Fasting for the past and the future
YOSSI ARON
RECENT news reports advised that 13 American rabbis are organising a monthly communal fast to protest Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Those behind the idea, led by Brian Walt of Rabbis for Human Rights-North America, claim that the project is based in Jewish tradition, in which “a communal fast is held in times of crisis both as an expression of mourning and a call to repentance”.
Apparently the fast has four goals: calling for a lifting of the Israeli blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza; calling on Israel and the international community to negotiate with Hamas to end the blockade; providing humanitarian and development aid to the people of Gaza; and urging the US government to “vigorously engage both Israelis and Palestinians toward a just and peaceful settlement of the conflict”.
While I do not support this initiative or its aims, one thing must be said. The rabbis in question have indeed based their action and approach on Jewish tradition. And as we fast this Tisha b’Av, some soul-searching in this regard is undoubtedly in order.
Millennia ago the sages commented that if one does not see the Temple rebuilt in their day, it is as if it were destroyed in their day. For two millennia we have prayed daily for our return to our Holy Land and the rebuilding of Jerusalem — the antithesis of Tisha b’Av. And over the past 60 or so years (and even before), we have made significant positive moves in that direction. Indeed, after the miraculous events of 1967 — albeit that the fast of Tisha b’Av stayed in place — some, such as former chief rabbi Shlomo Goren, sought to modify aspects of the Tisha b’Av ritual. This included the Nachem (comfort) prayer recited at Mincha, to reflect the reality that Jerusalem was no more “shomemah me’ein yoshev” — “desolate without Israel dwelling therein”.
But times have changed. And while we are all hoping against hope that we are not about to see destruction in our day as international pressures force a retreat from what many saw in 1967 as a step towards the climax of Jewish history, realities staring us in the face seem to be saying otherwise. As was the case in Gush Katif just four years ago, we might be about to see some of what we have built up lost to our nation. No matter what brave face some may attempt to put on it, just when we thought we were marching forward towards long-awaited Jewish destiny through a return to our heritage, we may indeed be taking a step backwards.
And in that context, where is the traditional response?
One of the strangest things heard at the time of the Gush Katif withdrawal was a rabbinic request that it be deferred so that evacuees would not have to move to new homes during the Nine Days when it is prohibited. Surely that concern was a classic case of seizing a minor detail while ignoring the main point. Religious concern should have focused on the tragedy of loss of a portion of our land and an appropriate religious response thereto. Which brings me back to those current prospects facing Jewry.
Whether or not one celebrates Yom Yerushalayim as a religious holiday, surely the prospect of events that may diminish our hold on our land deserves the traditional religious response of fasting and prayer. And as per the admonitions of the prophets of old, the aim of fasting is not simply to awaken the body to its needs, but to awaken the soul to the needs of each Jewish individual and the Jewish nation.
Last week I wrote that the tragedy of Tisha b’Av extends not only backwards in time, but also forwards to the fact that the Moshiach born on Tisha b’Av is yet to be revealed. This Tisha b’Av, let us not only mourn the tragedies of past history, but also pray that in the merit of our fasting, no further tragedies should befall our people and its land. Let it not be said by future generations that through our inaction, that which is holy was not only not rebuilt, but even destroyed.
The haftarah of the Shabbat after Tisha b’Av begins “Nachamu nachamu” — a double expression of comfort. May we too see such double comfort — a comfort in regard to the existing situation and the ultimate comfort of Israel through the revelation of the Moshiach born on Tisha b’Av.
Yossi Aron is The AJN‘s religious affairs editor.
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