Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai was once walking with his disciple, Rabbi Yehoshua, near Jerusalem after the destruction of the Temple. Rabbi Yehoshua looked at the Temple ruins and said: Alas for us!! The place that atoned for the sins of the people Israel lies in ruins! Then Rabbi Yochannan ben Zakkai spoke to him these words of comfort: Be not grieved, my son. There is another equally meritorious way of gaining ritual atonement, even though the Temple is destroyed. We can still gain ritual atonement through acts of loving kindness. For it is written (Hoshea 6:6) “Loving kindness I desire, not sacrifice.” Avot D’Rabbi Natan 4:5
What do we do with Tisha B’av today. The first time I observed Tisha B’av I was a high school student in Jerusalem moved to tears by the mournful, soulful music, the tealights on the floor and us sitting cross legged also on the floor. The next day I fasted. But I also learned that some Israelis do not, recognizing the return to the land.
Recently I read a new book by Yossi Klein Halevi released on Israel’s 70th Birthday. Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor. It is a love poem to Israel. But he too wrestles with what to do with Tisha B’av. Here is his description of one recent Tisha B’av at the Western Wall, that last remaining remnant of the Holy Temple:
“And yet for all the formal gestures of mourning, I didn’t sense genuine anguish. Some of the pious cried out the words, but that seemed to me an imitation of grief. It’s hard to mourn the exile when the exile has ended. True, not all Jewish prayers have been answered. We have returned, but the pervasive presence of Israeli soldiers protecting us at the Wall reminds us not only of our restored sovereignty but of continuing threat. Tisha b’Av has been only partly negated. Jewish tradition couldn’t imagine this limbo between return and redemption. And so we reenact the choreography of mourning but are restless, disoriented. Home, yet
not redeemed.”
Every year I think, “This is the year. This is the year I will not have to observe Tisha B’av. And then something happens. This year is no exception.
This week’s news out of the State of Israel is complex and flies in the face of observing Tisha B’av if the Second Temple was destroyed because of sinat chinam, baseless hatred.
This week’s news:
1. Hamas’ weekly Friday protests at the Gaza border took a serious turn in escalation as snipers fired at IDF soldiers patrolling the Israeli side of the border, killing one.
The IDF, calling the escalation “the most serious event since Operation Protective Edge (2014 Gaza War),” launched a series of air attacks in Gaza, hitting at least 15 targets including Hamas command and control centers and killing four Palestinians. Hamas in turn launched three rockets, two of which were intercepted by Iron Dome, and the third one falling in an open field. (Read more)
2. Israel’s Knesset passed into law the nation-state bill that for the first time enshrines Israel as “the national home of the Jewish people.” The quasi-constitutional Basic Law was approved by a vote of 62-55, two abstaining. (Read the full text of the bill)
Similar to a constitution, the Basic Laws underpin Israel’s legal system and are more difficult to repeal than regular laws. (Read more)
The nation-state bill, proponents say, puts Jewish values and democratic values on equal footing. In a video statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that “Israel’s democracy will always continue to flourish.” Northwestern professor Eugene Kontorovich says the bill is similar to many European constitutions.
Critics fear the law opens the door to potential discrimination against minority communities, weakens religious pluralism, and complicates Israel-Diaspora relations.
- A Conservative rabbi in Israel was awakened by police early Thursday morning and taken in for questioning for allegedly performing an illegal marriage. The action drew sharp responses fromseveral major American Jewish groups.
- (JTA) — Haredi Orthodox protesters burned a Jewish prayer book near the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Friday to protest the monthly prayer service there by female worshippers.
The incident occurred as nearly 200 Women of the Wall activists arrived for the service in celebration of the beginning of the Hebrew month of Av. Several thousand haredi protesters greeted them with booing and shouting.
The haredim and other conservatives oppose the group’s singing and, at times, use of prayer shawls, kippahs and Torah scrolls, which are reserved for men in Orthodox Judaism. Some of the protesters set fire to a prayer book bearing the group’s logo, Arutz 7 reported.
They “laughed with pleasure as a WOW participant burned herself trying to salvage it,” the group said in a statement.
Rectifying Baseless Hatred:
Why was the Second Temple destroyed? The Sages in Yoma 9b noted that the people at that time studied Torah, observed mitzvot and performed good deeds. Their great failure was in sinat chinam – baseless hatred. It was internal strife and conflict that ultimately brought about the Temple’s destruction.
How may we rectify this sin of sinat chinam? Rav Kook wrote, in one of his most oft-quoted statements:
| “If we were destroyed, and the world with us, due to baseless hatred, then we shall rebuild ourselves, and the world with us, with baseless love — ahavat chinam. (Orot HaKodesh vol. III, p. 324)
So what is baseless love? Our congregatopm discussed that maybe it is unconditional love, the kind you are supposed to give you children and hopefully, even your spouse. It is respect—maybe even more than love. A mutuality. A caring about everyone as love your neighbor and the stranger suggests. It was a very rich, varied conversation. |
This call for baseless love could be interpreted as following Maimonides’ advice on how to correct bad character traits. In the fourth chapter of Shemonah Perakim, Maimonides taught that negative traits are corrected by temporarily overcompensating and practicing the opposite extreme. For example, one who is naturally stingy should balance this trait by acting overly generous, until he succeeds in uprooting his miserliness. Similarly, by going to the extreme of ahavat chinam, we repair the trait of sinat chinam.
This interpretation, however, is not Rav Kook’s line of thought. Ahavat chinam is not a temporary remedy, but an ideal, the result of our perception of the world’s underlying unity and goodness.
(Silver from the Land of Israel. Adapted from Orot HaKodesh vol. III, pp. 324-334; Malachim K’vnei Adam, pp. 262, 483-485)
| All who mourn [the destruction of] Jerusalem will merit to see it in its joy.” (Ta’anit 30b) |
At first glance, this statement seems peculiar. Why did the Sages say that those who mourn Jerusalem’s destruction will merit seeing it ‘be-simchata’ — ‘in its joy’? It would be more logical to say that they will merit seeing Jerusalem be-vinayana — when the city will be restored and rebuilt. After all, our primary wish is for the rebuilding of Jerusalem!
Rav Kook explained as follows: The Sages knew that when the time comes for Jerusalem to be rebuilt, everyone alive at that time will witness the city’s reconstruction. Even those who did not grieve Jerusalem’s destruction will see it being rebuilt.
The Sages formulated their statements with fine precision. True, many will see Jerusalem rebuilt. But only those who were pained by Jerusalem’s destruction will merit to see the city “in joy.” Only those who were grieved by its state of ruin will experience the great joy and simchah as Jerusalem is restored to its former glory.
Rabbi Arthur Waskow, using Rav Kook:
Chinam” is from chen, “grace”. that which pours out though undeserved. God’s “chen” is love that pours out undeserved. It is different from “chesed” . love that is intertwined with the loyalty due a covenant-partner . and from “rachamim” . the compassion that a mother feels [“rechem” = womb] for her child.
What is ahavat chinam in practice? I would say it is steadfast nonviolence in the Martin Luther King mode. “Love” even toward those who are imprisoning, demeaning, killing. I do not think it is “ahavat chinam” restricted to Jews alone that redeems us from the destruction that comes from “sinat chinam” . but “ahavat chinam” toward all bearers of the Image. Most especially toward those who are also children of Abraham, from the other branch of the family.
This kind of love does not require passivity in the face of injustice, hatred, terrorism, or war . no matter whether it is “our” folks or “their” folks who are perpetrating these deeds. It demands a loving concern for not shattering the Image of God even in those who do such things.
I am not calling on people to achieve this level of “ahava,” especially since I myself don’t rise to this level very often, if ever. I am simply saying that I don’t think it is really “ahavat chinam” if it is restricted to Jews alone, or those who agree with us alone. That’s not really “chinam” since it’s based not a “gratuitous” outpouring but on a felt tie, whether of family covenant or value-covenant.”
This year, my observance of Tisha B’av will be different. Often I try to spend time on Tisha B’av or the Three Weeks building while others were destroying or tearing down. Many people I know this year are making the connection between refugees and Tisha B’av. When the Temple was destroyed in 70CE that is when we as a Jewish people became refugees, exiled for 2000 years. When we gather our tzitzit together during ahavah rabbah, and sing of the ingathering from the four corners, we change the melody to Hatikvah, expressing that hope.
This year on Tisha B’av, Simon and I will be journeying to the National Havurat Institute as their Hollander Social Justice Fellow to teach my version of Tikkun Olam. And it fits with Tisha B’av. I believe that tikkun olam is better when done with others. It is more effective. It builds (there’s that word) lasting friendships and deep relationships. For me, it is the ultimate form of ahavat chinam. The day is not over yet. I challenge each of you to do some act of ahavat chinam.