“Five things happened to our ancestors on the seventeenth of Tammuz, and five on the Tisha of Av. On the seventeenth of Tammuz – the tablets were broken, and the Tamid or eternal offering was cancelled, and the city walls were breached, and Apostamus burned the Torah, and an idol was in the temple. On the Tisha of Av – it was decreed that our ancestors should not enter the Land, and the destruction of the First Temple and the Second, Beitar was captured, and Jerusalem was plowed.”
The crucible of the quarry of Tisha B’av lies in war, when we mourn defeat in three wars that led to severe calamity for the people of Israel: the war in Babylon in the 6th century BCE, the great revolt by the Romans in the first century CE, and the Bar Kochba revolt by the Romans 60 years later. But if in other years we have to go back to the events of the past in order to remember the horrors of the war, this year it seems that there is no need for special preparation for Tisha B’av: beyond the ongoing pain accompanying the prolonged war, it seems that there is more than enough to mourn today, and we don’t even need to look at the past. What uniqueness can be found on Tisha B’Av this year, in the shadow of the Gaza War?
In my opinion, this can be taken in two main directions:
One direction is towards the connection, the capture of the historical sequence. To re-flood the feelings we had in the last year and the things we experienced and place them in the same line together with the troubles and disasters that befell the people of Israel throughout its years. This is how you can learn about Beitar and Kibbutz Be’eri, and think about Sinwar and Nebuchadnezzar. In the end, it is a long historical process, and the greatest historical story of all time, which we share in writing. This renewed connection to Jewish history can strengthen the belief in the righteousness of our way, and adherence to the goal.
Another direction in which this can be taken is precisely in an attempt to look at the positive things that have taken place in the past year, which we have tried to emphasize on this website since the day the war broke out. In many ways, the nation of Israel revealed itself in its full strength during the last war, and learning about stories of heroism and volunteering can help strengthen the positive outlook on reality, and understand that in the end, despite the difficult war and bitter losses, we are not there. Not in a place of total destruction and going into exile. And if we manage to maintain these forces that distinguish our people, and stick to and strengthen the love of nothing, there is no doubt that we will also overcome these obstacles.
May it be a meaningful Tisha B’Av.
