A Message From Rabbi Maurice (August, 2004)

As a child, I never once observed the mid-summer holy day of fasting known as Tisha B’Av (the 9th of Av), which fell this year on July 26-27. This day of fasting and mourning the destruction of the First and Second Temples in ancient Israel fell off my suburban American-Jewish radar screen, mainly because it always occurs in the midst of summer vacation. It wasn’t until recent years that I began to explore Tisha B’Av.

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Tisha B’Av and Nonviolence

Ever since Israel gained sovereignty over the Old City of Jerusalem in 1967, many Jews have found it hard to connect to Tisha B’Av. “What’s the point in fasting and reciting dirges over ancient destructions of Jerusalem when we run Jerusalem now?” they ask. It’s a fair question.

Personally, I see a deeper meaning in Tisha B’Av that keeps it relevant. For while Tisha B’Av does mourn ancient destructions of Jerusalem, I sense in it a spiritualized level of mourning as well. Sometimes, when the Tradition speaks of Jerusalem, I think it is exploring not just a specific, geographical city, but rather, human society itself, in all its complexity and splendor.

So when the sages would ask the question, “What caused the destruction of Jerusalem,” I think they were also trying to answer the question, “What causes the shattering of the heart of civilization?” Jewish tradition offers many possible answers to this kind of question. Causeless hatred, embarrassing a personal enemy, and worshipping false gods are among its responses.

One perspective that doesn’t often come from Jewish sources is that the willingness to commit violent acts, even in the name of a defensible cause, is something that ultimately destroys the fabric of civilization. This is an answer that people philosophically committed to non-violence often advocate.

I’ve been thinking a lot about their point of view lately. The philosophy of non-violence is tricky ground for Jews. As I read it, Judaism is generally a tradition that abhors violence (and especially the killing of any human being, since all are created in G-d’s image). But Jewish tradition generally argues in favor of the right to kill in self-defense if it is the only remaining choice.

Most of the world claims to act according to the “self-defense” principle. But look where it has led us. Every war is fought by two parties both claiming the self-defense argument. Perhaps the non-violence advocates have given voice to a deeper truth? Is the willingness to kill, even to protect oneself, the root problem of humanity, the thing that “causes Jerusalem to be destroyed”? I don’t know.

I’d like to hear from you on this subject. I invite members of the community to share your thoughts with me informally.

With good wishes to all,
Rabbi Maurice