Painful Past - More Promising Future

Rabbi Melanie Aron

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Earlier in our service this morning, Erica asked about those times when religion isn’t fun, when, perhaps a prophet or even a rabbi’s sermon, challenges us to think critically about ourselves and our society.

Of course it’s not just ornery preachers who can cause religion not to be a cause for feeling good, Sarah reminded us of those times when tragedy raises questions within our hearts about the goodness of God and God’s care for us.

This week’s Torah portion, the beginning of the book of Deuteronomy is quite a downer. In reviewing the experience of the Israelites in the desert, Moses doesn’t dwell on their accomplishments and successes. Thinking about it, there is much that he could have said that would have been positive. After all, the Israelites survived in rough terrain with no experience, and managed for themselves without prepared supplies. Instead of celebrating these successes, Moses focuses on the Israelite’s failures and all of the times they have missed the mark. Moses uses the word Eichah, a cry of lamentation, foreshadowing the beginning of the Book of Lamentations, read on the holiday of Tisha B’av which falls tomorrow.

Tisha B’av, the day of mourning for the destruction of the Temple, is a much disputed holiday. First marking the destruction of the first Temple by the Babylonians, scholars question whether it was commemorated during the several hundred years that the second Temple stood.

Some Zionists rejected Tisha B’Av seeing it as part of “the lachrymose” version of Jewish history, an endless chain of persecutions with Jews as eternal victims. The early Reform movement rejected it as well, arguing that we are at home in America and that Judaism has permanently moved on from animal sacrifices to prayer. Why have a holiday focused on rebuilding of the Temple, and the gathering of the Jews?

But I think that continued awareness of Tisha B’av, even if it isn’t one of those feel good holidays, can be important.

For thosefor whom the modern state of Israel has always been there, Tisha B’av is a reminder that Jewish independence and sovereignty is not a given. A Jewish state in the Jewish homeland of Israel was a hard won achievement that remains challenged today.

Thinking about Tisha B’av we remember also the causes of past destructions. Rabbinic tradition attributes these destructions, not primarily to international political forces and the rise of empires, but to factors within the Jewish community. In particular they point to sinat chinam, baseless hatred, enmity between Jews.

In our own day contentious disputes over Israel’s policies and over Jewish identity can easily lead to sinat chinam. Differences of opinion can turn into rejection and even violence, as they have in the recent past. This Shabbat, in the midst of the disagreements over disengagement from Gaza, I hope that rabbis in Israel across the spectrum are reminding their congregants of the tragic consequences of this kind of hatred.

In this week’s Torah portion, Moses focused on past failures, rather than past successes, because he hoped the Israelites could learn from their mistakes. In a similar way, we focus on painful moments in our people’s past, so that we too can avoid going that way again.