Tisha B’Av—A Day of Mourning but Also of Self-Criticism

Rabbi Melanie Aron

Friday, July 16, 2010

As news of the losses of Holocaust first became known, and the Jewish community turned to mourning, the first instinct was to tie this commemoration to the ancient day of mourning, Tisha B’av, the 9th of Av, which falls this coming Monday night and Tuesday.

Tisha B’av, the day that commemorates the destruction of the first and second Temple in Jerusalem, is also associated with other disasters in Jewish history, including the expulsion of the Jews from England and Spain and the outbreak of World War I, so it must have seemed appropriate to add this most recent disaster.

Over time though, a decision was made to create a separate day to commemorate the losses of the Shoah. It was not only the size of this catastrophe which merited its own day, but also the difference in our understanding of this contemporary loss v. the losses of past generations.

Tisha B’av is not only a day of mourning but also a day of self- criticism. Unlike those who died at the hands of Nazi violence who are understood as victims of human evil, those who lived through the destruction of the first and second Temple were not traditionally understood solely as victims, but rather as actors whose decisions had triggered the events they experienced.

Our rabbis offered many explanations for the tragedies that befell us, with the loss of the First and Second Temple, but they never focused on the destructive might of the Babylonians or the Romans. Always they looked critically at the behavior of the Jewish community at that time, often projecting concerns about the problems of their own generation onto the behavior of the Jews who lived during the days of the Temple’s destruction.

The Talmud teaches in Yoma page 9B:

“Why was the first Sanctuary destroyed? Because of three things which prevailed there: idolatry, sexual crimes like incest and adultery, and bloodshed. (For this we have much evidence in the writing of the early prophets.)

“But why was the second Sanctuary destroyed, seeing that in its time the Jewish people occupied themselves with Torah, the [observance of] mitsvot, and the practice of lovingkindness? Because at that time hatred without cause prevailed.

“That teaches you that groundless hatred is considered as grave as the three sins of idolatry, incest/adultery, and bloodshed altogether.”

Another section of the Talmud offers another explanation. Baba Metzia 30b

“R. Johanan said: Jerusalem was destroyed only because they gave judgments therein in accordance with the law of the Torah.”

This seems very strange. The Talmud itself questions these words.

“You say, because they gave judgments in accordance with the law of the Torah? Were they to have judged in accordance with untrained arbitrators? But say thus: because they based their judgments upon the law of the Torah, and did not go beyond the requirements of the law.”

Sometimes, the rabbis, taught, just doing what the law requires is not sufficient. To be righteous judges, they must take “equitable [broader, non-legal] considerations into account.”

Finally in the Talmud Shabbat 119b there are a collection of statements by famous rabbis, each offering their own opinion as to why the Temple was destroyed.

Abaye said: Jerusalem was destroyed only because they [its inhabitants] desecrated the Sabbath there.

R. Abbahu said: Jerusalem was destroyed only because they stopped the reading of the Shema morning and evening

R. Hamnuna said: Jerusalem was destroyed only because they neglected [the education of] school children;

'Ulla said: Jerusalem was destroyed only because they had no shame (of sin) one before the other

R. Isaac said: Jerusalem was destroyed only because the small and the great were made treated the same way

R. Amram son of R. Simeon b. Abba said in R. Simeon b. Abba's name in R. Hanina's name: Jerusalem was destroyed only because they did not rebuke each other

Rab Judah said: Jerusalem was destroyed only because they held scholars in contempt there

Raba said: Jerusalem was destroyed only because there were no longer men of integrity there:

Since many of these rabbis lived generations after the destruction of the Temple, it is not clear that they are providing us with historical information about the causes of the Temple’s destruction so much as they are letting us know what was really key in their estimation: religious observance, the education of children, respect and integrity.

For me, there is a personal and a national lesson in this.

Personally, when something bad thing happens, there is a natural tendency to blame others. Tisha B’av comes to remind us not to dwell in our victimhood but to recognize the role we played in the problems that resulted. By being more self-critical we can prevent future mishaps.

Also, as a Jewish people today, I think we find something to learn in Tisha B’av. It is certainly true that Israel has many enemies and people ready to slander the state and its people. But I think of a famous quote attributed to Henry Kissenger: even a paranoid can have enemies. In this case, let’s agree that the converse might be the case. Even the victim of slander can have made mistakes. This week particularly we are aware of our responsibility to speak out to prevent the Israeli Kenesset from making a serious mistake in passing the Rotem conversion bill which would create a rift between the Jews of Israel and those of the Diaspora.

There is a lot we cannot control in our lives and in our futures, both as individuals and as a people, but where we do have control we also have responsibility. As Rabbi Daniel Goldfarb, Director of the Conservative Yeshiva, taught in his e shiur for Tisha B’av: “The rabbis analyze the destruction of Jerusalem not only as a historical episode but as a paradigm, of the Jewish people as a whole.” Their words of rebuke are an important message for us all.