{"id":28281,"date":"2012-07-25T22:38:57","date_gmt":"2012-07-25T22:38:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=28281"},"modified":"2017-01-26T10:59:22","modified_gmt":"2017-01-26T15:59:22","slug":"do-we-still-need-fast-tisha-ba-efrem-goldberg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/do-we-still-need-fast-tisha-ba-efrem-goldberg\/","title":{"rendered":"Do We Still Need to Fast on Tisha B&#8217;Av?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\">Last week, an Israeli Rabbi wrote an article in a weekend magazine wondering aloud why we still observe the fast of the 17th of Tammuz. After all, we have recovered Jewish sovereignty over the land of Israel, we have a thriving State of Israel, and more people are learning Torah in Israel than ever before. So why are we fasting, why are we mourning, what are we commemorating? This Rabbi found his questions so compelling that he concluded that indeed, we should no longer be fasting as the redemption is upon us.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">We intuitively know the Rabbi&#8217;s declaration is wrong. But why?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Praying-at-Kotel1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-post-28281 wp-image-28303\" title=\"Praying at Kotel\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Praying-at-Kotel1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"618\" height=\"280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Praying-at-Kotel1.jpg 618w, https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Praying-at-Kotel1-300x135.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Praying-at-Kotel1-550x249.jpg 550w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 618px) 100vw, 618px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Here&#8217;s why:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>50 Metro-North subway stations in NY just received new ads including an accusation that Israel has been systematically taking Palestinian territory. The ad refers to 4.7 million Palestinians as refugees. The Anti-Defamation League has called the ads \u201cdeliberately misleading, biased and fundamentally anti-Israel.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>A global counterterrorism forum initiated by the US was held this week in Spain. Twenty-nine countries that have suffered from terrorism and are committed to fight against it participated. Noticeably absent, due to a lack of invitation, was a country that has suffered more terrorism than any other and that knows how to fight it better than any other \u2013 Israel. Most analysts have concluded that this snub was intentional and was necessary to get other Arab countries to participate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Iran defiantly tested ballistic missiles including of the long-range variety that can travel 2,000 kilometers and easily hit Israel and parts of Europe. Senior Iranian leaders accompanied those tests with the most threatening remarks directed against Israel to date.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Israel continues to be the victim of a campaign to isolate and delegitimize her. One of the most heinous and hurtful accusations often hurled against Israel is that she is guilty of apartheid and no different than the former South Africa that discriminated against blacks. Rabbi Dr. Danny Gordis has already pointed out that this claim is absurd, ridiculous and offensive. \u201cIn apartheid South Africa, were there blacks on the Supreme Court? (Justice Salim Joubran, an Arab, serves on Israel\u2019s highest bench, and he is not the first to do so.) In apartheid South Africa, were there recognized black parties in the parliament, legally pressing for their rights? The list could go on, almost endlessly.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>This week I was shopping with my brother in a supermarket near his home in Alon Shvut, which is located over the \u201cGreen Line\u201d in the \u201cWest Bank.\u201d Throughout the store, one could easily notice the many Arabs shopping. My brother pointed out to me that these are not Israeli Arabs; they are Palestinians who are openly welcome to shop freely in this store and the others in the Gush Etzion neighborhood. Perhaps the only apartheid being practiced is the lack of ability of a Jew to shop equally\u00a0freely in a Palestinian store in the same area without risking his or her life.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>My daughter and I were at the Kotel this week when suddenly we heard several loud pops that sounded like gunfire. Silence overcame the Kotel plaza for a few moments while everyone looked up to see what was happening. It turns out that someone in the Arab quarter lit a few firecrackers and no danger was posed at all. Despite the benign nature of the noise, my daughter was scared and wanted to leave. I wonder if we heard the same sound while walking on Montoya Circle if we would have felt the same anxiousness or if my daughter would have reacted the same way. The constant state of worry and unease we have been forced to live with, even at our holiest and most sacred locations, where we should be consumed exclusively with spiritual pursuits, is itself a tragedy and worthy of our mourning.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Yes, if you walk around Israel with your eyes even partially opened you cannot help but feel the beginning of the redemption is upon us. And yet, if you read the news with your eyes even partially open you cannot help but recognize how incomplete and partial that redemption is, and how far we still must go to experience it fully.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The destruction we mourn until this date is the result of Hashem withdrawing His intense countenance from our midst. He did so because we misbehaved in our attitude towards one another. But, he did so also because we failed to appreciate the divine gifts He bestowed upon us and we took for granted what it means to be protected by His presence.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The Prophet Yirmiyahu bemoans, \u201c<em>Tziyon hi, doreish ein lah<\/em>,&#8221; &#8220;No one searches out Zion, she is forgotten.\u201d Taking an interest in Israel, identifying with her people, her problems and her destiny is not only part of what it means to be a Jew, it is part of what it will take to bring the <em>geulah<\/em>, the\u00a0redemption, and rebuild the <em>Beit\u00a0<\/em><i>HaMikdash<\/i>.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em><strong>Rabbi Efrem Goldberg<\/strong>\u00a0is the Senior Rabbi of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.brsonline.org\">Boca Raton Synagogue<\/a> (BRS) in Boca Raton, Florida. He serves as Co-Chair of the Orthodox Rabbinical Board\u2019s Vaad\u00a0HaKashrus, as Director of the Rabbinical Council of America\u2019s South Florida Regional Beis Din for Conversion, and as Posek of the Boca Raton Mikvah.<\/em><strong id=\"internal-source-marker_0.47575711412355304\"><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Rabbi concluded that we should no longer be fasting as the redemption is upon us. I think otherwise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":733,"featured_media":55193,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[150,85,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fast-of-tisha-bav","category-inspiration","category-israel"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Do We Still Need to Fast on Tisha B&#039;Av? - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Rabbi concluded that we should no longer be fasting on Tisha B&#039;Av, as we have the land of Israel and the redemption is upon us. I think otherwise.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/do-we-still-need-fast-tisha-ba-efrem-goldberg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do We Still Need to Fast on Tisha B&#039;Av? - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Rabbi concluded that we should no longer be fasting on Tisha B&#039;Av, as we have the land of Israel and the redemption is upon us. I think otherwise.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/do-we-still-need-fast-tisha-ba-efrem-goldberg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-07-25T22:38:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-01-26T15:59:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Man-Davening-e1485446276710.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1238\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"826\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rabbi Efrem Goldberg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rabbi Efrem Goldberg\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/do-we-still-need-fast-tisha-ba-efrem-goldberg\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/do-we-still-need-fast-tisha-ba-efrem-goldberg\/\",\"name\":\"Do We Still Need to Fast on Tisha B'Av? - OU Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/do-we-still-need-fast-tisha-ba-efrem-goldberg\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/do-we-still-need-fast-tisha-ba-efrem-goldberg\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Man-Davening-e1485446276710.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-07-25T22:38:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-26T15:59:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/b3f7905021c0f2a6e200f7cce16e4710\"},\"description\":\"The Rabbi concluded that we should no longer be fasting on Tisha B'Av, as we have the land of Israel and the redemption is upon us. 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