This week we commemorated Tisha B’av, the ninth day of the month of Av, the saddest in the Jewish year, on which we recall the destruction of the Temple and the exile. Our state of being for 2000 years was exile. Until 1948 we took exile for granted, and awaited the messiah to come and redeem us one day. The mourning of Tisha b’Av was real, but also not so real; afterall, you can not lose what you do not have. We used three weeks of process and preparation to get to a place of mourning, putting ourselves in the shoes of our ancestors who had lost their land. And it helped that we had much of our own to mourn—crusades, pogroms, expulsions and, of course, the Shoah. We viscerally mourned the ongoing persecution of the Jewish people, but we only mourned the destruction of the land by proxy.  

Our is the first generation in 2000 years to really understand the churban, the destruction, to viscerally feel what exile from it, God forbid, would be like, because we are the first generation to take Israel for granted.   Taking it for granted is not a bad thing; it means we have become a nation like other nations—strong and prosperous and a world leader. We are the first generation to know an Israel that is not on the edge, that is here to stay, that is solid and safe. An Israel where there is always great kosher food, amazing public transportation, culture and Torah. The only comparable era, I think, was in the days of King Solomon when Israel was unified, and Jerusalem became a world destination for the intellectuals, heads of state and for those who wanted to drink great wine.   

For this generation, the idea of an Israel destroyed and our people once again exiled, is as unthinkable as it was for people in the days of the destruction of the first Temple—until October 7th and its aftermath. Imagine telling your children that it’s over, that Israel’s Jewish inhabitants must run and find a place to live, or telling your grandchildren that the Jewish people used to have a country, a place to live. Imagine telling them of the Israel you know today and them not believing you. That is Tisha B’av.  

Thank God Israel is strong, it has wonderfully resilient, creative people and the support of the United States.   Despite what I said above, I do believe that we stand in the beginning of redemptive times. But as one wise elder said to me recently, “In my 95 years, what I have learned is that the future is completely unpredictable.”

Rabbi Solovetchik asked why during the Second Temple period the Jewish people still mournfully commemorated Tisha B’Av? His answer was, so that it doesn’t happen again. Perhaps for us the message is the same.