The Banquet, the Wall and the Gates of Return

We are not approaching Tisha B’Av.

We are still in Iyar, only weeks from Shavuot, moving towards Sinai, revelation and covenant. And yet my mind keeps returning to one of the most painful stories in the Talmud, a story we usually tell in the shadow of Jerusalem’s destruction.

It begins, not with Rome, but with a banquet.

A man prepares a feast and sends his servant to invite his friend, Kamtza.

The servant makes a mistake and invites Bar Kamtza, the host’s enemy. Bar Kamtza arrives and takes his place at the table. Perhaps he thinks the invitation is an opening. Perhaps he imagines an old wound might be healed. Perhaps, for a moment, he allows himself to believe there is room for him.