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Devarim - Mourning – and Rebuilding - Together

 

Once, as I was giving a class about the halachot of Tishah B'Av, I mentioned the law regarding work on this day – that Halachah permits working on Tishah B'Av, but the Rabbis teach that one who does so will not see blessing from his efforts.  Although work is permitted, we are warned that no blessing will result from work performed on Tishah B'Av.

 

As I was teaching this halachah, it dawned on me that Tishah B'Av is one of two days on the Jewish calendar when working is allowed but will not bring berachah, the other being Purim.

 

I started thinking, what do these two occasions have in common?  Why specifically on these days are we advised that although working is allowed, it will not bring us blessing?

 

The answer, I believe, is that these are the two days when we are commanded to feel the "mood" of the Jewish People.  Halachah teaches משנכנס אדר מרבים בשמחה – we all increase our joy when the month of Adar begins, and משנכנס אב ממעטים בשמחה – we all decrease our joy when the month of Av begins.  Purim and Tishah B'Av are days marked by a national mood.  Jews across the world are happy and jovial on Purim; and Jews across the world are sad and somber on Tishah B'Av.  If somebody goes to work, as though it's just a normal day, he is separating himself from the Jewish People.  He's too preoccupied with his own affairs to participate in the nation's joy, or in the nation's pain.  And when we separate from Am Yisrael, when we're too focused on ourselves to think about the rest of the nation, there's no berachah, there's no blessing.

 

One of the races in the Olympics every four years is the 4 X 100 meters relay.  Each nation is represented in this race by four runners, each of whom runs for 100 meters and then passes the baton onto the next runner.  For decades, the United States consistently won the gold medal for this race, because it has the fastest runners.  More recently, however, the U.S. has had less success – not because its runners aren't as fast, but because they haven't been able to pass the baton smoothly to the next runner.

 

As Jews, our job is not only to "run fast," to reach the finish line ourselves, but also to "pass the baton" to the people around us.  Our "race" is not only individual, but national.  We need to run together.  And this means that we can't just be looking out for ourselves.  We need to be looking out for one another.

 

Rabbis aren't the only ones saying this.  Our bitterest enemies are saying this, too.

 

Sapir Cohen is a young woman who was captured by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, and released 55 days later.  She has since shared that at some point before she was freed, the terrorists who held her captive showed her the news reports on TV.  She saw the vigils being held in "Hostage Square" in Tel-Aviv, attended by Israelis from all backgrounds, spanning the political spectrum.  She noticed that this was not the same Israel as the country she lived in on October 6th – a country that was bitterly divided.  Her captor told her that the fierce in-fighting among Israelis before October 7th encouraged them, the terrorists.  They knew that when Israelis are fighting with one another, they are so much weaker and so much more vulnerable.  They saw the fighting and felt confident that their attack could succeed.

 

משנכנס אב ממעטים בשמחה.  On Tishah B'Av, we mourn together – because we need to rebuild together.  In order to recover from the hurban (destruction), in order to bring our final redemption, we need to "pass the baton" to one another.  It's not enough for each person to decide what he needs to do personally, which mitzvot he needs to observe better, which personal improvements he needs to make.  Of course this is very important.  But we need to do more than that.  We need to remember to "pass the baton," to look around at all our fellow Jews, no matter how different they are from us and from each other, and extend a hand.  We need to run this race not alone, but as a nation, and this means reaching out to every fellow Jew in need and to feel closely bonded and connected to the entire Jewish Nation. - Rabbi Joey Haber

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https://itorah.com/weekly-inspire/mourning-and-rebuilding-together/15/30319