Dear Friends:
We live in a state of exile. I don’t mean politically—after all, we Jews have our homeland back after nearly two thousand years. I mean existentially. As individuals and societies, we will always fall short of perfection. I will never solve all of my problems, and—let’s face it—the world will never be at peace.
I am writing these words on Tisha B’Av, which commemorates the destruction of the Temple and the concomitant loss of Jewish sovereignty. It was a strange thing when I was in Israel two summers ago to be mourning the destruction of Jerusalem on Tisha B’Av—from the Hass promenade, festooned with Israeli flags, overlooking the magnificent Old City. The scene was resplendent—a far cry from the desolation described in the Book of Lamentations. Some say that the State of Israel is reshit tzemichat ge’ulateinu, “the first flowering of our redemption,” but I do not believe that redemption works that way. Redemption, as a theological category, is an unattainable ideal.
The opening word of Lamentations is eichah, which means “how”: “how the lonely city sits—she that was once great with people!” In one of its typical wordplays, the Midrash notes that the very first instance of eichah in the Bible is ayeka, “where are you?,” which God called out to Adam and Eve as they tried to hide after eating from the forbidden tree. (Genesis 3:9) The first exile was not the Jewish exile from Jerusalem; the first exile was humanity’s exile from Eden.
I do not despair that we will never get back to Eden. What would we ever do there? No: I prefer a world with problems to solve and growth to achieve. Isn’t that what life is all about?
Rabbi Brian
rabbi.brian.besser@gmail.com
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