“I heard of one man who was an atheist for a year, and then gave it up because there were no holidays.” – Bishop Fulton Sheen
King Solomon once said, “Everything has an appointed season… A time to weep (a reference to Tisha B’Av or the ninth day of the fifth Jewish month of Av) and a time to laugh (see Psalms 126: 2, “Then our mouths will be filled with laughter”); a time for wailing (in days of mourning) and a time for dancing (with bridegrooms and brides)” (Ecclesiastes, 3:1-4.)
On August 13, Jews around the world will observe Tisha B’Av. It is a sad day as both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed. The First Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon (modern day Iraq), in 586 BCE, and the Second Temple was destroyed by Roman emperor Titus in 70 CE. In addition, on this day the ancient city of Betar, located five miles southwest of Jerusalem, was conquered by Roman emperor Hadrian in 135 CE.
To memorialize the sadness of this day, for more than two millennia, since 2449 BCE, on Tisha B’Av, Jewish people do not engage in weddings or festivals and do not eat or drink water for 25 hours. In addition to prayer services, the centerpiece of the holiday is the book of Lamentations, or Eicha, which is read in a sad tune and details the destruction of the First Temple as witnessed by the prophet Jeremiah in 586 BCE.
On Tisha B’Av, we feel the void of darkness yet accept the challenge, in the form of self-improvement, to learn from our shortcomings and reveal a redemptive light of positivity that forces one to acknowledge the maxim: No one can rise without falling first. Hence, darkness or negativity can be optimistically viewed as a necessary prelude to sunrise and professional growth.
Our challenge is to find the kernel of good within a sea of bad and to accentuate the positive.
A story is told about four rabbis who visited the remnants of the Holy of Holies following the destruction of the Second Temple (BT Makkot, 24b). Upon seeing a fox emerge from the ruins, three rabbis began to cry, but Rabbi Akiva began to laugh. They asked incredulously, “How can you laugh in the presence of destruction?” Rabbi Akiva replied, “If one prophecy concerning the destruction of the Temple was fulfilled, then we can confidently be assured that the future prophecy of Zechariah will also be fulfilled that old men and women shall yet again dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and the streets shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets.” (Zechariah 8:4).
While there is strife in certain geo-political regions of the world, during this sobering and solemn time of Tisha B’Av, we hope and fervently pray that the prophetic words of Isaiah ring true and speedily arrive in our time, “And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift the sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore,” and may we also merit to experience King Solomon’s words, readily replacing times of weeping and wailing with laughter and dancing.
Mordechai Plotsker runs a popular 10-minute nightly shiur on the parsha with a keen interest in the invigorating teachings of the Berditchever Rav, the Kedushas Levi. Shiurenjoyment.com.
Plotsker resides in Elizabeth with his wife and children and can be reached by email at [email protected].
