Tis B'Av

Today is Tis B'Av (9th of Av) which is the day that the Romans took over the Second Temple and destroyed it. Every year, for thousands of years, Jews mourn on this day for the destruction of the Second Temple. It is a symbolic event because it was, what most historians consider, the beginning of the Jewish exile. The Jews moved out to the Diaspora, in theri own ways because they had no state, no government, no monarchy, to lead a Jewish empire. Jews fast from sunset to sunset and read the Lamentations. That's the gist of it.

I knew that I'd be around for Tis B'Av but I thought, well, I really don't pay much attention to it... I never did because of being in America as an assimilated Jew who spent lazy summers in the American way. Eseentially, summers meant time off from all the holidays except for the July 4th. Now I am in Israel, I became a little more aware of what it meant. I read several articles relating to this event and giving a modern perspective of how Tis B'Av relates to the State of Israel.

Now I have taken a position. Even though I see the "Second Temple" every day from Mount Scopus, I don't feel that it's necessary to mourn over this. It is upsetting to see that the Dome of Rock sits atop it- it's such a sacred place. I do think that the Dome of the Rock/Temple Mount is really sacred and therefore, I really don't feel comfortable going up there to "claim" it. I had an opportunity to go there but Temple Mount, for some hypocritical reason, is just too sacred for me to step my foot on it. I am much more satisfied over the fact that the Jews hold control of Jerusalem and that is good enough for me in terms of all the religion matters. Jerusalem matters more to me.

The other thing is that I don't believe that we need to do all the observances for Tis B'Av. I am much more stunned over the fact that we do have the State of Israel now, a real Jewish democracy. That is so much more powerful than the loss of the Second Temple. The Jewish democracy now is much, much bigger than it was back when the Jews had a civilization. You have 6 million Jews living on this land in comparsion to several thousand. How can anyone argue that? We fought in many modern wars to peserve the State, not letting the Jewish democracy fall again. The boundaries matter. Yes, I agree, we searched for 2,000 years for the State of Israel but now that's done, we should celebrate it. We celebrate Israel's existence by living and breathing everyday, and accepting the Jewish identity as a national identity.

Therefore, I didn't fast. Instead, I celebrated with French Hill fafafel. The rest of Israel and Jerusalem seem to think so. A lot of restaurants were actually open- as long they were not really certified kosher. Only 30% of Israel actually fast. The shuk was lively as ever (though some venders didn't show up).

On Tis B'Av, I met Sylvie at the Museum of Islamic Art. The collection is wonderful- better than the MET's! We learned a lot- like how the game of chess came to be, the religion, the meaning of the architecture, and how Islam spread over Asia and the consequences of it. We saw beautiful jewelry and glass. The exhibits are in chronological order... very, very long time, starting from Muhammed to the Ottoman Empire. Also, at the end, we saw weaponry. I did not know that it was forbidden in Islam for Muslims to kill another Muslim and they could only declare war- jihad- in order to conquer and to basically wipe out other religion, or at least, make Islam the way of life, the way of government law. They could only kill non-Muslims. I think if I could take my time to learn more about Islam, it could be really fascinating.

Sylvie was doing well- she seemed very much settled in, just basically beyond happiness just to be in Israel. She said, "Now is really the time to be in Israel." She was pulled by this kind of desire, not really anything else. She's observant but happily serving in the Army, living with a family on a kibbutz in the Galilee. She talked to me a bit about her aliyah and how she dealt with it with her family since she's been in Israel, which was my main concern anyway.