"To be a teacher in the right sense is to be a learner.  I am not a teacher, only a fellow student."  (Soren Kierkegaard)

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The Fires of Hatred and Indifference

This is the Shabbat right before Tisha B'av, the dark and mournful time of remembering the destruction of our Holy Temples. Over the centuries, other tragedies (including the 1492 expulsion of the Jews from Spain) were folded into the Tisha B'av narrative. The author of Eicha (Lamentations) voiced our people's feelings of despair: God, are You going to abandon our people; how can You let the foe burn down Your Holy place? Beyond the anguish of despair, there was guilt: We have trampled upon the poor and the orphaned and the widow, all the vulnerable members of our society. We cared only for ourselves, we have lost our way.

Our talmudic sages focused on Jew versus Jew. Too well, we know that our people has suffered from this malignancy for many centuries. We find reasons to marginalize each other. We cling to our cliques, we turn our back on Jews with whom we disagree. We fail to show responsibility and love for each other. These insights are timeless. They reach far beyond our ancient history into our present moment. More insidious, more dangerous, more toxic than the vile outpourings of tyrants, worse even than the horrific weapons they crave - are the fires we continually stoke. This self-hatred, this self-righteous superiority, this belittling of those who dissent – Tisha B'av forces us to ask: Eicha, How can it be so? Why do we scar each other in this way? When will we figure out there is no more time to hate, that all the mitzvot become worthless if we are no longer guided by love and kindness?

The haftarah called " Chazon, the vision of Isaiah", conjures up the boiling cauldron of Babylon. Within our culture, cauldrons of bigotry and hate continue to boil. Our blood continues to boil with indifference to the sufferings and humiliations of others. Tisha B'av has much to teach us, and we need to open our hearts, to grieve, and to meditate upon who we are and where we are going.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Aaron