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Jewish World Review August 10, 2000 / 9 Menachem-Av, 5760
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
EVERY YEAR, Tisha B'Av, which is today, brings back a personal memory, of a conversation that
took place more than two decades ago on the outskirts of a non-religious
kibbutz in the Galil, on a hill overlooking a lush valley.
The teen-aged cousins, one born and bred on the kibbutz, the other an
American newcomer to the Holy Land on a short visit before the start of his
yeshiva's academic term, had first met only days earlier.
They had been speaking about family, personal experiences, and sundry things
their very different lives nevertheless had in common. And then, the
observant boy mentioned, entirely en passant, the imminence of the Jewish
fast day known as Tish'a B'Av.
"We don't observe that holiday on the kibbutz," his cousin pointed out.
"The Temple's destruction just isn't relevant to our lives here."
The American boy hesitated for a long moment before asking, "Do you observe
any Jewish day of mourning?"
"Sure," came the reply. "Yom HaShoah," Holocaust Day.
Another pause, this one longer. The yeshiva student knew that the national
day of Jewish mourning, Tish'a B'Av, on one level encompassed every tragedy
in Jewish history, that not only was the first Jewish Holy Temple destroyed
on that day (2420 years ago), and the second one, (1930 years ago), on the
very same day, but that the rebel Jewish forces at Betar were annihilated by
the Romans on it as well.
He knew, too, that the expulsion of Jews from England in 1290, and from
France in 1306 and from Spain in 1492 all happened on Tish'a B'Av as well.
He also knew that what was quite arguably the true genesis of what would
culminate in Germany's "Final Solution" -- the First World War -- began on
Tish'a B'Av. But somehow it didn't seem the right time for a history
lesson.
So, instead, he asked his cousin, "Is your commemoration of the Holocaust
really important to you?"
"Absolutely," came the reply. "The Holocaust underlies our very identity as
Israelis and as Jews."
The American weighed the wisdom of actually saying what he wanted so to say.
He decided the blood-bond was strong enough to handle it.
"Will you expect your children to pay its memory the same respect that you
do?"
"Of course."
"To feel the same sorrow, to have the same determination that you do?"
"Of course," the Israeli replied. "My generation will see to it that our
children recognize the importance of the Holocaust, how it defines their
identity, how important it must continue to be to all Jews."
"And will you expect them, in turn, to transmit the same conviction to their
own children -- and theirs to theirs?"
"Absolutely. Forever. To us it is that important."
The American swallowed hard, then spoke.
"Like the first attempts to destroy our people and its faith were to our own
ancestors."
Nothing else was said for the moment. The two young men walked back to the
kibbutz in silence.
It could well be argued that a large part of what characterizes "Orthodox"
Jews is a heightened sense of history. Not only of its vicissitudes and
tragedies for our people, but, most importantly, of its seminal Jewish
moment, the unequalled event that bequeathed us our mandate to cherish,
study and observe the Torah --- the revelation of G-d to His people.
Whether a Jew, G-d forbid, willfully rejects the divine origin of the Torah
or simply lacks the background to have given the issue much thought, what he
denies, or is oblivious to, is an historical fact --- the mass-witnessed and
painstakingly transmitted event at Sinai that lies at ground-zero of the
Jewish people and the Jewish faith.
All who aspire to the appellation "observant" are, in essence, the keepers
of Jewish history, recent and ancient, and are entrusted with the mission of
sharing the memory of the Jewish past --- both its nadirs and its apogee -
with all their fellow Jews.
Should the Messiah tarry further, G-d forbid, a day may well come when all
testimony of the events of a half-century ago will be indirect, arriving
only through books and films, or third-hand accounts.
The facts, though, of what happened during those years, the horrible details
of Jewish Europe's destruction, will endure, because there will always be Jews determined to
hold fast to the entirety of our history, to maintain the memory of what
happened a half-century ago.
And 1930 years ago, and 2420 years ago.
And 3312 years ago, in the Sinai
desert.
A Tisha B'Av memory
By Rabbi Avi Shafran
Rabbi Avi Shafran is American Director of Am Echad, an international organization promoting Jewish unity. He may be reached by clicking here.
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