On Tisha B’Av we attempted to illustrate a contemporary example of Sinat Chinam, groundless hate, we read an account about a mother and daughter who recently attended a prayer service at the Kotel, with the Women of the Wall.  If you have followed this saga over the past few years, progressive movements such has ours are attempting to establish a place to pray at the Kotel, the Westerm Wall.  The “Women of the Wall” is at the forefront of this initiative. They are experiencing tremendous institutional and governmental resistance as they attempt to establish a place to pray at the Kotel. Imagine, after centuries of yearning, the Jewish people are in control of the place where our Holy Temples stood, but we are not allowing certain Jews the self determination to pray there?  Leah Bieler’s story is heartbreaking, how can we be so insensitive to each other? Have we learned anything?

The article by Leah Bieler can be found on line at www.Forward.com 

We observed Tisha B’Av, the 9th day of Av, the anniversary of the destruction of the two Temples, the first by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in 586BCE, the second by Titus in 70 CE.  As Jews we never forget these tragedies, to this day, at every wedding we break a glass in their memory. On the Ninth of Av itself, we spend the day fasting and sitting on the floor or low stools like mourners, reading the Book of Lamentations. It is a day of profound collective grief.  Yet, except for a small group of us a B’nai Tikvah, this solemn observance is off the radar of most of the progressive Jewish community. For most, the warm summer sun serves as an opportunity for us to escape our daily pressures to enjoy cool swimming pools, crashing ocean waves and fresh mountain breezes.  Most of us cherish the little leisure time a hot summer weekend affords us, we are willing to wait a few more weeks for a mournful day fasting in shul; Yom Kippor will be here soon enough!

Here at B’nai Tikvah, our observance of Tisha B’Av was, although sad, is a profound and a very positive experience. Sinat Chinam means groundless hatred.  We are taught that God allowed the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem because of Sinat Chinam, the constant infighting among the Jewish people was a contributing factor, an ancient concept that continues to permeate our society.

Towards the end of Tisha B’Av Stacey noticed that the author of the aricle, Leah Bieler,  placed a post on her facebook page, she received this response to her article, an apology. We were very moved and we shared the hopeful apology later that evening at our closing Tisha B’Av service. We were all moved, there is hope!

Dear Leah,

You don’t know me but I feel the need to apologize to you. I just finished reading your article about your experience at the Kotel and I am deeply sorry for what you endured. I new about Woman of the wall, and I knew that it was highly controversial and woman were sometimes arrested ( which is beyond insanity) but I did not know that other women visiting the Kotel also abused and harassed women praying. I am sorry. As a Jewish woman who does not wear a Tallit to daven, as a Jewish woman who ascribes to more traditional gender roles in Judiasm, I am so sorry this happened to you and your daughter. While the entire Jewish world may not agree on how to daven, where to daven and what to daven (heck we barely agree on anything, let alone tefilah) we can still respect one another.

I hope your daughter’s (and your) feeling of connectedness to Eretz haKodesh and the Kotel have not been damaged. The Jewish people are inherently connected to the land and to the Beit haMikdash, so despite what imperfect (and sometimes cruel) humans might say, it is hers, it yours and it is everyone’s.

Again, I apologize. The last thing we need during the 9 days is more strife and disunity among ourselves. Wishing you and your family an easy fast. I hope someday very soon to meet you in Eretz Yisrael with the entire Jewish people, together, united with true Ahavat Yisrael and mutual respect for all our differences.”

“One of the greatest gifts we can give to our children is the knowledge of where we have come from, the things for which we fought, and why. None of the things we value — freedom, human dignity, justice — was achieved without a struggle. None can be sustained without conscious vigilance. A society without memory is like a journey without a map. It’s all too easy to get lost.
Life has meaning when it is part of a story, and the larger the story, the more our imaginative horizons grow. Besides, things remembered do not die. That’s as close as we get to immortality on earth.”

Rabbi Jonathan Sachs-the Times of London 2004

We pray, we learn, we are one people with many expressions of our faith in God.

Worship the Lord with Gladness & Joy,

Cantor Bruce Rockman