On Shabbat evening we will observe the fast of Tisha B'Av (postponed because of Shabbat), the day when the two magnificent temples in Jerusalem, the Holy City, were destroyed.
Sages point out that the first temple was destroyed because of three grave sins of incest, bloodshed and idolatry, while the second temple was destroyed for a gratuitous hate crime.
Some argue that these events are indeed historical and old, and therefore they do not concern us today, two thousand years after the second Holocaust.
The truth is that the severe destruction of Jerusalem then is still relevant today.
It is true, we live in our homeland, and God willing we established a Jewish state, but it is hard not to see that we are under constant threat - from home and abroad.
Whether it is the enemies around us who want to destroy us as we mention in the Passover Haggadah, or whether it is through internal disputes that tear our people apart.
Rabbi Jacob Glauberman,
Jerusalem existed already 3,000 years ago, the center of the spiritual and physical existence of the Jewish people.
Our nationalism was founded on Jerusalem and the Temple.
It was not a side step in our national identity but a basis for our existence here on the holy land promised to our ancestors.
In the Book of Lamentations, harsh descriptions are given of the destruction and terrible suffering of the Jews under the siege and the burning of the Temple by bloodthirsty rioters.
It was not only an event that exacted a high and shocking cost of life, but a tremendous upheaval that overthrew the Jewish hold on it.
It is enough if we imagine that, God forbid, in a few decades, there will be those who deny and disparage the memory of the terrible holocaust that European Jewry went through about eighty years ago (not that there aren't some even today, unfortunately).
It would be unimaginable and unacceptable.
Therefore, we must remember every year that the mourning day of Tisha B'Av is not only a reminder of past events, but primarily a warning light for the future.
Knowing how to manage our steps wisely.
Knowing how to find what connects us and not what separates us, and above all, learn from past mistakes and realize that everything depends on us and our actions.
If we are able to learn the lesson from the great mourning over Jerusalem and the reasons that led to its destruction, then with God's help in devoting ourselves to the free love of our children, we will soon also be able to see its building.
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