By Rabbi Jonah Geffen
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Tisha B’Av, which took place this last week, is a time for each of us to experience anew the tragedies that have befallen our people over the centuries – and yet it is also a time to renew our emotional ties to Israel and to look forward to a better future.
The day begins in a striking fashion: Together, we sit on the floor as if in mourning and chant the book of Lamentations, which begins with the word “Alas.” This most sorrowful of books speaks to the ravages of war, to the suffering of our people and to our collective sense of loss at the destruction of the Holy Temples and our ultimate dispersion from our homes in the Land of Israel.
Personally, I find it nearly impossible not to weep when I reach the verse that describes Jerusalem after its fall. “Her gates are sunk into the ground; her bars are destroyed and broken; her king and her princes are among the nations, there is no Torah; and her prophets find no vision from the Lord.”
In a very significant way, this day has served for millennia to keep one eye of the Jewish people always turned toward Israel, toward Jerusalem. The pain is so great that it carries over to the morning, where we come to prayer but do not don tefillin, and do not say a blessing when putting on our talit. We are still too shaken— too broken— to take on the tasks of the everyday.
And then, towards the end of the day — a summer day spent without food or drink — something changes. When we are most tired, most thirsty, most apt to sit or lay on the floor, we get up. We sit on chairs again, we stand a little taller. We recognize that we are not in reality sitting by a destroyed Jerusalem. We are here and Israel has begun the process of being reborn and rebuilt.
We end the day at Mincha with a reading that strikes a very different tone from Chapter 34 of the Book of Exodus:
“And God said: ‘Behold, I make a covenant; before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been wrought in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among which you are shall see the work of the Lord that I am about to do with you, that it is tremendous’.”
The lesson is clear: While our history, and for some of us our present reality, is one of trauma, our faith must always be one of optimism. We must live a reality that is constantly vigilant, understanding that to be Jewish has never meant to be safe. Yet at the same time we are tasked with the notion that we must have the full-hearted faith that our future is to be “tremendous.” We are to be cautious and optimistic. We have to be visionary, and watch our backs.
That lesson is particularly relevant now, as Secretary of State John Kerry prepares to embark on yet another mission to Jerusalem and Ramallah, seeking a resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
With so many scars from the past, many in our community and outside believe he is wasting his time – that there is no chance for peace. Others feel that with the Middle East in turmoil, Israel can’t take the risk.
But in an interview last week with Haaretz, outgoing Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren described the mindset of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in very different terms:
“In regard to peace, the prime minister is serious. He really does want to enter talks, and he really does want quick and brief talks, and he really does want to arrive at a solution,” said Oren. “Netanyahu is aware of the danger posed by an absence of peace, both in terms of Israel’s perceived legitimacy and in terms of the risk to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.”
If Netanyahu is willing to step up, so should we be. In the coming days and weeks it is on our shoulders, as American Jews, to help galvanize our people, to lead by example and show our elected leaders that we support their efforts.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel famously referred to himself as “an optimist, against my better judgment.” It is time for all of us to live his example. Those of us in positions of leadership, spiritual or secular, within our community must share with our colleagues and congregants the imperative to seize this moment, where the full weight of the efforts of the US government is dedicated to the creation of two states living side-by-side, securely, in peace.
The experience of the suffering of our people is one we share. And it is not the end of our story. When the fast is done, we must stand up and get back to work.
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Rabbi Geffen is Rabbinic Director for J Street.