Just over a week ago marked the most inauspicious day of the year on the Jewish calendar. I'm referring to the ninth day of the month of Av, which tradition teaches us was forever sealed as a day of mourning, crying and lamenting.
The seeds were first sown with the faithless tears of the Jewish people as they reacted to the disheartening news reported by a group of spies who had been dispatched to survey the Holy Land, which had been divinely ordained to be given to them. They failed this test, which very likely could have been their final hurdle before entering into the Land of Israel and ushering in a utopian-like existence for the entire world.
The same hand that once gave, took away that which the Jewish people were not yet ready to accept.
Such a cataclysmic event sends ripples through time and has continued to shake the Jewish people at their very foundation.
The ninth of Av has been indelibly printed on the hearts, minds and souls of the Jewish people as a day when God looks with a critical eye at His nation and sends us harsh and stark wake-up calls. The ninth of Av marks the destruction of both the first and second Holy Temples in Jerusalem; it has been a day of massacres and expulsions; a day of hate and intolerance.
For these reasons, on the ninth of Av, the Jewish people spend the day weeping and mourning. We fast and sit on the floor. We read the terrifying accounts of our people, chased, tortured, burned and despised. But most of all we reflect.
Every year, I encounter the same questions both internally and externally. Why do we continue to dwell on the past? Why can't we shift our focus forward as opposed to constantly picking at our wounds, never allowing them to completely heal?
This year, I heard three eloquent answers to these poignant questions given by Dr. David Pelcovitz, and I'd like to share them with you.
First, we must appreciate that life is not only full of challenges, but precisely how we react and grow through our challenges goes a long way in defining ourselves as people. Our observances and practices on the ninth of Av are designed to help teach us how to deal with challenges and how to find meaning in them as well.
Memory alone is dry and sterile and lacks soul. It's like reading a history book. The ninth of Av teaches us the vital importance of bringing our memories to the present, from the passive to the active. We must integrate our memory with emotion and make it an active part of who we are. Giving words and meaning to our pain puts us on the path to healing.
Furthermore, as George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Oftentimes, when our troubles subside, we forget them and their lessons. The ninth of Av is a day to remember the eternal messages and to pledge never to forget.
Finally, on the ninth of Av, the Jewish people sit together and remember collectively. We utilize this day to come together and prove to ourselves and the world that the Jewish people are here to stay.
Barak Cohen is the rabbi at Congregation Aish HaTorah and the Jewish chaplain at the University of Victoria. He can be reached at [email protected].
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