Tonight begins Tisha b’Av, a solemn fast day in traditional Judaism commemorating the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians and then, six-and-a-half centuries later, the Romans. It is a day of mourning and sorrow, even for those who may not look forward to the rebuilding of the Temple. I count myself among those not eager to see a restoration of the Davidic dynasty or the Temple rituals. Pretty messy stuff those sacrifices (even if they’re only wheat and grain), and I don’t even want to imagine what it would look like to recreate something Jewish where the Dome of the Rock stands today. The serial destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple were cataclysms for the Jewish people. But they made possible a portable, flexible and universal Judaism that could thrive without its castes and geographic limitations. Tisha b’Av enshrines for us the memory of what once was and appropriately compartmentalizes Jewish grief. Every day of the calendar could be a fast day, after all, since every day of the year is the anniversary of some Jewish tragedy. So we pile them onto the ninth day of the month of Av and go about living as best we can the rest of the year. Judaism is meant to be joyous, with grief confined to particular moments or in response to particular tragedies. Even our most intense mourning must be tapered off through shiva, sh’loshim, eleven months then perpetual yahrzeits. We can’t grieve forever and continue to be productive. But this Tisha b’Av feels different because we’re living through another kind of cataclysm. Just because Israel dares to defend itself and see through to conclusion its mission to protect its people from terror, it is now acceptable in our civilized society to blame the lovers of Zion for holding fast to what is rightfully theirs. If only Israel would collapse as did the previous Jewish sovereign entities then all would be so right with the world, wouldnt it? Syria would know peace, Boko Haram would cease its kidnappings, women would enjoy equality in Saudi Arabia, Ebola would be cured, Moscow would relax its grip on Eastern Europe, etc. To read the press, or watch the protests, you’d think Israel held the keys to all of the world’s problems. The Jewish world was turned upside down in 586 BCE and in 70 CE. But Judaism survived. Today the world is upside down again, with democracies labeled as terrorists while terrorists hiding in schools and hospitals are praised as righteous. The lies about the Jewish people that made genocide palatable in the last century are again gaining traction. We have no Temple left to destroy, so the target this Tisha b’Av is the legitimacy of a Jewish state altogether. Nothing that Israel does, or does not do, can change the minds of the people who deny history. But history is on the side of the virtuous and there is no question that Israel, imperfect as it is, is trying to do what is right in this conflict. I won’t hold my breath waiting for the rest of the world to agree.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 18:14:31 +0000