I asked one of my students today if he was proud to be an American. He hesitated and then said of course yes. I asked him why he hesitated. He responded because as great as America is, it is not as great as it could be.
Regardless if one agrees or not with that perspective of America, it is clear that there is so much more potential in the world than we are actualizing. That loss of potential should indeed cause us a moment's hesitation. We should feel a tinge of pain that the world could be better than it is and we are missing out on that experience.
That pain is what Tisha B'av (the 9th of Av on the Hebrew calender) is all about. On that day in our history both the first Temple and the second Temple were destroyed by the Babylonians and Romans respectively. The fact that there is such a tremendous amount of animosity and lack of unity amongst people. The reality that the world has so much pain and confusion within. The immense lack of clarity that exists regarding purpose and meaning. These points are a result of something lacking that once was.
The natural state of this world is that gravity exists. If I were to hold someone's cell phone and let go, it would drop to the ground and most likely break. The only thing preventing that from happening is the fact that I am holding it. Gravity is still there it is just being prevented from having an effect on the phone. The same is true regarding Hashem's prescence in this world. The natural state of existence is that Hashem's prescience should be here. Even though that prescience permeates all of existence, once the Temple was built in Jerusalem that became the focus point of that Prescience. As a result of our pettiness and narcissistic attitudes we forced that Prescence out of this realm. That void was manifested with the destruction of the Temple. We now live in the state described above. However, since the natural state is for that Divine reality to be present it is only because some force is holding it back. That force is us. Because we continue the mistakes of the past we are the hand holding back the gravity.
It is very difficult to mourn something that happened over two thousand years ago. However it is within our ability to recognize the state of our world and mourn the fact that we are the only ones preventing it from being fixed. Today, on the day we acknowledge our loss we should begin to take the steps to rebuild. Wake up. Shake off the pettiness. Tear away from the mundane. Fight the urge to judge and condemn. Instead seek greatness. Yearn for meaning. Choose to love.
Regardless if one agrees or not with that perspective of America, it is clear that there is so much more potential in the world than we are actualizing. That loss of potential should indeed cause us a moment's hesitation. We should feel a tinge of pain that the world could be better than it is and we are missing out on that experience.
That pain is what Tisha B'av (the 9th of Av on the Hebrew calender) is all about. On that day in our history both the first Temple and the second Temple were destroyed by the Babylonians and Romans respectively. The fact that there is such a tremendous amount of animosity and lack of unity amongst people. The reality that the world has so much pain and confusion within. The immense lack of clarity that exists regarding purpose and meaning. These points are a result of something lacking that once was.
The natural state of this world is that gravity exists. If I were to hold someone's cell phone and let go, it would drop to the ground and most likely break. The only thing preventing that from happening is the fact that I am holding it. Gravity is still there it is just being prevented from having an effect on the phone. The same is true regarding Hashem's prescence in this world. The natural state of existence is that Hashem's prescience should be here. Even though that prescience permeates all of existence, once the Temple was built in Jerusalem that became the focus point of that Prescience. As a result of our pettiness and narcissistic attitudes we forced that Prescence out of this realm. That void was manifested with the destruction of the Temple. We now live in the state described above. However, since the natural state is for that Divine reality to be present it is only because some force is holding it back. That force is us. Because we continue the mistakes of the past we are the hand holding back the gravity.
It is very difficult to mourn something that happened over two thousand years ago. However it is within our ability to recognize the state of our world and mourn the fact that we are the only ones preventing it from being fixed. Today, on the day we acknowledge our loss we should begin to take the steps to rebuild. Wake up. Shake off the pettiness. Tear away from the mundane. Fight the urge to judge and condemn. Instead seek greatness. Yearn for meaning. Choose to love.
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