Spending Tisha B’Av in Jerusalem made me reflect on what this holiday means to me. What are my feelings on this day of Jewish mourning? It is simply this: I do not mourn today for the destruction of Jerusalem, because Jerusalem is not destroyed! This city, and in fact all of Israel, is very much alive, vibrant and in a constant state of growth. The Jews here are not mourning, they are happy.
Tisha B’Av, or the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av, is the day set aside on the Jewish calendar for commemorating the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians in 586 BCE and the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 68 CE.
For many years, Jews have fasted and read the book of Lamentations on Tisha B’Av to commemorate these destructions. Today, as I walk through the streets of Jerusalem I see the dreams of our ancestors fulfilled beyond their imagination.
Often Jews from America think of Israel in idyllic terms, thinking of the Kibbutz and Exodus, a place that can do no wrong. However, that Israel exists only in our minds. In the real Israel there are political challenges, security issues, and economic factors. There are serious challenges here, but the beauty of this place is also in the struggle to overcome.
A perfect example is the Rotem “Conversion Bill” which is before the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament) right now. Initially, this bill was introduced to help the hundreds of thousands of Russian immigrants here. Many of them are not considered Jewish by the Orthodox establishment in this country because they do not have a Jewish mother. In order to be fully accepted here, they have to convert to Judaism and this bill was intended to help them by standardizing the process.
In the category of “no good deed goes unpunished,” the bill went back and forth, politics took over, and what started out good is now very bad. Political “horse trading” has turned this bill into an instrument for the Orthodox rabbinate here to set into law their complete control over the issue of who is a Jew. Should this bill pass it would lead to a delegitimization of all the other branches of Judaism.
So this how I celebrated Tisha B’Av here: a day of contrasts.
Just before Tisha B’Av began, I found myself at a special meeting at Hebrew Union College where I heard Reform and Conservative Jewish leaders explain the steps we are taking world wide to fight the Rotem Conversion Bill. This is an issue that effects the entire Jewish people, not just Russian and Israeli Jews.
Right after that meeting, I visited with rabbinical and cantorial students who are just beginning their training here. They are filled with excitement and enthusiasm. Among them, Susie Friedman, a young woman I worked with a few years ago. She converted to Judaism and married her husband, Ross, at Temple Chaverim two years ago. Now she is studying to become a cantor at our seminary! She is bubbling over with exhilaration to be here, excited about becoming a cantor and looking forward to using her talent to share Judaism with others.
I came home to my apartment located across the street from the Prime Minister’s residence. I listened as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, Yona Metzger, chanted the book of Lamentations with Gilad Schalit’s parents. They are sitting vigil here until their son, an Israeli soldier being held prisoner in Gaza for 1500 days, is released.
This morning, I began my day studying with my colleagues, passages from the Talmud which discussed how unjustified hatred between Jews led to the destruction of the Second Temple. When I paused and thought about the conversion bill, I realized that sometimes our ancient texts speak very clearly to today’s realities.
Gladys and I then went to for a walk through Jerusalem, a city not in mourning, but quiet, peaceful, and very much alive. 24 hours in Israel... that is what life is like here. Israel is a place where questions of Jewish and human existence, the meaning of Judaism, the values, hopes and dreams of the Jewish people are taken in with every breath.
