The Jewish calender is constructed so that tis week's parasha will always fall out the shabbat preceding 9av. It is for this reason that the corresponding Haftorah is chosen, and this shabbat is refered to as Shabbat Xazon in referenceto the first word of this shabbat's haftara. (There are other more subtle connection to this week's parasha such as the first pasuq of sheni which begins with the word " 'eicha " and is read as the second pasuq of sheni, and in the cantilation notes for the book of 'Eicha.) The haftara for Devarim deals with the vision of Yishayahu Ben Amoc which to ok place before the destruction of the Beit Hamiqdash. It is intended as a warning to the Jews, although its 'appocolyptic' warnings pail in comparison to those found in 'Eicha itself as well as Josephus flavius's account of the events, which, although appologetic in nature and biased, is the most accurate non-biblical historical account known. It is also strangely non-committal in that it ends with messianic references, and a promise of ultimate redemption.
There is a famous story in the Gemara that occurred in the days following the destruction of the temple. the Gemara relates that Rabbi `Aqiva' and other sages stood on the mount of olives overlooking the Temple mount, and they saw foxes roaming where the holy of holies had been. The sages accompanying Rabbi `Aqiva' cried, but he laughed. When they asked him why he laughed he respnded that the first part of the prophecy had been fufilled, the temple had been destroyed, and in the once-holy ground, foxes roamed. But the prophecy continued and prophesied the ultimate redemption and rebuilding of the temple, and a time of messicanic glory. Now that Rabbi `Aqiva' had seen the fulfillment of the beginning of the prophrcy he rejoiced in the ultimate fulfillment of its end.
Ultimately 9av is a date on the Jewish calender that can be percieved in many ways. To some we mourn a temple that whose rebuilding is imminent. To others it is a concept which is possible, and worthy of prayer, but also unlikely, and still to others it represents the destruction of temple that 'could never exist in our modern and enlightened time. I'd like to share a story with you that occurred to me this week, and perhaps when I do you will understand my point.
I was driving home from work Tuesday and there was bad traffic. The guy in front of me was swerving a lot and starting and stopping eratically, and I was about 150 ft from my exit, so I pulled around him into the shoulder to get off. He almost hit me swerving without signaling as I went by, and then when I thought it was over, he followed me off the highway, and started trying to run me off the road. At taffic lights he rolled down his window and yelled obcenities and that he's calling the cops on me with my liscense plate number for using the shoulder.Finally, and only because I was scared he'd hit me while swerving his car,I stopped in a gas station. He jumped out of his car and ran toward me, screaming obscnities and being physically threatening. Well, I kept asking him to not use prophanity and speak in a civilized manner, and I never got upset, and he just kept ranting. Then He opened my door to my car, and I thought he was going to hit me, so I got out to be in a position to defend myself. The guy was like 60 and maybe 5"6, and I could've killed him, but I just kept my cool. When I stood up he looked at me and said, "Oh, you're a Jew! a hasidic Jew!" (like it's pre-war germany or something) only it turns out he's reform and he hates the orthodox. He's spouting about how us terrible people are giving Jews a bad name and it's no wonder I'm a Jew, but I make him embarased to be one.He told me to go back to Cheder and learn some manners. I told him my school they taught us a wide enough vocabulary to express ourselves without vulgarity. He said go back to the shtettle. I said sorry, the university won't move on account of me. Well he said he was calling the cops, and he said he's fifty years older than me, and he'll show me how the old scholl treats people like me. I said, "Listen buddy, it's clear which one of us is the mature one, good day," and I got back inside my car. He said I'm the reason he left frumkite... we have no middos... He followed me for a few blocks, and I weaved until I lost him and came home. I called the cops but I forgot to look at his plates, because I was upset by the whole thing, so I just told them what happenned, and they said he can't report anything, and he's just a crackpot, but I don't have to worry about it. My reaction? "Scary huh? I wish I got the guys plates. Such an anti-semetic Jew, I'd love to see him in court"
So what's the point of the story? Why did it happen to me, and more specifically why did it happen to me during the nine days? Rabbi Akiva was famous for stressing " v"'ahavta l"rei'akha kamokha ", the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself, yet we are taught that 24,000 of his students died during the time of s"firat ha`omer, specifically for the sin of not treating one another properly, the same sin for which the Beit Hamiqdash was destroyed on 9av. BUt Surely the students of a great sage like Rabbi `Aqiva' has better midot than we do. Certainly they treated each other with greater respect than we can ever comprehend. And perhaps that is in fact the answer. Just as Moshe Rabeinu was judged harshly for the seamingly miniscule sin of hitting the rock, which in actuality according to many commentaries was a much more fundamental sin, that of failing to sanctify God when presented with the opportunity, the students of Rabbi `Aqiva' who certainly treated each other better than we do, were keilled for a lack of compasion. The Rambam says that any generation that does not rebuild the Beit Hamiqdash is considered like the generation that destroyed it. Moshe Rabeinu's sin seemd miniscule. The way Rabbi `Aqiva's students treated each other would like to us seem praiseworthy. And just as we wander through life asuming that we have acted justly in our interpersonal relationships, thus far we have not rebuilt the temple, and we must sensitize ourselves to our actions, so that we notice this shortcoming in ourselves.
The Romans did not destroy the Beit Haiqdash. The Jews did. The Romans burned bricks in a building that lost divine providence long beforehand. On 9av we commemorate the loss of the temple, and do so using the metaphor of Jerusalem its city, but in actuality we mourn our own desensitization. Jerusalem, once compared to a virgin, is refered to on 9av as a prostitute. 'Eicha hay"ta l"zona? asks the navi, "How could Jerusalem become a prostitute?" The once innocent city, the once pure city, now has been defiled and has lost her innocent perspective on what is right.The answer is really the opitome of our desensitization. We live in America the society where anything goes. We treat other with a fair amount of deference, and assume that that's enough. Until we put on the rose colored glasses from the famous metaphor, we will never see how our actions really effect others. Perhaps the 'lunatic' from my drive home was no lunatic at all. Perhaps when I ridiculed him, considered myself to be superior simply for keeping my cool while intelectually insulting him, I was missing the point. Perhaps he knew what he was talking about when he said that I had no midot, and perhaps I was too busy thinking of myself as superior to to look at the situation with the proper perspective. Everything happens for a reason, and everything happenns at a certain time for a reason. Perhaps this happenned to me during the nine days to give me a perspective on 9av.
Perhaps those of us living in America are too steaped in a thoughtless society to notice that this is not simply a mourning period for the destruction of a defunct temple, but an indictment of our lives in tora-antithetical environment. As Rabbi `Aqiva' noted, the first words of the prophet came true. The temple was destroyed, but the temple WILL BE rebuilt when we decide to rebuild it. My rebbe once told me that if we really wanted Mashiax, it would be here already. When we decide to bring mashiax, we rebuild it with our deeds brick by brick. Let us take this time to shed our societal views that re antithetical to a tora rich life, and work on loving our fellow Jew, the only mitzvah that will rebuild the Beit Hamiqdash, im yirtzeh Hshem, bim"heira b"yameinu, amen.
Shabbat Shalom, and have an easy and MEANINGFUL fast!
Noach D. Roth