זַכּוּ נְזִירֶיהָ מִשֶּׁלֶג צַחוּ מֵחָלָב אָדְמוּ עֶצֶם מִפְּנִינִים
סַפִּיר גִּזְרָתָם. חָשַׁךְ מִשְּׁחוֹר תָּאֳרָם לֹא נִכְּרוּ בַּחוּצוֹת צָפַד עוֹרָם
עַל עַצְמָם יָבֵשׁ הָיָה כָעֵ. (איכה ד ז ח)
Her Nazirites were purer than
snow, they were whiter than milk, their appearance was ruddier than coral,
[and] sapphire was their form. [But now] their appearance has become darker
than charcoal, they are not recognized in the streets; their skin is shriveled
on their bones; it has become as dry as a stick. (Lamentations 4:7-8)
The book of Lamentations read
on the ninth of Av is a work written by the prophet Jeremiah, which foretells
the destruction of the Temples often in lurid detail. It describes the
suffering of the nation of Israel and mentions their sins. It includes the verse,
“We have rebelled and have been disobedient; you have not forgiven”,
(Lamentations 3:42). It concludes with a prayer for restoration of past glory.
A number of verses describe
the fall from the zenith of glory to the abyss of disgrace. For example the
most refined and beautiful of the people have become vulgar and hideous. Those
that ate dainties are starving in the streets. Those that lived in palaces are
sleeping in the gutter. Dedicated mothers are cannibalizing their children. The
point is the total annulment and distortion of purpose.
The main issue seems to be dignity as
opposed to disgrace. When King David is on his death bed, he passes the torch
to his son Solomon with a blessing and expresses the beauty and love in his
heart. When King Saul’s time to pass in on him, he is defeated in battle,
unsuccessfully tries to impale himself, and is finally killed by an Amalekite.
Both kings are just as dead, but there is no comparison to the way that they
died.
The generation of Rabbi Yochanon ben Zaki
and Rabbi Akiva which saw the destruction of the second temple was just as dead
as the generation of Ezra that saw its building. The generation of King Solomon
which built the temple was a generation of glory and the generation of Zedekiah
was a generation of disgrace, but both have passed from this world.
Even if the Temple had never been destroyed,
it still would not be composed of its original material. Most likely it would
have gone the way of worn out priestly garments that were used as wicks for the
torches used on Jewish holidays. To have the wood and stone torched by the
Babylonians and Romans and to have the sacred articles become plunder is
altogether different. It also seems that the very great physical pain in these
tragedies often was an external manifestation of an internal malady.
It’s possible to mourn a little bit about
the buildings that once housed synagogues in Newark, New Jersey. However there
is consolation because of the very large yeshiva in Lakewood, New Jersey. The
reason for the change was that the Jews did not wish to continue living among
black folks in an urban environment rather they preferred the seclusion of a
suburb. What at one time was pleasing and profitable no long was, and instead
something new and different was needed. Jewish resources were not lost they
simply moved to a different place, where they continued to grow.
With this we begin to understand the
destruction of holocaust, Spanish Inquisition, and many other tragedies that
struck the Jewish people. Certainly we should mourn over the great horrors
these people experienced, as well as the wise and righteous that perished in
these calamities. However the greater loss is the wasted resources devoted to
maintaining situations whose time had passed or worse were all together
mistakes.
To what can this be compared? There is to
feel a little bad about rejecting an unqualified applicant. There is to feel
very bad about dismissing a failed student or worker after money, time, and
effort has been expended on their behalf. Disgust is added if the person really
did have talent but refused to use it, or squandered it, or used it for bad.
On Tisha b'Av we mourn for the destruction
of the both temples as well as all of the horrors experienced by the nation of
Israel through the ages. We also mourn for the lives that were cut short and
the very real suffering that was part of the tragedies. Above all we mourn for
the wasted lives and for what could have been had we used our talents wisely.
לע"נ
הדוד לייב הערש בן אהרן ז"ל נלב"ע יז תמוז תשמ"ב
העלון ניתן לקבל בדואר אלקטרוני וגם באתר
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