NATIONAL MOURNING IN THE JEWISH TRADITION <\/b><\/p>\n
The news of a loved one\u2019s death utterly transforms us and our perception of the world. A young man, returning to his studies after being called home following the death of his father said, \u201cThe buildings were all in their familiar places, but it was a wholly different place\u2026 for the world had changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our grief and mourning is singularly intense. Even when we \u201cshare\u201d the loss of a loved one with other family members, we are transformed alone by our grief and mourning. What then can it mean to speak about \u201cnational mourning?\u201d Is there any calamity which a nation suffers that so alters its fundamental nature as to be truly analogous to the existential crisis death brings to an individual?<\/p>\n
Certainly nations have been called to war and suffered grievous loss. They have endured natural disasters and heartbreaking political upheaval. They bury their dead. They mourn their dead. They honor them in public displays. But can the loss be said to have fundamentally altered the national character of those nations?<\/p>\n
There may be among the family of nations another nation besides Israel that has endured such a transformative loss and risen again, transformed by the fire of grief, but which among the nations has endured not one but two such horrors? Which nation, other than Israel, knows such pain?<\/p>\n
How we grieved and mourned after our First Temple, the Beit HaMikdash<\/i>, was destroyed by the Babylonians! David sang, \u201cIf I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you\u2026<\/i>\u201d Then Cyrus of Persia conquered the Babylonians. Our national character was redeemed when he allowed us to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Beit Hamikdash<\/i> anew.<\/p>\n
In 70 CE, the Second Temple was destroyed by soldiers of the Roman Empire, led by General Titus. From that time forward, we have wandered through the centuries, cast adrift from the land that God had promised us. We, a once proud and noble people, were reduced to a nation of wanderers, beggars and slaves; a people, once admired and revered, the object of scorn.<\/p>\n
How far had the Lord\u2019s chosen fallen!<\/p>\n
The purpose of mourning is teshuvah<\/i>, redemption. But how could we possibly mourn such a national calamity in a way that could bring about teshuvah<\/i>? The destruction of the Second Temple, the Churban<\/i>, changed the course of Jewish history and destiny; its repercussions affected every aspect of our national and religious character.<\/p>\n
The redemptive qualities of mourning demand our attention to the past, which is forever gone; the future, where our hopes must reside; and God, in whom all things are possible. These three qualities all come to bear on our response to the Churban. Avelut<\/i> and tzaar<\/i> \u2013 mourning \u2013 is a response to the past;\u00a0zichronot, tziyunim<\/i>, and semalim<\/i> \u2013 memorials and remembrances \u2013 focus on the future; teshuvah and introspection focus on our relationship with God.<\/p>\n
Isaiah teaches us to mourn and grieve the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple: \u201cRejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you that love her; Rejoice for joy with her, all you that mourn for her.\u201d The Talmud teaches that \u201cwhoever mourns over Jerusalem merits to see her joy, and whoever does not mourn over Jerusalem does not see her joy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zikaron<\/i> \u2013 If I forget Thee, O Jerusalem\u2026 <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n The first form of zikaron<\/i> begins on the 17th Tammuz, when the Three Weeks of mourning is ushered into our liturgical year and our remembrance of the destruction of God\u2019s dwelling place on earth begins, to culminate in the soul-searing tones of Tisha B\u2019Av\u2019s<\/i> mournful lamentations. The pain and sorrow we experience during this period, the restraints we practice reawakens but a glimmer of recollection for the historic tragedy which forms the backdrop for our customs of mourning.<\/p>\n The second form of zikaron<\/i> obligation has two aspects. The first demands active<\/u> remembrance of the destruction: leaving a spot of the house unpainted; leaving over a part of one\u2019s meal; making mention of Jerusalem in tefillah<\/i> and birkat hamazon<\/i> \u2013 direct, concrete demonstrations of the diminution of our joy and \u201cnormalcy.\u201d The well-known wedding custom of breaking a glass under the chuppah<\/i> is likewise derived from this demand.<\/p>\n Our actions proclaim that we will never forget the terrible tragedy; that the actual<\/i> tragedy remains as real to us as it was to the poor souls whose eyes bore witness to its horror.<\/p>\n We remember Jerusalem too with our performance of mitzvot just as they were enacted and performed in the Mikdash<\/i> itself. For this reason, Reb Yochanan ben Zakai legislated that the lulav<\/i> must be taken throughout for seven days (during Temple days it was only taken for seven days) as a zekher l\u2019Mikdash<\/i>.<\/p>\n Beyond the obligation to perform mitzvot in the same manner in which they were performed in the Mikdash<\/i> (in order to always make real and immediate the Mikdash<\/i> experience) there is also an injunction to perform only<\/i> those\u00a0mitzvot<\/i>\u00a0that were performed in Eretz Yisrael<\/i> during Temple days. Jeremiah exclaims: \u201cSet thee up marks (tziyunim<\/i>), make thee guide posts (tamrurim<\/i>)\u201d \u2013 markings and posts that will remind us of the paths we left behind in the land of Israel. And which, therefore, mark the way back<\/i>. The way of return. For it is by separating terumot<\/i> and\u00a0maasrot<\/i>\u00a0even in our own land that we remember how to live in the land<\/i>.<\/p>\n Chazal established three types of remembrances to help us to cope with the perpetual state of mourning the Churban<\/i> imposes upon us. The first are meant to invoke memories of Jerusalem throughout all of life\u2019s experiences \u2013 from the mundane, such as eating, to religious obligations, such as praying, and even to the most joyous times of our lives, such as marriage. The lesson is clear \u2013 we would never be the same; we should<\/i> never be the same.<\/p>\n So powerful is Jerusalem still that if even our memory of Jerusalem were to be diminished, we<\/i> would be diminished as a nation, as a people.<\/p>\n Our past is an essential ingredient in who we are. Ironically, we cannot be transformed without remaining in some very profound way unchanged. Therefore, though we could no longer offer sacrifices at the Temple, we offer prayers as both remembrance and<\/i> as sacrifice. We internalize the reality of the Temple so that our character and our actions as a nation continue to represent the reality of the Temple, keeping it a living, dynamic<\/i> presence in our lives so that when it is rebuilt, we can return to it and reestablish the sacred rituals of the Temple as if they had never been interrupted.<\/i><\/p>\n But even concrete, physical acts are not enough. After all, our loss was not merely physical; it was spiritual. With the Churban<\/i> we became a nation without Koheinim<\/i> at our service, Levites at our songs. No more could we satisfy the requirements of the Three Pilgrimages or offer up sacrifices to God. No more does our Sanhedrin sit in authoritative judgment of the people, determining what is right and wrong according to Torah.<\/p>\n Our loss of spiritual vitality cannot be healed with mere physical acts.<\/p>\n Teshuvah<\/i> \u2013 Spiritual Redemption<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n There are days which are observed by all Israel as fasts because tragic events happened on them, the object being to stir hearts and open the way to repentance, and to remind us of our own evil deeds, and of our fathers\u2019 deeds which were like ours, as a consequences of which these tragic afflictions came upon them and upon us. For as we remember these things we ought to repent and do good.<\/i><\/p>\n Rambam makes clear here that our rituals, observances, prohibitions, and restrictions are an important means of moving toward teshuvah<\/i>. These actions must stimulate<\/i> the heart and the mind to probe and analyze why these national calamities have befallen us \u2013 certainly they cannot be encounters with the impersonal forces of history \u2013 and therefore, how we can be transformed by them. After all, if we are merely the victim \u2013 or the beneficiary \u2013 of chance events, there is nothing to be gained or lost from examining them. It cannot be meaningful at all except in the most immediate and superficial sense. But the process of mourning is designed to bring about teshuvah<\/i>. And teshuvah<\/i> requires meaning. The loss that is mourned cannot be chance. It cannot be random. Our loss itself must be meaningful.<\/p>\n The Churban<\/i>, like all tragedy, cries out for teshuvah<\/i>. It demands of us the introspection and soul-searching that can bring about transformation. Just as Rambam states that, \u201cwhoever does not mourn in the manner prescribed by the rabbis is cruel\u201d (because it is only through mourning that teshuvah<\/i> can be realized) so too he declares that attributing Churban<\/i> to mere chance is also cruel because one could never attain a real level of understanding in a way that could lead to teshuvah<\/i>.<\/p>\n Random events have no meaning. Chance can afford no significance. The falling of a tree in a forest is meaningless without God, how much more so the falling of a leaf? Without God, death is meaningless. And life, too, must therefore be meaningless.<\/p>\n In such a horrible world, teshuvah<\/i> would not only be impossible, it would be unnecessary.<\/p>\n Blessedly, such a worldview is not a Jewish worldview! God Himself prompts His nation to remember that when \u201cIt shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessings and the curse, which I have set before you\u2026 and you shall return unto the Lord you God, and you shall obey His voice.\u201d<\/p>\n I have set before you life and death\u2026 <\/i><\/p>\n The Jewish worldview is not nihilistic. There are no meaningless events because God is always present. Meaning and faith are possible. We have transgressed and rebelled. We have been punished. But return is possible.<\/p>\n Teshuvah<\/i> is possible.<\/p>\n God<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n With teshuvah<\/i> and transformation as our goals, how do we, the people Israel, go forward in the shadow of Churban<\/i>? Remembrance only heightens our pain and keeps us cognizant of our terrible loss. So where is our consolation? Where it has always been and always must be, in God.<\/p>\n Our first and deepest solace resides in the fact that God is<\/i>. Further, we find meaning in understanding that, like us, God too mourns. He too feels bereft of His glory, and He too recognizes that Churban<\/i> means an obstacle to complete service and a diminution of His splendor on earth.<\/p>\n When we went into exile, He too went into exile \u2013 shechinta begaluta<\/i>. Kol makom sh\u2019galu shechina imahen<\/i>. Every place that Jews have been exiled, God is with them.<\/p>\n Israel is never alone. Israel is never without God. God readily admits to the necessity of His suffering along with His children. Moreover, God sorrowfully laments every day, three times a day, the destruction and exile He brought upon His children,<\/p>\n I hear a divine voice, cooing like a dove, and saying: Woe to the children, on account of whose sins I destroyed My house and burnt My temple and exiled them among the nations of the world!…Not in this moment alone does it so exclaim, but thrice each day does it exclaim thus!<\/i><\/p>\n The Talmud concludes this passage reflecting on God\u2019s pain and pangs, with the following insightful and instructive statement about the principle passage of the Kaddish:<\/p>\n And more than that, whenever the Israelites go into the synagogues and schoolhouses and respond: \u201cMay His great name be blessed!\u201d the Holy One, blessed be He, shakes His head and says: Happy is the King who is thus praised in this House! Woe to the father who had to banish his children, and woe to the children who had to be banished from the table of their father.<\/i><\/p>\n God admits<\/i> to His own grief and bereavement! He openly proclaims that He is with His children in their distress, lacking and missing their company, having been banished from His table. Therefore, ever since the Churban<\/i> He needs to be ever so much more assured, as it were, that \u201cHis great name be blessed.\u201d This passage, more than any other, substantiates the idea that Kaddish is the vehicle through which the mourning Jew (both individual and collective) hears that message that he is not alone and, not being alone, can find meaning and, finding meaning, achieves teshuvah<\/i>.<\/p>\n Man is not alone.<\/p>\n According to\u00a0R. Chaim of Volozhin, the ultimate reason for man\u2019s prayer is to pray for the removal of the pain and agony caused above when man suffers below. Teshuvah<\/i> is deeply meaningful because it not only heals us, it heals God as well. For this reason, God refers to every victory and salvation attained by Israel when calling upon Him as \u201cMy salvation.\u201d Is there a clearer statement that Israel\u2019s salvation is His as well? \u201cHe will call upon Me and I will answer him. I am with him in distress, I will release him and I will honor him. With long life, I will satisfy him, and I will show him My salvation.\u201d<\/p>\n God is with Israel in her distress.<\/p>\n Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu Safran serves as OU Kosher\u2019s vice president of communications and marketing. He elaborates on this theme in his <\/i>Meditations at Sixty \u2013 One Person, Under God, Indivisible KTAV Publishing House, Inc 2008.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NATIONAL MOURNING IN THE JEWISH TRADITION The news of a loved one\u2019s death utterly transforms us and our perception of the world. A young man, returning to his studies after being called home following the death of his father said, \u201cThe buildings were all in their familiar places, but it was a wholly different place\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":296,"featured_media":46230,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fast-of-tisha-bav"],"yoast_head":"\n
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