יוֹם מְאוֹרִי

יוֹם מְאוֹרִי חָשַׁךְ בְּגֵרוּשׁ קַסְטִילְיָא אוֹי לִי עַל שִׁבְרִי שֶׁבֶר יְרוּשָׁלַיִם אַל תִּזְכְּרִי עוֹד אֲהָה עָלַי וְאוֹיָה לִי כִּי לְשֶׁבֶר קַאסְטִילְיָא לֹא נִמְצָא צֳרִי מִפּוֹרְטוּגַל נִשְׁמַע קוֹל נְהִי בְּמָרָה אֲהָה עָלַי וְאַלְלַי כִּי אֵין שֶׁבֶר כְּשִׁבְרִי וּמָזוֹר כִּמְזוֹרִי עַז פָּנִים מֶלֶךְ קָשֶׁה מְנֻוָּל שְׁמוֹ אֲהָה עָלַי וְאוֹיָה לִי שָׁכַח שֵׁם אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׁעִי וְאוֹרִי יְלָדִים הָאוֹמְרִים בְּכָל יוֹם שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲהָה עָלַי וְאַלְלַי אוֹמְרִים לָעֵץ הָקִיצָה וְלָאֶבֶן עוּרִי הַמְיַחֲדִים בְּכָל יוֹם ה’ אֶחָד אֲהָה עָלַי וְאוֹיָה לִי אָמְרוּ אָב בֵּן וְרוּחַ אֲשֶׁר הוּא יוֹצְרִי קִיְּמוּ וְקִבְּלוּ אֲבוֹתָם כָּהֵם אֲהָה עָלַי וְאַלְלַי אָמְרוּ שְׁלוֹשָׁה אֵלֶּה הֵם כִּתְרִי וּנְזִירִי סִפְדוּ וּנְהוּ נְהִיָּה עַל בֵּית הַתְּפִלָּה אֲהָה עָלַי וְאוֹיָה לִי אֵיךְ סִפְרֵי הַקֹּדֶשׁ נִטְמְנוּ בַּעֲפָרִי וַחֲכָמִים חֲסִידִים וְאַנְשֵׁי מַעֲשֶׂה אֲהָה עָלַי וְאַלְלַי אָמְרוּ בְאִישׁ מֵת שַׂמְתִּי אֲנִי שִׂבְרִי נַחֲמֵנוּ הָאֵל בְּקָרוֹב בִּתְשׁוּעָה בִּמְקוֹם אֲהָהּ אָרִים בִּתְרוּעָה בְּבוֹא יִנּוֹן וְאֵלִיָּה גוֹאֲלִי

My day of light turned into darkness, with the expulsion of Castilla. Woe to me for my suffering!

Don’t remind me of the destruction of Jerusalem anymore, because for the destruction of [the Jewish communities of] Castilla I haven’t found a remedy.

From Portugal a voice is heard crying with bitterness, because there is no destruction like mine and exile like my exile.

The wicked and cruel king [of Portugal Manuel] “menuval” his name, imposed the uprooting of the name of my God, my Savior, my Light!

The children who used to say every day “Shema Israel” , now say to the wood [the cross] “Rise!” and to the stone [the statues of the christian saints] “wake up!” .

Those who used to say “God is one” now say “the father, the son and the spirit” are my creator.

Their parents [also] had to accept [the forced conversion to avoid death] and they had to say: “These three are my crown and my glory.”

Cry and decree mourning for the [abandoned] Synagogues, and for the sacred scrolls [of Tora] that had to be buried in the dust.

And for the pious sages and men of action, who have been forced to say: “In a dead man I put my hope.”

May God soon console us with His salvation, and that instead of crying “AHA” may we sing with joy, with the arrival of our Messiah and Eliahu HaNabi.

This coming Saturday night, August 6th and Sunday August 7th,  we will commemorate Tish’a beAb, the Jewish National Day of Mourning.

Our rabbis mentioned five tragedies that happened on the 9th of Ab

1. HET HAMERAGELIM (ca. 1450 BCE): When the Jewish people were in the desert, on their way to the promised land, the crisis of the ten explorers took place. Upon their return from spying the land of Canaan, the explorers  tried to convince the people that it was going to be impossible to conquer the land. The Jews, in a horrible act of ungratefulness, reproached God for having liberated them from Egypt. They also hinted that the Almighty would not be able to help them conquer the Land of Israel and defeat the peoples who inhabited it. God decreed that all those over the age of 20 would not enter the Promised Land, but would be condemned to wander in the desert for forty years until they died. The night the Jewish people cried and complained to HaShem, demonstrating their lack of appreciation and trust in Him, was the night of the 9th of Ab.  

2. HURBAN HABAYIT HARISHON (586 BCE): In the times of King Hizqiahu, on the 10th of Tebet the Babylonian seized the city of Jerusalem. The siege persisted for two years and a half. People had no provisions, food or wood. Thousands died from starvation or epidemic outbreaks. On the 9th of Tamuz  the Babylonians destroyed the wall and entered the city, pillaging, killing and destroying. Still, the Bet haMiqdash kept functioning, and sacrifices were offered. On the 17th of Tamuz, for the first time since the days of the Exodus, the daily sacrifice (qorban haTamid) was discontinued. On the 7th of Ab, the Babylonians entered the Bet haMiqdash and profaned it. On the 9th of Ab, close to sunset, the Babylonians ignited the fire which burned our Bet haMiaqdash during that night and the whole following day.  Thousands of Jews were slaughtered, enslaved or exiled to the Babylonian empire. The story of the destruction of Jerusalem and its desolation is narrated in Megilat Ekha.

3. HURBAN HABAYIT HASHENI (68 CE): On the year 68 of the common era, on the 17th of Tamuz the Romans broke the walls which protected Jerusalem. During the following three weeks they pillaged the city, destroyed everything they saw and kill tens of thousands of Jews.  On the ninth of ab, after desecrating the Sanctuary, Titus HaRasha destroyed our Second bet HaMiqdash. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed, sold into slavery or exiled. The rabbis explained that the Jews were divided and fighting among themselves (sinat hinam).  They explained that the Romans destroyed a Bet haMiqdash that “was already destroyed”, because when the Jews are not united HaShem’s presence does not rest within them.

4. NILKEDA BETAR (135 CE): In the year 135 of the common era, the jews revolted again against the Roman empire.  This time with the approval of great Rabbis and jewish leaders, among them, rabbi Akiba.  Bar Kokhba revolt was crushed by Roman Emperor Hadrian. The city of Betar (Sephardim call it “Bee-ter”), which was the Jews’ last stand against the Romans, was captured by the enemy on Tish’a be-Ab. Hundreds of thousands of Jews, or according to the Gemara , millions,  were slaughtered and their bodies left unburied.

5. NEHERASH HAHEKHAL: Around the same period, also on a ninth of Ab, the Temple’s holiest area and its surroundings was plowed by the Roman general Turnus Rufus. Jerusalem was turned into a pagan city, and renamed Aelia Capitolina. Access to Jerusalem was forbidden for Jews.

OTHER TRAGIC EVENTS WHICH HAPPENED ON THE 9th of AB

The First Crusade  started on the 9th of Ab of 1096, killing 10,000 Jews in its first month and destroying Jewish communities in France and the Rhineland. 1.2 million Jews were killed by this crusade.

The Jews were expelled from England on 9th of Ab, July 18th, 1290 .

1492

In 1492, the Jews were expelled from Spain, after living there for more than 6 centuries.    The edict of Expulsion forced the Jews to leave the country by the end of July. Tish’a beAb was august 1st. There are different versions regarding the number of jews who lived in Spain in the golden era, before the expulsion. There are those who mention that at least there were 250 thousand Jews in Spain. While the historian Juan de Mariana mentioned that there were 800 thousand Jews in Spain. Other sources stated that there were approximately 600,000 Jews in Spain.  200,000 remained there as “conversos”. 200,000 were killed or died while fleeing from Spain and Portugal (they were expelled from Portugal in 1497) and 200,000 managed to escape and establish themselves in Morocco, Alger, Tunis, Turkey (Turkey was the biggest colony of Spanish refugees), Greece, Egypt, Syria, Erets Israel (Safed and Jerusalem), etc.

IN MODERN DAYS

 Germany entered World War I on August 1-2, 1914 , 9 of Ab, which caused massive upheaval in European Jewry and whose aftermath led to the Holocaust.

On August 2, 1941, 9 of Ab, SS commander Heinrich Himmler formally received approval from the Nazi Party for “The Final Solution.” As a result, the Holocaust began during which almost one third of the world’s Jewish population perished.

On July 23, 1942, 9 of Ab, began the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto, en route to Treblinka.

On the 10th of Ab the following events took place:

AMIA bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, killing 85 and injuring 300 on 18 July 1994.

Israel’s unilateral disengagement plan, also known as the “Disengagement plan from Gush Qatif”, the “Gaza expulsion plan”, or haHitnatkut, began 10 Ab,  15 August 2005.

This Shabbat morning (July 17th) we will begin reading the book of Debarim and at the end we will read a special Haftara from the book of Yesha’ayahu (Isaiah). This Haftara is known as “Chazon” (from its first word) and by extension the Shabbat before the 9th of Ab is called Shabbat Chazon. This text of the Haftara is found in the book of Isaiah 1: 1-27, and is a prophetic vision in which this great Jewish prophet rebukes the inhabitants of Jerusalem for their lack of integrity and corruption.

The Haftara describes the sins that caused God to ignore their prayers and pleads and eventually led to the destruction of our first Bet haMiqdash. By reading and remembering the mistakes of our ancestors, we can reflect on our own behavior, improve our actions, and deserve to see our Bet haMiqdash rebuilt very soon, in our days.

Among the points the prophet mentions, his criticism of religious hypocrisy is worth recalling.

1: 14-15: “Thus said the prophet to the people of Yerushalayim in the name of haShem: [Thus says God], when you stretch out your hands in prayer, I will take My eyes away from you; Even if you offer Me many prayers, I will not listen to you, [because] your hands are full of blood. “

Yesha’ayahu denounces the corrupt people who kill steal, cheat in their businesses, practice bribery and corrupt justice, and simultaneously pray to God, expecting God to hear their prayers! As the prophet Yesha’ayahu says: these people came to the Temple, “with their hands stained with blood,” and offered sacrifices, as if God could be bribed with gifts or offerings in order to ignore their wrongdoings. These individuals, who were possibly very powerful, had a very immature and pagan idea of God. Yesha’ayahu explained to them that there cannot be a divorce between what a person does and how he prays. A Jew cannot practice all kinds of immoralities, and then go to the Temple and pray as if nothing had happened and everything is fine. As if God does not know, or is not interested, in his affairs outside the Temple. This is a completely pagan concept, in which the pagan gods are limited to the affairs within the sanctuary and had no involvement in the lives of their worshipers.

Yesha’ayahu explains to them that this is unacceptable: that honesty and morality, and the protection of the weakest, is an imperative religious obligation. And if a person behaves piously in the Temple but is corrupt in his business, he is a hypocrite! And HaShem detests religious hypocrisy more than non-religiosity. God is not secluded in the Temple. He knows what we do. He rejects the prayer of the corrupt and demands that our life be honest and virtuous not only in the Temple, but also (or especially) outside it.

Yesha’ayahu also tells them that they are not condemned to be forever ignored by God. He explains to them that if a corrupt person repents, improves his behavior and becomes honest, HaShem will accept him or her again. For this situation to be reversed and for God to be willing to listen to their prayers, they need to change: (1: 16-17) “… Purify yourselves [of your wrong deeds]. Stop doing evil, learn to practice justice, seek righteousness, defend the oppressed, fight for the cause of the orphan, and defend the widows.”

When HaShem sees our repentance ,He accepts us again and hears our prayers. This is what we can do to have the merit of seeing our Bet haMiqdash rebuild again.