Today is Tisha B’av. It is not my favorite holiday. Is it anyone’s? This year seems especially poignant. It seems it started early, with the kidnapping of three teen age boys–and their murder–and their funerals as rockets rained down–and the murder of a Palestinian boy. And an “operation” in Gaza.
Six weeks. Six weeks of pain. Of anguish. How can anyone bear it?
Last night a group of people gathered at Congregation Kneseth Israel where I serve as rabbi, as spiritual leader. What could I say to those there?
We read the traditional Book of Lamentations. We sang the traditional songs, Al Naharot Bavel and Eifo Avraham Avinu? And I wondered where Abraham is. Did he cry for his children? Is he still crying? Eli Wisel in a full page paid op-ed piece reminds us that the stories of Abraham remind us, command us that child sacrifice is not the way.
I have asked this question before. How desperate was Hagar when she put her child under a bush and cried out, “Don’t let me look on while the child dies.”? How desperate does a mother have to be to be willing to put her child in a shelter with missiles? To see that there must be other ways?
We read about thunder in Jerusalem and it thundered in Elgin. We sang Eli Eli, a song I first sung in Caesaria where it was written by Hannah Shenesh, It prays that the sand and the sea, the rush of the waters, the crash of the heavens (THUNDER!) never end. It prays that we keep praying.
We read the words of those in Israel today. The struggle for morality, for normalcy, for hope. We read a modern Hasidic tale about the Third Temple. Maybe it is the Dome of the Rock. Maybe it is already there. Maybe peace is possible. Some day. Soon.
For me, this service took a lot of energy. It was shorter than most. But painful, oh so painful.
Today is Tisha B’av and even though it is a fast day we are not prevented from working. The work begins again anew today. To work for a world without baseless hatred.
So today I will two things. I will meet with city officials, the Coalition of Elgin Religious Leader and the Elgin Praying Pastors and talk about peace. Later I will sit at the synagogue as part of National Night Out and hand out cookies (Homemade I hear!) and lemonade to our neighbors.
I can’t solve the crisis in the Middle East. I can’t make peace in Israel. I pray that the current cease fire continues to hold. I can only work here, in Elgin. And then, the words of this Israeli song, filled with hope, will become true:
Od tireh od tireh
Kama tov yiheyeh
Bashana bashana haba’ah
It will yet be. How good it will be. In the year to come.
May it be so!
This is from Bobby Sager’s commencement speech at Babson College’s 2014 commencement:
“Who am I to tell you what to do? Everyone has to connect their own dots. But you don’t need to go to the other side of the world to be hands-on and eyeball-to-eyeball. You can find ways to make a difference in the lives of others right around the corner from where you live.
The typical touched-by-an angel stuff makes you feel good momentarily, but it doesn’t change you. There’s a big difference between feeling good and truly doing good. Emotional is not sustainable. And sustainable is all that matters.
That’s why it is so important to find something that nourishes you so that you want to keep on helping. The more you serve yourself, the more you will serve others. In a sense, the more selfish you are, the more people get helped.
As you change the world, you change yourself. As you change yourself, you change the world.
Be Selfish, go help someone because you learn more, feel more and do more.
Be Selfish, go help someone because making a difference in the lives of others is too important not to get right.
Be Selfish, go help someone because fixing our broken world is not a spectator sport.
Be Selfish, go help someone because ALL our concrete baby steps added together could very well change the world.”
I know Bobby is talking about helping people live better lives – he’s not talking about stopping a war. But helping people live is helping them live a better life.
Each of us can take “concrete baby steps” to help the Palestinians and the Israelis, and you are definitely doing that. What you do does help, and when the fighting finally stops, whether now or in some time to come, your effort will definitely be part of the solution.