For the past month, my husband and I attended a series of
classes offered by Sulam Yaakov and
hosted by the amazing Pomerantz
Bookstore in downtown Jerusalem (a true treasure in the city). The class
focused on a number of things but was ultimately geared toward providing a
framework for understanding and gleaning meaning out of the Three
Weeks and Tish Ba’Av.
I am unable to give over the entire series and every aspect
of what we learned- way too much for a blog but also for someone who is not a
teacher. But I want to write about one idea which I found to be super pertinent
and which resonated with me very strongly: the idea of exile and redemption, of
galut and geulah.
I guess I had never thought too much about it before, but
the Rav framed it in a way that made a lot of sense. One cannot understand
darkness until he has seen light. There is no sense of alienation, without a
sense of self (otherwise, in the words of our teacher- veering away from a core
identity is just personal growth).
Likewise, galut (exile) was not fully understood by Bnei Yisrael until they
came back home. In fact, no one conceived of what was happening as exile, until
after they had returned to Eretz Yisrael and were able to look back at that
period of our history; they were able to label it retroactively as galut. It
was not while it was occurring that Bnei Yisrael drew meaning from the process;
exile informed our national identity and indeed our national narrative once we
had come back to our land, once we were redeemed.
This idea sort of blew my mind a little bit. Bnei Yisrael
had to understand what they had gone through within the larger context while it
was actually happening and then again, perhaps differently, after it had
happened. It’s like living your life, and then later on, as an adult, showing a
photo album to your children from your own childhood. Looking back on certain
experiences and particular events - it’s like two different realities. The one
you lived and then the one you remember. Who’s to say one is less valid than
the other? But most certainly the two will differ. Sometimes when you look at an old photo- you
know it’s true because you can see yourself right there, but you have no
recollection of that birthday party of that school play. Or worse, you thought
you had been through an experience alone and then you see a picture of your
brother and cousin right next to you. The reality you now know to be true is
not the one you remembered all this time.
So where am I going with all this? Today is Tisha Ba’Av- the
day we are supposed to remember and mourn as a day of desolation, destruction, and
despair. A day when our people’s history has again and again been met with
utter chaos and hopelessness: negative reports, military defeats, uprisings
crushed, fires and destruction, idolatry, inquisitions, bombings- a day when over and
over we recollect events and moments in our national narrative which defined
our trajectory and characterized our fears.
But what if we are not looking at the photo album? What if
we are still living it? What if every generation is still, continually, adding new meaning and perspective to the photo? What if our perspective is still, after all this time,
limited? What if we have yet to discover our larger context? Perhaps, this is the reason why Tisha Ba'Av was set down for us to revisit each and every year.
We are taught that the era of our redemption is closer now
than ever before (there is a bit of philosophical and mathematical humor to
this statement). From Russia and the pale of settlement, through Western Europe
and across the globe- the spark which set flame to the revitalization of Jewish national aspiration was kindled. Zionism was reborn, the State was established,
waves of Jews came home, we built up the land, we set down laws and set up
Hebrew Government (albeit an imperfect one), we brought home millions of Jews
from around the globe, we made the desert bloom once more and the city of
Jerusalem is once again inhabited by her people. We have come home, we are
continuing to come home. We are building and are built by the land and still it
goes on...
Jewish memory is not stagnant, rather, it is a dynamic cycle
of experience. At this moment in our collective memory, Tisha Ba’Av is a sad
day. But I have faith in tomorrow. Our sages teach that when the final
redemption comes, this will be a day of great joy, a glorious new dawn. We
should understand Tisha Ba’Av as more than a day to mark our darkest hour(s)- but
as a day when, in the future (BH the very near future) our perspective will
allow us to see the full meaning and
beauty of our purpose and mission in this world.
Some heavy stuff to think about, and a very goofy video to lend meaning to some ideas I have attempted to describe ;) . And so to all of Am Yisrael- I wish an easy, and meaningful fast on this Tisha Ba'Av. May it be our last as a day of mourning.
Hi Jamie -
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining the class. Here are my thoughts on your post -
Only return brings consciousness to exile – be it the return to essential self that helps us identify alienation or the sense of proper place that locates us as a wandering people. We are now living through the third return and it is worth considering what facets of redemption the first two revealed in order to seek our face in this one.
When Bnei Yisrael came up into the Land promised to our fathers, it was conquest which paved the way for return. In war we planted the shoot of a people which had sprouted at Sinai; the fact that its roots were watered by the blood of the nations was simply derech eretz - the way of the world. At this time, the power of the outstretched hand of Gd shown in the redemption from Egypt threatened to sweep exile from our memory entirely. After 480 years the national vessel gained the capacity to hold the Presence, and King Shlomo built the Holy Temple. Now, dwelling in intimacy with Gd, exile was a distant a memory - despite the Torah’s plea that we remember slavery. We the people descended into blood, lust and confusion and the wheel of history turned. Gd sent the Babylonians to burn His house, and the first sanctification, built by the sword, was uprooted through the sword as well.
When the Jews came up from Bavel, back to the Land we had left, it was at the behest of Cyrus the Great. He declared our return, and we heard Gd’s voice telling us to go up. We acquired the Land under the aegis of the powers of the world, and they agreed it was ours. Ezra, Nechemia and the Great Assembly built walls for body and soul, and labored to establish our home on firm foundations. For four hundred and twenty years the Holy Temple stood, but empty of the unifying Presence. The consciousness of exile was a shadow history threw over the present, adding depth in our relationship to the hidden Gd. When the center could not hold, despite the glorious achievements of our Sages, the wheel turned again. Gd raised up Rome and we were once more scattered. But the second sanctification held. We left behind an impression on the nations, on the Land, in our consciousness; because where is a Jew from if not Judea?
And now the Nation of Israel has come up from the four corners of the world again, by any means necessary. Conquest and acquisition have given us where to stand in relation to the nations. Now we need to think about where we stand in relation to Gd. The innocence of first love died in Bavel, and the passionate pursuit of our Beloved carried us to the four corners of modernity. Now it is time for the wholeness of mature relationship with self, other, Gd and the world. Exile and return, sin and teshuva, brokenness and repair – perhaps this is the dynamic that can help create the bui8lding that will last forever.
Mike Feuer
www.sulamyaakov.com
Thank you Rav Feuer. I really enjoyed the class and it gave me a lot to think about. One thing in particular still irks me, perhaps because it is so hard for me to relate to today. Each time Bnei Yisrael was sent into galut, our understanding of ourselves as a 'whole' people cracked. Little fissures were created until after some time- we either chose to propagate, or had forced upon us, the notion that National Identity and Religious Identity were not intertwined. That we could be French Jews, Russian Jews, American Jews and that the distinction between our national narrative and our religious narrative was not only functional while living in other countries, but entirely acceptable as a natural progression (or perhaps as a result of formation of nation states, enlightenment, who knows). This divide is so wide now. I hear it when people speak about Israelis and Jews, about religious Jews, and cultural Jews- it seems that our people's identity is in crisis- we have been away from the Land for so long, and in my opinion, away from the reality that we are in fact a Nation. It worries me that the Land as a vessel is so far removed from some of our people's understanding of Judaism that the adaptability we took on in galut in order to survive, will now be the demise of our people. In galut we had available to us the tools you spoke about- the siddur, the tanach but as I understood it, those vessels were supposed to contain and maintain us while we were dispersed, not satiate our need for connection entirely. I guess I am making two points here: 1) It worries me that Am Yisrael today forgets the Am 2)that we are not being driven or motivated to remember it bc hey, life in diaspora is bearable, we have the siddur and the tanach to tide us over, the land isn't so necessary anymore . . .I lament that more than anything on Tisha Ba'Av.
ReplyDeleteI'm crying with you. My now seven year old daughter came home with her first d'var Torah from gan a couple of years ago. She asked for a cup of water and some oil. Despite my mess fears, I handed it over and she proceeded to try and stir the oil into the water, with predictable results. Then she told us that no matter how hard Am Yisrael was mixed into the nations, we were always separate. Sweet. But I noticed something more. The oil was separate, but in it's effort to remain distinct from the water it had formed dozens of globules which were detached from each other as well. Oy.
DeleteWe have to strive to bring the Presence back. Once we can all stand in a circle and point at Gd from our particular perspective, we will be able to truly be a people again.