Tisha B’av 2023

Today is Tisha B'Av, the most mournful day in the Jewish calendar.  According to the Talmud, our exile is a product of sinat chinam, baseless hatred and divisiveness among the Jewish people.  

This week I received a desperate WhatsApp message from Israel, from an individual asking me if I knew of any organizations they could get involved in which promote unity among our people. To quote: ”I have been getting very distressed lately over the news about the judicial overhaul and protests against it and I don't know where to go with these strong feelings. In particular, the way the topic is pulling Israel apart and reminds me of pre-churban Bayit Sheini (Second Temple) times, especially now during the nine days…”.

This person has the right idea. It is possible for the Jewish people to get so caught up in their groups that we lose sight of the forest – Jewish unity – for the trees – perceived national interests.    

The Midrash (Vayikra Rabbah 30) states about the four species which are waved on Sukkot:

"These are [referring to] Israel. Just like this citron (etrog), which has taste and has smell, so too Israel has among them people that have Torah and have good deeds.

‘The branches of a date palm’: these are Israel. Just like this date, which has taste and has no smell, so too Israel has among them those that have Torah but do not have good deeds.

‘And a branch of a braided tree (a myrtle)’: these are Israel. Just like this myrtle, which has smell and has no taste, so too Israel has among them those that have good deeds but do not have Torah.

‘And brook willows’: these are Israel. Like the willow, which has no smell and has no taste, so too Israel has among them people that have no Torah and have no good deeds.

And what does the Holy One, blessed be He, do to them? To destroy them is impossible, but rather the Holy One, blessed be He, said ‘bind them all together [into] one grouping and these will atone for those.’

And if you will have done that, I will be elevated at that time."

Rabbi Eliezer Berkowitz, a great 20th century Rabbi and theologian wrote on this Midrash in Unity in Judaism:

“Of each one of the four groups that the four plants symbolize it is said: ‘Eleh Yisrael’, ‘these are Israel’; those without ‘Torah and good deeds’ were no less than those of ‘Torah and good deeds’ .

Looking at their division, God says: ‘To destroy them is not possible.’ 

To destroy them all? Why should it occur to anyone to destroy even the masters of the Torah who also practice good deeds? 

Apparently, if there is no unity among them, God’s interest in all Jews diminishes. He wants the ‘one people on earth’, not a mere private holy society of saints. 

Even more surprising is the conclusion: ‘Let them all join together in unity and they will atone for each other.’ That the men of ‘Torah and good deeds’ atone for the people who are without them is understandable. But there is also an implication that those who are empty of ‘Torah and good deeds’ will atone for those who are distinguished by them. 

How so? And why indeed would Torah scholars who practice good deeds be in need of atonement at all? 

It would seem that the rabbis believed that if there is no unity in Israel all are responsible, all are to be blamed."

Though all factions and parties have their own agenda – whether it's the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, exemptions from the army for those learning in yeshiva, or a more liberal government – perhaps each party, instead of having one agenda, needs two. That second priority must be Jewish unity. May we very soon see the Jewish love and unity which will bring about the transformation of these days of sadness into ones of great joy.