Tonight, Jews commemorate Tisha B’Av – remembering the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the succeeding Jewish tragedies that took place throughout history. Reform Jews have always been somewhat uncomfortable with this holiday since it suggests that we have a yearning for the Temple to be rebuilt and intimates that its destruction was our fault. Still, despite our misgivings, there is something powerful about the ways in which collective memory and collective responsibility inspire us to dream about the future – especially in lieu of what has just taken place in Israel this past week.
Tisha B’Av begins the season of reflection that will usher in the High Holy Days. As the great Rabbi Alan Lew wrote in his book This is Real, on Tisha B’Av, “the walls of our soul begin to crumble and the first glimmerings of transformation—of Teshuvah—begin to seep in.”
What makes us human is not our ability to control or manipulate the world around us, but rather our ability to look at what we’ve done and change – to transform – to renew – what makes us human is our ability to admit where we have gone wrong and then, to make amends as a result.
As we recall destruction this evening, let us seek renewal – turning inward and finding what it is we can do to better ourselves and to better this very broken world.
May we all find comfort and may we be renewed.
Rabbi Leiken