of Jerusalem's sins, brought along great suffering and pain to am Yisrael through the destruction of the Temple. The conquering by the Babylonians against Israel is not due to acts against Babylonia by the people Israel. The author makes it clear that this is strictly brought on by disloyalty and sin relating to the covenant with G-d. The megilah speaks of differing roles of G-d in this process of action and punishment. It's author tells in both passive and active terms, G-d's role in the destruction and punishment to which Israel was sentenced:
השיב אחור ימינו מפני אויב
...[G-d] turned back his hand from the face of the enemy... 2:3
היה אדני | כאויב
Became the L-rd like an enemy [of Israel] 2:5
However, something to also note is that the destruction of Jerusalem is not out of complete "injustice" or pure malice on G-d's part. Whether G-d's actions are explicit or implicit in turning Jerusalem to the Babylonians, it is due to the actions of the Israelites. There is an underlying reason for this punishment.
The author constantly goes back and forth between presenting destruction, and the weeping, mourning and sorrow expressed by the Israelites. We read these lines amongst many others describing the lament of the people Israel to the pain and loss experienced by those who survived:
על-אלה | אני בוכיה עיני | עיני ירדה מים כי-רחק ממני מנחם משיב נפשי
For these things I weep, my eye, my eye runs water, because distant from me is the comfort that restores my soul... 1:16
כי-רבות אנחתי ולבי דוי:
...Many are my sighs, and my heart is faint. 1:22
איכה | ישבה בדד העיר רבתי עם
How lonely sits the city, that was full of people! 1:1
צעק לבם אל-אדני
Their heart cried out to Adonai 2:18
The issues raised by the day Tisha B'Av in general, of Devine retribution and punishment, of human sin (inaction or misdeed) and severe punishment and destruction, can be difficult to swallow. A Biblical event, that of Sodom and Gomorrah comes to mind in trying to understand and make sense of this.
In the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, these cities became filled with people who chose to sin. They chose to wrong others, and to have the mentality of "what's mine is mine. They lost any sense of hospitality and community. As it is written: וחטאתם כי כבדה מאד ...and their sin was very great (Gen. 18:20). In the recounting in Eicha we just read: חטא חטאה ירושלם על-כן לנידה היתה Jerusalem sinned greatly, and therefore became unclean... (1:8). The connection between the two is "sin", cruelty and inaction. It is that true disgrace for humanity and apostasy (the leaving of one's religious beliefs and principles) that both groups of people developed through loss of faith, breaking of faith and covenant, and ultimately: inhumanity that ensues after such severe breakdowns in society.
While one may respectfully disagree and have difficulty wrestling with the idea of such severe and strong Devine intervention and punishment for sin, there is also greater meaning we can take from these instances, and overall, from what Tisha B'Av reminds us of.
We are again reminded of how important humanity and compassion are in Jewish tradition. As the prophet laments, Jerusalem is described in desolate terms. Horror, death, destruction and pain fill the streets of the Golden City, yet in Chapter 4, the prophet still, somehow, looks to Devine intervention to cease the pain and suffering. One can look at this and the story of Sodom and Gomorrah as horrid stories void of G-d, or one can see both as severely lacking in humanity on anyone's part. This destruction is massive, lack of faith: the constant issue. And yet even in such disdain and sorrow, the prophet recalls the better times, and inquires as to what Jerusalem's people may do to free themselves from the bondage they once again feel. The virus that overcomes the people Israel is that of inhumanity, faithlessness, and ultimately complacency.
I am reminded of a quote from Mishkan T'filah:
Disturb us, Adonai, ruffle us from our complacency;
Make us dissatisfied. Dissatisfied with the peace of ignorance,
the quietude which arises from a shunning of the horror, the defeat,
the bitterness and the poverty, physical and spiritual, of humans.
Mishkan T'filah, CCAR Press, page 173
Disturb us. Stir us into action. Make us instruments to do good in the world. To see a wrong and right it. To stand with the widow, stranger and orphan: those who most need our help. Turn us away from a false sense of completeness and shalem, wholeness. Let us see completely the destruction and injustice in our own world today. That is the reminder of Tisha B'Av. To remind us that the world is not yet whole, the task lies unfinished.
Our thoughts in these times most notably turn to the destruction from nature across all lands, the rule of tyrants over innocents, the injustice against another human. If we are all created b'tzelem Elohim, in G-d's image, then it is time that we aid each other as equals. The rights of women, the rights of men, freedoms which we take for granted. As the OU and RCA reminded us today of the recent sinat chinam, baseless hatred, which have plagued (perhaps no more apropos) the walls of the Old City, Jerusalem, directed towards a noble and wonderful group of women: Women of the Wall.
I join with countless others with the sentiment of the leaders of the Orthodox Union and Rabbinical Council of America: "join us in in dedicating our efforts to creating a world filled with “ahavat chinam” — unqualified love for one another." And to work for the betterment. To teach love and justice, goodness and hope to all generations. Then perhaps will we never again suffer a calamity worthy of being remembered this day.
Over the coming weeks through Selichot and the preparation for the upcoming High Holy Days, may we be reminded of the words which we will repeat, their origin in Eicha:
השיבנו יהוה | אליך ונשוב [ונשובה] חדש ימינו כקדם:
Return us to You, Adonai, and we shall be turned, renew our days as of old (5:21).
To all an easy fast and let us hope for our Return and work towards shalem, and let us say: Amen
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