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The sadness of Summer on the Jewish calendar - Then and Now

08/07/2022 08:56:50 AM

Jul8

The Hebrew months of Tammuz and Av, from the seventeenth of Tammuz through the ninth of Av, are known as the three weeks of sadness, rebuke, and punishment. It was during this time frame that both Holy Temples of Jerusalem were defiled and destroyed, in 586BCE by the Babylonians and in 70CE by the Romans.

Since the whole idea of a Holy Temple originated with God, our ancestors identified internal strife and dispute as rationales for why both tragic situations occurred. While the Talmud mentions many internal reasons, the most well known is called "Sinat Chinam-baseless hatred among Jews," as the reason for the Second Temple's destruction. Our Sages explain that among the reasons for the First Temple's destruction were murder, licentiousness, and idolatry within the Jewish community.

Sadly, baseless hatred continues to exist in the Jewish community. As we prepare to enter this somber season of the year, we recently learned that Bar and Bat Mitzvah ceremonies at the Robinsons' Arch section of the Western Wall on June 30th were interrupted by Charedi Jews vilifying the non-Orthodox practices taking place. One should know that many years ago, the Robinson's Arch section was designated as a section for mix gendered participation and where men and women could pray together without a partition. Unfortunately, protections have never taken place over recent times.

Ironically, at Beth Emeth, we celebrated an Aufruf yesterday in shul with one of our member families who had celebrated the Bar Mitzvah of the groom's younger brother during a Beth Emeth trip to Israel in the late Summer of 2008. This entire family, consisting of three children and their parents, were part of a thirty person tour of Israel. On a Thursday morning, like June 30 a couple of weeks ago, fourteen years ago,  we held a mix gendered Shacharit-Bar/Bat Mitzvah service at Robinson's Arch. Just imagine if our group had been interfered with by those not participating with us. 

Just over a week ago, the celebrants at Robinsons' Arch were called awful names, and some had the pages of their Siddurim torn apart and treated with disrespect. All of this took place on Rosh Chodesh Tammuz as three families from the Conservative Movement had come to Israel to celebrate. 

Yesterday, Thursday July 7, rabbinic leaders of both the Conservative and Reform Movements composed a joint letter to Prime Minister Yair Lapid in response to the tragic events.

Here in the Diaspora, I call upon all Jews to respect each other regardless of ideology, denomination, and ritual practice. In Pirkei Avot, the Ethics of the Sages, we are taught, "Derech Eretz Kadma La'Torah - basic civility precedes all else in the Torah." There is too much Anti-Semitism confronting us from the outside world. We dare not accept it from within the Jewish community.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Howard Morrison

Thu, 28 March 2024 18 Adar II 5784