raasy
ways

of Gaza is actually about the ability of
Israel to turn the will of the people
into political action in a democratic
way. The execution of the plan will
determine whether the Israeli democ-
racy is still a functional one or a
democracy in name only, incapable of
implementing its most important
decisions because veto power has been
surrendered to a few extremists.
In the coming days, many of us
will watch agonizing scenes coming
from Gaza. However, we shouldn't
lose sight of the wider perspective.
Stepping into an operating room in a
hospital while a patient is being oper-
ated on might be a disheartening
experience. Yet it is a vital act in the
road to recovery. Pulling out of Gaza
— and later, out of the West Bank —
is likewise vital to the survival of
Israel. With self-defined borders at
last, the State of Israel, democratic
and predominantly Jewish, might be
smaller in size but stronger in spirit,
ready to defend itself if attacked or to
give a helping hand.to the
Palestinians once they embark on a
peaceful track. ❑

national referendum?
• Is the State of Israel primarily a secular
democracy or a Jewish state with Jewish
values ensconced in its institutions?
• What is the impression on Diaspora
Jewry of the current cultural war in
Israel?
Disengagement may happen, but it is
without seed. It cannot produce an ide-
ological framework for the left because
in truth it is ultimately no more then an
excuse for corruption. Jewish business-
men, including those with contacts at
the highest levels of the Sharon govern-
ment, want to open a casino where
today a settlement stands.
It is an attempt by the exhausted and
empty secular elite to try to bring peace
through capitulation and economy
through corruption. In the long run, it
will fail.
At Kfar Maimon, the proper response
was provided. There can be no stopping
the Jewish resurgence. This understand-
ing is not solely cerebral:
At Kfar Maimon, the tents of Israel
were firmly rooted in the ground of the
Land of Israel. It is something that is
felt from within; a truth that can only
spread to all corners of the Jewish
world. ❑

Don't Let Me Catch You Smiling

Is Tisha b'Av really about
s Tisha b'Av approaches,
mourning
the Temple and
I find myself studying
praying
for
its rebuilding? If
the prohibition for Jews
we mourning on
not,
why
are
to greet one another on this day.
Tisha
b'Av
and
do we still
Yes, on this one day of year,
need
to
engage
in such
Jewish law actually prohibits us
extreme ritual? Perhaps the
from smiling at each other, asking
holiday has outlived its rele-
"How are you?" or inquiring as
vance.
to one another's health. I am
In order to answer this
RABBI
drawn to this law because I
question,
let us examine the
RACHEL
believe it contains the power to
somewhat
surprising manner
reconnect our Jewish community
LAWSON
in
which
the
Talmud discusses
with a holiday whose relevance
SHERE
the
Temple's
destruction. You
has, as of late, been questioned.
Community
would expect the rabbis speak
Tisha b'Av means the ninth
Perspective
condemningly of the barbarian
day of the Hebrew month of Av,
Babylonians or the ruthless
and it falls each year sometime in mid
Romans
who,
after all, were historically
to late summer. It is a day of mourning
responsible
for
destroying the Temple.
associated with countless calamities that
The
rabbis
of
the
Talmud, however,
have befallen the Jewish people over the
focus
the
culpability
inward, claiming
last 3,000 years.
that the Temple was destroyed because
In Chapter 13 of the Book of
of the despicable,way that the Jewish
Numbers, we read the unfortunate inci-
people treated each other.
dent of the Israelites' first foray into the
What does this mean? The Talmud is
Promised Land. The spies who are sent
not
clear. Perhaps our ancestors gossiped
to scout out the territory return dejected
about
each other ... critiquing each
and afraid; they are terrified of the land's
other's
homes, checkbooks or clothing.
inhabitants and lose faith in God. The
Perhaps they judged one another before
midrash teaches that the day on which
knowing all the facts. Maybe they criti-
the scouts returned was the ninth of Av.
cized each other's parenting or children.
And on that day, God was so disap-
Perhaps they were accustomed to avert-
pointed by B'nai Yisrael, that He
ing their eyes as they walked in the
decreed, "Because the Children of Israel
streets, never stopping to greet one
wept without cause, I will make this an
another at the market or on the play-
eternal day of mourning for them." And
ground.
sure enough, the ninth of Av has
We will never know the exact reason
become a day of intense mourning for
behind the rabbis' condemnation of our
the Jewish people. Though many
ancestors, but we do know that whatev-
calamities are said to have occurred on
er they were doing, their behavior alien-
this day, the Tisha b'Av liturgy and ritual
ated them from each other and ulti-
primarily focus on the destruction of the
mately
from God.
Temple in Jerusalem.
This
is
why I believe the ninth of Av
Traditional Jews observe the ninth of
is of the deepest relevance for us today.
Av by chanting from the Book of
The law, that we are not permitted to
Lamentations and a 24-hour abstention
greet one another on Tisha b'Av, is simi-
from food, drink, bathing, leather shoes,
lar in function to the midrash I men-
marital relations and even Torah study.
tioned earlier — the one that teaches,
One might ask, is it still really impor-
because
the people of Israel cried unnec-
tant to observe such stringent mourning
essarily,
in subsequent years God would
rituals?
give
them
reason to cry. The enforced
After all, the Jewish people are no
social isolation of Tisha b'Av reminds us
longer weeping by the rivers of Babylon.
of the many ways in which we voluntar-
The abandoned and forlorn city for
ily
separate ourselves from each other
which are ancestors mourned is now the
during
the rest of the year. Think back
capital of a thriving Jewish homeland to
to
past
several
months. How often have
which any of us may return. If you say
we
chosen
to
gossip
about a fellow Jew's
we are mourning because the Temple
crisis
instead
of
lending
him a hand?
has not been rebuilt, I question how
How many hours have we spent chat-
much a system of burnt offerings and
ting about another's misfortune instead
animal sacrifices would appeal to today's
of helping him through it?
average Jew.
If you happen to run into a fellow Jew
this Sunday, and he or she neglects to say
Rachel Lawson Shere is a rabbi at Adat
hello, don't be offended. For this year at
Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills.
least, we all have what to mourn. ❑

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