Tisha B'Av - Is it Still Relevant?

D’varim
Deuteronomy 1:1 - 3:22

The Book of Deuteronomy (d’varim) takes the form of a series of lectures by Moses to the People as they prepare to enter the Land. The Book has a strong focus on the centrality of the Temple and other ritual activities which remain at the center of Jewish life. A key premise of the Book is that God will, in the end, redeem the People and bring them (or restore them) to the Promised Land.
 This Shabbat is also referred to as “Shabbat Chazon” (“the Shabbat of Vision”) taken from the haftarah, which begins with Isaiah’s vision of destruction. We read it on the Shabbat preceding Tisha B’Av, when we are (most specifically) reminded of the destruction of the Second Temple.

Since Mishnaic times, Tisha B'Av has been associated not only with the destruction of the Second Temple, but also with the return of the 12 spies scouting the Promised Land (and the subsequent judgment of 40 years wandering in the desert), and with the end of the Bar Kokha revolt. In subsequent eras, the rabbis connected the date with additional cataclysms: the expulsion of Jews from England (1290) and Spain (1492), and with the beginning of the extermination of Jews in Treblinka and the Warsaw Ghetto (1942).

For me, Tisha B’av has long been a troublesome observance, and I found it difficult to gain much from the traditional recitation of Lamentations ("Eicha"). But lately, I find myself changing my viewpoint about the fast day. Let me explain.

I was fortunate enough to be in Jerusalem on Tisha B'Av in 1967, just weeks after the city had been reunified, at a time when there was uncomplicated joy and unlimited hope. I joined a huge throng, singing "David Melech Yisrael" and dancing around the walls of the Old City, while at the same time we could hear the chanting of Eicha, often with a different nusach from each rooftop. I felt that the time for mourning for Jerusalem was at an end, and that Tisha B'Av could be left to memory.

Since then we have learned that joy can be complicated and that hope has its limits. There is no doubt that for generations we Jews sought a connection between our ancient history and the present, and that Tisha B'Av became a symbol of this connection.

I see three reasons why Tisha B'Av remains relevant today. First, we need to remember the disasters of our history because they have a real impact on us today. Second, we commemorate our losses because we recognize that destruction is part of life. Third, we commemorate overcoming our catastrophes. We are still here.

Our survival as a people offers tangible evidence of the promise made in the Book of D’varim: God will, in the end, redeem us.

Shabbat Shalom.