Entering Tisha b'Av
I will admit that I am filled with a sense of foreboding as Tisha b'Av begins.
This is a first for me; this day is not one which I have historically observed; merely noted in passing. Nor am I observing it today, other than to mark - and dread - its arrival.
As others have noted, the three weeks leading up to Tisha b'Av are noteworthy for their sorrow, and as a harbinger of the destruction that always happens at this time of year. Our enemies have noted it as well. The Temple's destruction, of course, was the first event. The Second Temple's destruction. The end of the Bar Kochba revolt. The expulsion from Spain. And, apparently, the start of World War I (this was new to me).
I am not surprised to see that, for the first time, Hizb'allah has launched rockets in the nighttime at northern Israel. Nor am I surprised to see that the Islamic Movement is calling on its supporters to gather at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, to "protect" it from the Jews going to the Temple Mount to mourn. Does anyone else see a riot happening tomorrow, and it being blamed on the "provocation" of the presence of Jews going to Temple Mount?
I hope I am wrong - that I wake up tomorrow and it is just another day in this war. But somehow, I doubt it. Sleep well, my friends - and my your fast be light, the day be uninteresting, and the sun set on Eretz Yisrael.
