Lamentations 1:1
אֵיכָ֣ה ׀ יָשְׁבָ֣ה בָדָ֗ד הָעִיר֙ רַבָּ֣תִי עָ֔ם הָיְתָ֖ה כְּאַלְמָנָ֑ה רַבָּ֣תִי בַגּוֹיִ֗ם שָׂרָ֙תִי֙ בַּמְּדִינ֔וֹת הָיְתָ֖ה לָמַֽס׃
How can it be that she sits in isolation the city teeming with people has become like a widow? Immense among nations, noble among provinces, she has become a payer of tribute.
We mark Tisha B’Av, the most solemn day in the Jewish calendar, by reading the book of Aicha, “Lamentations.” The book, a mournful recounting of the horror of persecution and destruction at the hands of the Babylonians, begins with a word that echoes through every generation that experiences tragedy. The first word of the book “Aicha” means “How.” How terrible is it, and how much worse will it get? How is such a tragedy possible?
Tisha B’Av, beginning Saturday night, marks the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem, the ruin of those Jewish communities and subsequent exile from Israel. How was it, our Rabbis ask, that the Romans destroyed the second Temple in the year 70? Not by battering rams, swords, and arrows. The were merely the means of destruction. No, the answer given in the Talmud is it was destroyed because of baseless hatred. When we hate someone before we even know them we are part of the destruction. When we refuse to speak to another person, when we assume the worst, or fear a stereotype, or come to conclusions about whole communities of people before even looking them in the eye, we might as well be holding the battering ram ourselves.
Indeed we are victims of baseless hatred. The sheer number of copies of Mein Kampf found in Gaza for instance, and the rhetoric regarding Jews globally continue to cause the very real destruction of whole Jewish communities. But we are guilty too. We cannot force others to relinquish their baseless hatred, but we can lead by example. Being a light unto nations means having the courage to operate in darkness. God willing others will follow, and such terrible tragedy will never happen again.ay for the incredible. No, I don’t expect any of the animals around me to strike up a conversation. But the meaning of the story holds true. To have a relationship with God means allowing for the possibility of miracles.