SHABBAT-TISHA B’AV

By Justin Bral ‫עמישדי‬

This year Tisha B’av falls out on Shabbat and even though we officially ‘celebrate’ it on Sunday
instead one can’t help but feel it on Shabbat. I guess it’s similar to aveilut when one is supposed to take
a break from it on Shabbat but perhaps it hits even harder on that day. Last year, as well as three years
ago, Tisha B’av also fell on Shabbat. And I remember trying to make sense of how to feel internally while
externally pretending it was a normal Shabbat. I mean, I guess it was pretty normal. Wore one of my
regular Shabbat suits, went to shul, had amazing khoresht and enjoyed time with the family. But when it
came to Birkat Hamazon the third bracha of “Rachem” really came to life. For I knew it was really Tisha
B’av so it was really fitting to ask Hashem for mercy over Yerushalayim on this night. (Being how rare it is
to bench on Tisha B’av itself I think this was even more meaningful than usual.) Following ‫ רחם‬is ‫רצה‬,
which we all know is the additional paragraph for Shabbat. We read it every week all year round but this
time it was different. And I want you to take a good look at it please:

The top is the Ashkenaz version and below it is the Edut Hamizrach (Sephardic) text. Now they are very
similar, even though the Sephardic version is a little longer (no surprise there). It starts off as you’d
expect a paragraph about Shabbat should – asking Hashem to accept us on this special day that we stop
everything in order to rest and enjoy as G-d wants. But the second half seems very out of place…all of a
sudden we enter a solemn mood and beg G-d that we shouldn’t have any sorrow or agony on this day
and that we should be comforted with the return of Jerusalem. Now obviously it’s really sad that we’re
in gallut but why are we bringing this up now?? It’s Shabbat – we’re supposed to be happy!

The funny thing was that on any other week these final lines seem weird – but when Tisha B’av
fell on Shabbat this last part really came to life for me. Because it is Shabbat and I am trying to be happy
but in the back of my mind I know it’s Tisha B’av and I can’t be completely happy when I realize that
we’re still waiting for Moshiach and that we still have enemies who are trying to kill us every second. So
it makes so much sense to ask G-d on this Shabbat to stop all the bad things that happen to us and to
bring us the geula! For we proclaim that G-d is the Master Comforter and only He can really give us a
true Shabbat where we are completely free from the sorrows of the past. And it really really made sense
to be saying this on Shabbat for once. Especially for me as a Sephardi because we even have the line
“‫ – ”והגם שאכלנו ושתינו חרבן ביתך הגדול והקדוש לא שכחנו‬which means that even though we are eating
and drinking, we have not forgotten about the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash. Now when else does
this line ever make more sense than on Tisha B’av that falls on Shabbat!?!?! When else!?! We are
literally eating on the second most serious fast day of the year and we have to ask G-d to excuse us for it
– that’s what’s going on here!

I sometimes look forward to Shabbat-Tisha B’av just for these words to come back to life. Cause
it really feels like these lines were written to be said only on Shabbat-Tisha B’av…..but in reality, they
weren’t. So the real question is why do we say these words every week? Whether the Ashkenaz or
Sephardic version, they both end on a very somber note so we need to think about why we have a
tradition to read this every single Shabbat.

Now I believe that our dilemma here is quite parallel to the question of why we break a glass at
the end of a huppa ceremony. For in both cases we have a joyous occasion and then we decide to bring
up Jerusalem all of a sudden and become solemn for a moment. Why do we disturb a wedding to do
this? Is it really appropriate to damper the simcha being felt at this time?

There are different answers given but the one I would like to present goes as follows: There is a
theory that G-d put us on this world to share with other people so that we can understand what it
means to have different sorts of relationships which we can then use to help us understand how to
connect to Hashem. For example, we are able to view G-d as a father because we know what it feels like
to have a human father. We can imagine what it means that G-d is The King based on stories we hear
about kings. Now, when a bride and groom get married they feel a love for one another that they’ve
never ever felt before. And what they should realize is that this love they have for each other mirrors
the potential love one can have for Hashem. And the closeness that they are experiencing with one
another is also possible to have with G-d. But…they (we) don’t have that yet. And therefore we break
the glass at the huppa to remind ourselves that even though we’re happy for the new couple we really
wish that we could all share a close bond with G-d. It’s both a wake-up call and a sign of remorse.

So too on Shabbat, we really see what the world could be like for Shabbat is compared to a drop
of Olam Haba (the world to come). But it’s only a drop! As much as we love Shabbat it could be so much
more. And if you’ve ever had a hard time feeling Shabbat than you’ll really understand that something is
just lacking. You love Shabbat, you look forward to Shabbat…but it’s just not 100% yet. (maybe it’s much
much less than that) And the reason for this lack/emptiness is because we are not as close to G-d as
we’d like to be. And this is why the Rabbis added this line to ‫ רצה‬. At a time when we could see how
much closer we are to G-d than the rest of the week, the Rabbis want to remind us that we could
actually be way closer to G-d. And that deserves a pause from all the singing and happiness so that we
can have a moment of reflection.

The Jewish calendar is full of different “holidays” and all are necessary as each one shapes our
outlook on life in a unique way. And Tisha B’av is no different. Yes, we don’t look forward to such a sad
day but that doesn’t take away from the potential of the day. On a related note I’ve noticed how the
Kaddish ends off with the words "‫ – "לעילא מן כל ברכתא שירתא תשבחתא ונחמתא דאמירן בעלמא‬that we
wish for G-ds name to be exalted “higher than all the blessings, songs, praises, and consolations that are
said in the world.” Now we want G-d’s Name to be exalted as much as we can and the final thing we
chose is consolation. Personally, this really shows me that even though it’s tough to need consolation it
is something very special.

BELIEF IN THE FUTURE (if you’re in rush you can read the rest after Shabbat)

Honestly, experiencing Tisha B’av year after year can be tough. How can we cry over the same
thing year after year? Not that we’re not sad about it – but more so because what’s gonna end up
happening? Is this really going to be the last year that we cry? Is Moshiach actually going to show up this
year? You know, the Jews have been mourning the destruction of the Temple for close 1,946 years now!
I mean, that’s a lot of Tisha B’avs! It’s sad to think how many generations of Jews cried every year for
the geula but never ever saw it… And even worse, what makes us different that we actually think we’re
going to see Moshiach and the building of the Third Temple!?! Why should anything change now?

Now let’s go back 200 years and pretend we were living in the year 1816. I’d be in Iran in a
Jewish community that was there for possibly three thousand years. And you might be chillin with your
ancestors in Syria, or Central Europe, or even Morocco for all I know. But there’s probably a really slim
chance you were chillin in Israel. Cause really, there wasn’t a *real* sizeable amount of Jews at the time
residing in Israel (as far as I’m aware) and ancient-you probably didn’t know anyone heading there
either.

Alright…now let’s fast forward one century. It’s 1916 and the world sucks – we’re in the middle
of World War I. Not fun. However, you might know some Jews who’ve have enough and packed their
bags for Palestine. But really – there’s no sign of redemption or anything. The world is still a total mess
and there’s no sign of improvement.

Now let’s jump ahead another twenty years or so to WWII. Ya…now things really suck. And
you’re this Jew living in some ghetto in some country – or even worse – in some camp (G-d forbid). And
from this point of view there’s really no hope. Tisha B’av comes and you can cry easily being that there’s
so much tragedy. But hope??…heck no! You think you’d be able to say l’shana haba’a beYerushalayim
and actually mean it?? I really don’t know if I could. I’d wish it would happen but I’ll be straight – if I
were alive back then I really don’t know if I could expect it to ever happen. Not Jerusalem and not Israel.
I’d figure the Jews would end up anywhere else before that ever happens.

But we all know what happened. Not even a decade later and BOOM! We’re proclaiming a
Jewish state nowhere else other than Israel!! Now honestly, it’s kind of nuts. For all these years we’ve
been praying and asking Hashem in the shemone esrei to return us to Israel and…it actually happened!

Now let’s take a look at the shemone esrei for a moment. We have 19 total blessings. The first
three are to focus ourselves on Whom we’re talking with. The middle 13 are requests and the last three
are basically to ask G-d to generally accept our prayers, thanks, and finally the blessing on peace. But I
want to focus on the middle section. The first 6 requests are of a personal nature: G-d please grant me
wisdom; forgive me; heal us; make us wealthy, etc. The next 6 though are requests that are made on
behalf of the whole Jewish nation:

1) Sound the call of our redemption and gather Jews from around the world back to Israel
2) Return our court system like it used to be so that we can have sovereign over ourselves
along with religious freedom
3) Hashem, please protect us from our enemies!
4) Please take care of the righteous, the converts, and on us b/c “we trust in you”
5) Hashem please return to the city of Jerusalem and rebuild it permanently
6) Please bring Moshiach. We’ve been waiting every single day for it.

Now take a look at this order for a second. In the late 1800s and early 1900s we see historically how the
Zionist movement really took hold and Jews started returning to “Palestine.” Then, finally in 1948 we
were able to establish a state and immediately after that we had to fight our first war for independence!
After victory, Israel was the place for Jews to finally feel safe and free to be Jewish – and this has led to
everything we know about Israel today: many yeshivot, many chessed organizations, and we really had
an impact on the rest of the world.

But we still didn’t have Jerusalem. And if you were a Jew living in the 50s and 60s there was no
one who expected us to ever have Jerusalem. It was miraculous enough that we got a Jewish state but
at least there was some logic and fairness to that. We went through a holocaust and people might have
actually gotten the fact that we needed a home away from antisemitism. But for the British and Muslim
countries to give us Jerusalem was preposterous. And I’m telling you, if you were alive in early 1967
before the war you would have never ever expected it…but in just SIX DAYS we won a war and won
Jerusalem as a result. Not even a week! The whole status quo changed in such a short time. I can’t even
imagine that….but it just happened!

Do you see how the order of events in the last two paragraphs perfectly mirror those brachot
listed in the shemoneh esrei?? For almost two millennium we’ve been saying them and it’s been hard.
No one would have ever thought any of them would come to life. And even after we returned to Israel it
must have still been hard to pray for Jerusalem. But all of a sudden after two thousand years everything
changed in less than a week. That’s all it takes my friend for G-d to work His magic…just six days.
(Reminds me of another six days)

So what’s the next bracha on the list? Moshiach! And yes, it may have been hard to pray for
Moshiach b/c when you just look at the present you don’t think anything will change. But now that
we’ve expanded our scope a bit and appreciate how things can really change so easily and things are
going our way….is it really so hard to pray for Moshiach after all?? This Shabbat we may be thinking of
Tisha B’av. But next Shabbat for all we know we could be (G-d willing) celebrating the coming of the
redemption!

Have an easy fast & an easy time connecting.