Dr Maurice M. Mizrahi B”H
D’var Torah for Tish’a b’Av
Mourn or rejoice on Tish’a b’Av?
Tish'a B'Av is the saddest day on the Jewish
calendar.
History is full of catastrophic events that
befell Jews on that day.
Their timing may have been accidental or intentional.
In particular, the First and Second Temples
were both destroyed on that day.
We mourn them every year on that day.
This is how this mourning is conducted.
In the three weeks leading up to Tish’a
b’Av, we must not play or listen to music,
conduct weddings, shave or cut our hair, or
wear new clothes.
In the nine days prior, we must not eat meat,
drink wine, or wear fresh clothes.
On the day itself, we must fast all day.
Before the fast, we must eat hard-boiled eggs
and simulated “ashes”.
We must not wash, apply lotions, wear leather
shoes, have sex, or even greet one another.
We must sit on the floor or on low stools
and read the Book of Lamentations under dim
lights.
We must refrain from learning or discussing
anything that is not sad.
It is fair to ask the question: Why must we
mark Tish'a b'Av in this manner?
Why should we mourn so intensely all the terrible
things that have happened to us in history,
even millennia ago?
After all, Pessah, Hanukkah, and Purim are
celebrated as joyous holidays, even though
they recall times when we endured slavery,
religious coercion, and a collective death
sentence.
So why shouldn't Tish'a b'Av be a joyous time
as well?
One can argue that Pessah, Hanukkah, and Purim
are celebrated as joyous holidays because
we won: We went from slavery to physical freedom,
from religious coercion to religious freedom,
and from a death sentence to a reprieve.
But Tish'a b'Av commemorates events when we
did not win:
-First, the destroyed Temple was not rebuilt.
Yes, but we can say that a modern Judaism,
anchored in ethical behavior, study and services,
emerged and flourished in many lands!
-Second, the six million dead of the Holocaust
will not come back.
Yes, but we can say that neither will those
who died in the events of Pessah, Hanukkah
and Purim.
Furthermore, the State of Israel was born
from the ashes of the Holocaust and a Jewish
renaissance ensued!
-Third, the expulsion from Spain was never
undone.
Yes, but we can say that it led to the spread
of Jewish culture and to Jewish achievements
elsewhere.
For example: I am glad *I* was forced out
of Egypt, where I was born and raised!
The point is: Judaism survived and flourished
in ALL cases.
Isn't that cause for celebration?
Of course, we must remind *non-Jews* of what
happened to us.
But how intensely must we remember it ourselves?
Can't it be paralyzing?
Let’s examine this question.
First, we Jews REMEMBER.
Two anecdotes will illustrate this point.
First, at a formal dinner in Washington, in
May 1952, the Israeli Ambassador, Abba Eban,
told President Truman:
We do not have orders or decorations.
Our material strength is small and greatly
strained.
We have no tradition of formality or chivalry.
One thing, however, is within the power of
Israel to confer.
It is the gift of immortality.
Those whose names are bound up with Israel's
history never become forgotten.
We are, therefore, now writing the name of
President Truman upon the map of our country.
Eban later recalled:
As I left the rostrum I saw the tough-minded
President burying his face in a handkerchief
without any effort to restrain his emotion.
The next day he sent me a letter asking me
for a text of my address: “You spoke so
flatteringly about me that for a moment I
had the impression that I was dead”.
Second, when Napoleon was traveling through
Europe, he entered a synagogue where people
were weeping, sitting on low stools, holding
candles and reading from books.
He asked an aide why these people were weeping.
He was told they fast and mourn the destruction
of their Temple and the loss of their land.
Napoleon asked how many years they have been
doing this and was told it was almost 2000
years.
He then exclaimed:
A nation that cries and fasts for so long
over the loss of their land and their Temple
will surely be rewarded with their land and
their Temple.
Memory allowed us to last.
Judaism itself is founded on the collective
memory of the revelation at Sinai.
The Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism,
taught:
Forgetfulness leads to exile, while remembrance
is the secret of redemption.
Visitors to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum
in Jerusalem, see these words on their way
out.
The Torah commands us to remember a lot of
things, happy and sad.
Let us review where the injunction to remember
(“Zakhor!”) appears:
We must remember slavery, a sad event.
The Torah says:
Remember that you were a slave in the land
of Egypt.
[Deut.
5:15; 15:5; 16:12; 24:18]
We must remember the Exodus, a happy event.
The Torah says:
Remember the day when you went out of the
land of Egypt all the days of your life.
[Deuteronomy 16:3]
We must remember the Revelation at Sinai,
a happy event.
The Torah says:
But beware and watch yourself very well, lest
you forget the things that your eyes saw,
and lest these things depart from your heart,
all the days of your life.
And you shall make them known to your children
and to your children’s children the day
you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb.
[Deuteronomy 4:9–10]
We must remember Amalek, a sad event.
The Torah says:
You shall remember what Amalek did to you
on the way, when you went out of Egypt...
when you were faint and weary...
You shall obliterate the remembrance of Amalek
from beneath the heavens.
You shall not forget!
[Deuteronomy 25:17–19]
We must remember our rebellion in the desert,
a sad event.
The Torah says:
Remember, do not forget, how you angered the
Lord, your God, in the desert; from the day
that you went out of the land of Egypt until
you came to this place, you have been rebelling
against the Lord.
[Deuteronomy 9:7]
We must remember Miriam badmouthing Moses
and her punishment, a sad event.
The Torah says:
Remember what the Lord, your God, did to Miriam
on the way, when you went out of Egypt.
[Deuteronomy 24:9]
We must remember Shabbat, a happy event.
The Torah says:
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
[Exodus 20:8]
BUT the Torah does not spell out the manner
in which we must remember.
Should the mood be gloomy or festive?
Is it the rabbis who are forcing us to mourn?
No!
That's what the people want, sometimes OVER
the objections of the rabbis!
The Book of Esther says about the fast days:
[The Jews] decreed for themselves and for
their seed the matter of fasting and lamenting.
[Esther 9:31]
The rabbis had to convince the people to mourn
LESS.
The Talmud testifies to that:
Our Rabbis taught: When the [second] Temple
was destroyed… large numbers in Israel became
ascetics, binding themselves not to eat meat
or drink wine.
-Rabbi Yehoshua… asked them: My sons, why
do you not eat meat or drink wine?
-They replied: Shall we eat flesh which used
to be brought as an offering on the altar,
now that this altar is in abeyance?
Shall we drink wine which used to be poured
as a libation on the altar, but now no longer?
-He said to them: If that is so, we should
not eat bread either, because the meal offerings
have ceased.
-They said: [That is so, and] we can manage
with fruit.
-[He said:] We should not eat fruit either,
because there is no longer an offering of
first fruits.
-[They said:] Then we can manage with other
fruits.
-[He said:] But we should not drink water,
because there is no longer the ceremony of
the pouring of water, [Simchat Bet HaShoevah,
which used to be performed on Sukkot when
the Temple was standing].
-To this they could find no answer, so he
said to them: My sons, come and listen to
me.
Not to mourn at all is impossible, because
the blow has fallen.
To mourn too much is also impossible, because
we do not impose on the community a hardship
which the majority cannot endure…
-The Sages therefore have ruled as follows.
A man may paint his house, but he should leave
a small area bare.
A man may prepare a full-course banquet, but
he should leave out an item or two.
A woman may put on all her ornaments, but
leave off one or two…
[Baba Batra 60b]
In other words, go on with your life, but
create small reminders here and there.
You might think that mourning should stop
when the consequences of what is being mourned
have been erased.
If so, they should have stopped mourning and
fasting on Tish'a b'Av during the Second Temple
period, which lasted 586 years, since the
Temple had been rebuilt.
But they didn't!
[Rambam on Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:3] They
kept right on fasting.
Why?
Because that is what the people wanted.
Here is the story.
Four fast days commemorate the destruction
of the First Temple:
-First, the Tenth of Tevet, commemorating
the siege of Jerusalem by Babylon, culminating
in the conquest of Judah.
-Second, Tish'a b'Av, when the First Temple
was actually destroyed.
-Third, the Fast of Gedalia, commemorating
the assassination of the righteous governor
of Judah, which ended Jewish autonomy after
the destruction of the First Temple.
-And fourth, the 17th of Tammuz, commemorating
the breach of the walls of Jerusalem, which
led to the destruction of the Temple.
(It was the 9th of Tammuz for the first Temple,
but was later changed to the 17th for second
Temple.]
After the Jews returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt
the Temple, they wondered: Should we continue
to mourn or not?
With independence regained and the Temple
rebuilt, should we still weep or should we
be glad?
The prophet Zechariah said to be glad, but
the people refused!
[People were asking:] Should I weep... separating
myself, as I have done...
for... [the] seventy years [of exile in Babylon]...?
[Zech.
7:3-5]
The Lord of Hosts said as follows: The [four
fast days] shall become to the house of Judah
days of joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts.
[Zech.
8:19]
God said to rejoice on Tish’a b’Av!!
So why didn’t we?
The Talmud answers:
Rabbi Hanah ben Bizna has said in the name
of Rabbi Shim’on HaTzaddik: What is the
meaning of [that] verse?
... Rav Papa replied: What it means is this:
When there is peace, [these days] shall be
days of joy and gladness; when there is persecution,
they shall be fast days; when there is no
persecution but yet not peace, then those
who desire to fast may fast and those who
do not desire to fast need not fast.
[They asked:] If that is the case, [should
the fast of] Tish'a b'Av also [be optional]?
Rav Papa replied: Tish'a b'Av is in a different
category, because several misfortunes happened
on it...
[Rosh HaShana 18b]
However, some rabbis had different opinions:
Rabbi Eleazar said in the name of Rabbi Hanina:
Rabbi [Yehudah HaNasi] planted something on
Purim [which was not allowed back then], and
bathed in the [bathhouse of the] marketplace
of Sepphoris on the 17th of Tammuz [a fast
day] and [even] sought to abolish the fast
of Tish'a b'Av, but his colleagues would not
agree.
Rabbi Abba ben Zabda ventured to remark: Rabbi,
this was not the case.
What happened was that Tish'a b'Av [on that
year] fell on Shabbat, and [the rabbis] postponed
it till [right] after Shabbat, and he said
to them, “Since it has been postponed, let
it be postponed altogether [until next year],
but the Sages would not agree...”
[Rabbi Eleazar then said: I stand corrected.]
[Meg. 5a-b]
The great Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, the compiler
of the Mishnah, was in favor of less mourning!
Also:
Long ago, Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Eleazar ben
Azariah, Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Akiva...
were coming up to Jerusalem together, and
just as they came to Mount Scopus they saw
a fox emerging from the Holy of Holies.
They fell weeping [except] Rabbi Akiva who
laughed.
They said to him: “Why are you laughing?”
He said: “Why are you weeping?”
They said to him: “A [holy] place… has
now become the haunt of foxes, and we should
not weep?”
He said to them: “Here is why I am laughing.
[The prophecy of Micah says:]
Because of you, Zion shall be plowed like
a field, [and Jerusalem shall become heaps
of rubble.]
[Micah 3:12]
[But the later prophecy of] Zechariah says:
Thus says the Lord of Hosts: Old men and old
women shall again dwell in the streets of
Jerusalem [and every man with his staff in
his hand for the fullness of days.
And the city shall be full of boys and girls
playing in its streets.]
[Zech.
8:4-5]
As long as [the first prophecy of doom] had
not been fulfilled, I was uncertain whether
the second one [of a bright future] would
be fulfilled.
But now that [the first] prophecy has been
fulfilled, it is quite certain that [the second]
will also be fulfilled [in the future]!”
They said: “Akiva, you have comforted us!
Akiva, you have comforted us!”
[Makkot 24a-b]
This line concludes the tractate!
What are some possible reasons why the people
wanted to keep Tish’a B’Av?
First, the facts: The observance of Tisha
B’Av has increased steadily through the
centuries, both in the number of Jews observing
it and in the severity of the strictures.
In a 2010 survey, 25% of Israelis reported
they fast on Tish’a b’Av, and another
50% said they will not engage in recreational
activities although they do not fast.
Evidently, people feel deeply that some days
of mourning are necessary to balance the joyful
celebrations.
When some early Reform Jews favored celebrating
Tisha B’Av as a day of rejoicing, because
the Temple's destruction led to what they
thought was a better Judaism, the majority
shelved the idea and decided to simply ignore
the day.
Today, many Reform congregations observe Tisha
B’Av as a sad day in some form.
Now, the reasons.
First, the destruction of the first Temple
proved that the Temple could be destroyed,
which is something many Jews at the time could
not believe.
They did not think God would allow His house
to be destroyed.
So one reason we mourn is to remind ourselves
that no matter how good the current conditions
are, calamities CAN befall us again.
Second, by publicly remembering sad events,
we remind gentiles of what antisemitism has
done to us Jews, but we also remind them that
many of them helped us.
For example, Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum
in Jerusalem, contains the names of more than
20,000 righteous gentiles who saved Jews from
Nazis.
Spielberg’s genius in his movie Schindler’s
List was to publicize the Holocaust through
a righteous gentile, a man other gentiles
can identify with.
In conclusion, we can say that the remembrance
of bad events is necessary, but must be positive.
It must not be done to make anybody feel guilty
or to incite towards vengeance.
Also, it must never be given as a reason to
stay Jewish.
The Jewish philosopher Emil Fackenheim may
have famously said: “Do not give Hitler
a posthumous victory!”, but I disagree.
This is not a good reason to stay Jewish.
The Book of Lamentations concludes with the
line that closes the Torah service:
Hashiveinu Hashem elecha, venashuva.
Chadesh yamenu k’kedem.
Bring us back to You, O God, and we shall
come back.
Renew our days as of old.
[Lam. 5:21]
May this be the last Tish’a b’Av we spend
in mourning.
