The fast commemorates the destruction
Jerusalem, which occurred about 656 years apart,
Accordingly, the day has been called the
"saddest day in Jewish history".
[2]
On This day, My friend Leehee_r wrote in her facebook status: Tisha'a BeAv not only destruction of homes 2,000 years ago.
I remember the houses in Bayt Tzafafa &in Bayt Hanina that were destructed
only a week a go. I remember the Tin shacks brought to ruins time after time in the south of Har Hebron, the homes stolen in Sheikh Jarrah & in Silwan , the homes in Dahamash that are facing threat of eviction & demolition.I remind you that hating an other in vein still destructs, and that is only one way to stop the next destruction: Sharing the struggle!
מזכירה בט' באב שבתים לא נחרבו רק לפני אלפיים שנה. מזכירה את הבתים בבית צפאפא ובבית חנינא שנחרבו לפני שבוע, את הפחונים המוחרבים פעם אחר פעם בדרום הרחברון, את הבתים הנגזלים בשייח ג'ראח ובסילוואן, את הבתים בדהמש שחרב הפינוי וההריסה עדין מאיימת מעליהם, ואת הבתים ההרוסים בעזה שמצור בלתי פוסק מונע את שיקומם. מזכירה ששנאת החי...נם עדין מחריבה בתים, ושיש רק דרך אחת למנוע את החורבן הבא - מאבק משותף!
My Arabic teacher, Yusuf Asfur chose to refer this day of Tisha'a Be'Av
The Jewish Nakba
creating the same corelation that my friend Leehee described in her writing, correlation that makes one say:
You jews of all people should know better about what losing a home ,
agony of being exile means.
Later on during the day, I attended the "official" Tisha'a BeAv ceremony.
I arrived lately- only managed to hear some of Rabby Lau's speech.
The Rabby recalled the battle to reunite Jerusalem under Jewish conquest. As former IDF cheif Rabby, his recollection was thrilled, excited, vivid.
He was filled with emotion.
He spoke about a debate he've had with Muslim scholar named Phd Tantawy,
about the number of times jerusalem is mentioned in the Kuran comparing to the number of times it's mentioned in the bible,
delighted to prove that Jerusalem is mentioned far more times in the jewish bible than it is in the kuran.
I was left with 2 contradict narratives
The humanist one, saying:
"we must not do to other people what has been done to us" .
We can't actually restore the third temple.
We can't rebuild what has been destroyed .
We have now what we have, a virtually divided city that we're sharing with other people- the Palestainins.
What we have left is Jerusalem as a memory of the past, a legacy to cherish and historical lesson to learn about the cost of hating each other in vein.
The other Narrative, as portrayed by Rabby Lau focuses on the loss of jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem.
At the speach he made, the loss of sovereignty is the source of tragedy.
Jewish sovereignty that was regained "by a heavenly miracle" in 1967.
God stood by our brave soldiers who won the battle against Jordanian troops.
To me, sovereignty doesn't say much: I am not a nationalist. sovereignity can be source of corruption, as It had been 2,000 years ago as it can be full of justice and compassion, if people choose to make it so. But so far I haven't encountered sovereignity that wasn't infected with corruption brought by the usage of force that's required to maintain it.
Trying to settle those two contradicting narrative, combine the controversional content of Tisha'a BeAv into coherency, I thought of a tale I've once read:
King Janaka, the legendary ruler of the Kingdom of Mithila
in India, was once conversing on top of a hill overlooking his
city with a wise Buddhist monk. The monk said, "King, look
down and across the valley. Do you see those flames? Your city
burns." Janaka was not perturbed. He watched quietly for a
few minutes, then turned to the monk and said these words,
which have been handed down for centuries in India as the
quintessence of wisdom: "Mithilāyāṃ pradīptāyāṃ, na me dahyte
kiñcana (In the conflagration of Mithila,
nothing of mine is
burned)." source: Final Analysis
The memory of Jerusalem can't be burnt. Jerusalem can allways exist in our hearts & our minds the way it is told to us: the place where prophets preached, the place where 2 temples were built, where jewish kings reigned.But the memory can cause a burn in our hearts and our souls unless it is handled properly.Jerusalem is once again under jewish sovereignty. Can we not forget that Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem had its toll?
can we not burn with passion to preserve sovereignty over the Holly Land at any price?
Can we see how destruction burns itself into conscious & mind of people, regardless race or religion?
According to the Jewish tradition, the second temple was destroyed because Jews hated each other in vein. In my opinion, this could be interpreted as if Jews lost sovereignty over themselves.
It is easier to give in to hatred once you forget basic rule of empathy towards the "OTHER".
Be it a christian, a muslim, or a buddhist.
This is the root of corruption , that might have led to the destruction.
There isn't only one way to remember. The two narratives of Tisha'a Be'Av - the one I caught from Leehee and my teacher are unfolding themelves in front of my wondering eyes.
We are free to choose, free to make our destiny, seek for the right thing to do.
The debate between those 2 narratives allows Jerusalem- of-our-hearts, spiritual Jerusalem or "Jerusalem of above" as mentioned in the holly scripts Never to burn.
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