The Jerusalem Talmud—the lesser known of our two Talmuds—records the following story:
One day, a Jew was plowing in the valley of Arbel, and his ox was bellowing. A stranger passed by and heard the bellowing of the ox—and said to him: You, you, unharness your ox, unharness your plow because the Temple was destroyed. The ox bellowed a second time. And the stranger said: You, you harness your ox, fix your plow—because King Messiah has been born.
It is a remarkable thing that our tradition teaches: On the very same day that the Temple was destroyed, the Messiah was born. The Judaism that is born out of the utter brokenness of the Temple is the seed of the Judaism that sustains us today. Out of the flames of tragedy and loss came the sparks of redemption and change.
Avi West (z”l), a beloved Jewish educator, wrote the following on Tisha B’Av 2020, a year before he died of complications from COVID-19:
This day is marked by fasting, prayer, and the recitation of dirges, many with the refrain “Oy, meh haya lanu,” (“Woe is us; look what we have lost.”) … Tisha B’av teaches us to pause and mourn and appreciate what we no longer have—so long as we don’t stop at self-pity. While these episodes of Jewish history are indeed tragic, our collective Jewish memory must be more expansive.
The Shabbat that begins tomorrow is known as Shabbat Chazon, the Shabbat of Vision. Even before Tisha B’Av begins, then, we are already thinking about its end; we are looking ahead to what comes next. As we prepare for the laments and cries of Tisha B’Av, may we also begin to envision the seeds we plant for the future we desire.
—Rabbi Sari Laufer