Tisha b’Av 5784 and Gaza
“Eicha?” “How can it be?”
The opening word of the book of Lamentations challenges us to think about why disaster has fallen upon us. Jews around the world will chant Lamentations tonight, as we begin Tisha b’Av, the ninth of the Hebrew month of Av.
“How can it be that the city sits alone, once great with people?”
What happened?
Tisha b’Av is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. It’s a day when we commemorate various devastations that have happened to the Jewish people throughout history, including the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (twice) and the expulsion of the Jews from Spain.
This year the holiday feels very different than most years, as we have another disaster that has befallen the Jewish people, the 7th of October, and Iran has threatened a powerful retaliatory strike on Israel for the assassination of Haniyeh in Tehran and has explicitly stated it could come today.
As I’ve written in the past, most years I have trouble reciting the book of Lamentations on Tisha b’Av. There’s too much cognitive dissonance between the vibrant, alive city of Jerusalem I live in and the city sitting desolate and alone described in the text.
Tonight I will fast and I will recite Eicha (in my “exile home” in America), because it very sadly fits these difficult times all too well. How much has changed in a year!
A few selections from Eicha, with some commentary:
Bitterly she weeps in the night,
Her cheek wet with tears.
There is none to comfort her
All of Israel is still in a state of semi-mourning over the people killed and taken captive on October 7. The world provided some comfort right after October 7, but has moved on, while we cannot.
Zion’s roads are in mourning,
Empty of festival pilgrims;
All her gates are deserted.
The tourists are gone. The city is unusually quiet.
Her infants have gone into captivity
Before the enemy.
It agonizes us that infants and children are among the hostages in the hell of Gaza.
The foe has laid hands
On everything dear to her.
She has seen her Sanctuary
Invaded by nations
Which You have denied admission
Into Your community.
The ”sanctuary” of feeling secure in our land, in our home, has been invaded by nations, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in the north. “Nations which you have denied admission into your community” may also be pointing a finger at us – we denied the Palestinians entry into the community of nations.
And while we in Israel are in relative security and mostly still have our homes – other than the people evacuated from communities near Gaza and near the Lebanese border – we have been unleashing destruction comparable to what is described in Lamentations on the people of Gaza – “her inhabitants sigh as they search for bread, they have bartered their treasures for food, to keep themselves alive.”
I can easily picture people in Gaza identifying with these words from Lamentations:
From above He sent a fire
Down into my bones.
He spread a net for my feet,
He hurled me backward;
He has left me forlorn,
In constant misery.
“Eicha,” our text asks, how can it be?
When disaster befalls us, the Jewish tradition charges us to examine our deeds, to figure out why this disaster has come upon us. The rabbis said the First Temple was destroyed because of idol worship. The Second Temple was destroyed because of baseless hatred.
I suggest this disaster has befallen us because of hubris and lack of generosity.
Hubris for thinking that occasionally “mowing the grass,” taking out some of Hamas’s abilities, we could be kept safe. Hubris for thinking we are so all powerful there was nothing Hamas could do to harm us in a major way. Hubris for thinking we had everything under control.
And lack of generosity because we have lived with this intolerable situation of ruling over another people for over 50 years, making their lives miserable. It has not been high on the agenda of the government to find an equitable solution to the Palestinian situation.
And yes, it is quite true that when good faith efforts were made in the past – at Camp David in 2000, and under Ehud Olmert in 2006 – 2008 the Palestinians were slow to grasp at the opportunity. Yet in the 16 years since 2008, during which Netanyahu was prime minister for 14 of those years, there has been no progress. No effort.
Yes, Yahya Sinwar is evil. Yes, the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity as Abba Eban said. But we have also done much wrong.
The current situation is heartbreaking. Israel is not at peace, 100,000 of our citizens are internal refugees, we still have hostages being held in Gaza. We have unleashed our fury on Gaza, and no matter how righteous our fury may be, we are bringing untold suffering to millions of people and have killed thousands of innocent people in our quest to destroy Hamas.
We need a ceasefire, now. The war benefits no one, except the political and personal aims of Benjamin Netanyahu and Yahya Sinwar. It’s time for the hostages to come home, and for the rebuilding of Gaza to begin, and for everyone, Israeli and Palestinian, to be able to get on with their lives.
May God comfort those who mourn, heal those who are injured, and help guide our leaders to not just a ceasefire, but to a real lasting peace between both nations that dwell between the river and the sea.
