Mourning and morning

Jewish World Review ^ | August 7, 2003 / 9 Menachem-Av, 5763 | Rabbi Berel Wein

[yonif]

Today, the Jewish world commemorates the sad day of the Ninth of Av. This anniversary date of the destruction of both Temples and of other sad events in Jewish history serves as a stark reminder of the dangerous and inimical world in which we live.

Bad things can and do happen in this world and the unthinkable can nevertheless become tragic reality.

Any study of the Biblical narrative leading up to the destruction of the First Temple or of the Talmudic description of the climate of the Jewish society before the destruction of the Second Temple will impress the reader with the dreamily unwarranted confidence that our ancestors had in believing that the worst could not happen. Those then of faith, ignored the warnings of the prophets and convinced themselves that G-d had too much at stake to allow His Temple to be destroyed by pagans.

Those of lesser faith, may have discounted G-d in the matter but nevertheless were convinced that the foreign alliances that Judah had with Egypt and other powers plus its own strong defenses precluded any national disaster from occurring.

History proved them wrong.

[yonif]

The Ninth of Av, Tisha B'Av, teaches us that there are consequences to all of our actions and policies and that blithely ignoring past errors of judgment, faith and policy spell future disaster.

[lilylangtree]

According to Revelations, the Temple will be rebuilt. Unfortunately, the anti-Christ will pay a visit and commit desecration worse than what occurred by Antiochus Epiphenes just before the 2nd Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. It seems that history will repeat itself.