Eichah – How the City Sits Alone!

It is with sadness that I write this last Shabbat blog from Jerusalem. My mood is similar to so many in this city. On Saturday night, as I fly to America with Max and Alec, the traditional Jewish world will be in mourning. They will fasting in remembrance of the manifold tragedies that happened to our people on this day, the ninth of Av, in centuries gone by: the destruction of the First Temple, the destruction of the Second Temple, the failure of the Bar Kochba rebellion, and the declaration of the Crusades, just to name a few. With each devastating loss, the dream of returning to our City of Gold and City of Peace became more distant.

As we discussed Tisha B’Av at dinner, Max remarked “All things happen for a reason.” As devastating as each of these tragedies was, some of these events transformed the Jewish world giving us the strength we have today. Had the Temple not been destroyed, Jewish religious leadership would not be available to all and would have remained largely in the hands of the Cohanim, the Priests. Had the Temple not been destroyed, Jerusalem might have remained the central and only focal point for the majority of Jews and so many of the vibrant Jewish communities across the globe that we know today might not have come to be. Had the Temple not been destroyed, so many of the rich liturgies of worship that replaced animal sacrifice might never have been created.

Some fast on Tisha B’av not as a means of mourning the destruction of the Temple per se but of mourning the sinat chinam, the baseless hatred that existed among Jews and among people that caused our great communal losses. For these Jerusalemites and Jews, Tisha B’av is meant to move us to search our souls and remove any hatred in our hearts that might exist.

On Tisha B’av, we recite Lamentations in a dirge-like voice crying out, “Eichah – how the city sits alone!” But Jerusalem does not sit alone. It is vibrant and filled with people of every faith and background. There is no better people watching and prayer watching than in the Old City (and even in the modern city). Jerusalem does not sit alone. As Governor Romney arrives in Israel tomorrow, as President Obama commited to American aid to Israel yesterday, and as Beth El congregants plan trip after trip, we remember our past with sorrow and look to the future with hope. Jerusalem is never very far, is never alone, and is always a place to which I, my family, and I hope all of us will return.

The Talmud teaches that ten measures of beauty descended to the world, nine were taken by Jerusalem. May we all be blessed to enjoy its magnificence.

– Rabbi Judy Schindler