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June 25, 2010
Saddest time of year
We have a chance to transform bad into good.
RABBI SHMUEL YESHAYAHU
On the 17th day of the month of Tammuz, a three-week mourning period begins. I know we are mourning the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the exile of the Jews from the land of Israel, but I just don’t relate to the reasons for mourning. Is there any way I can make this time more meaningful for myself?
On the 17th of Tammuz, 586 BCE, the Romans breached the walls of Jerusalem. Three weeks later, on the ninth of the month of Av, they destroyed the Temple. This three-week period is considered the most painful time of the Jewish year. But I don’t think it’s only about remembering the tragedies of the past. Yes, it’s very important to remember the past but, you’re right, there must be something that connects the story of 2,000 years ago to our lives today. So, what is the deeper message?
I’d like to focus on the beautiful prophecies of Jeremiah, who foresaw and then witnessed the destruction of the Temple. He wrote Eichah (Lamentations), and his prophecies are contained in the Book of Jeremiah.
In one prophecy, G-d asks Jeremiah what he sees and Jeremiah responds that he sees the stick of an almond tree. G-d answers, “You have seen good....” (Jeremiah 1:11) What is the significance of the almond tree and why would G-d say that it is “good”?
Almonds take 21 days to grow from flower to fruit. One interpretation of this exchange with G-d is that Jeremiah learned that it would take 21 days from when the walls of Jerusalem were breached until the Temple would be destroyed. But why did G-d choose to hint about the 21 days instead of being direct?
In a commentary, the Rogatchover Gaon (Yosef Rosen, 1858-1936) explained that almonds start out bitter and become sweet when they ripen. Here, G-d is telling Jeremiah, “Right now is the beginning of the ripening of the fruit. It is starting out bitter, but it will eventually become sweet.”
The exile of Jews from the land of Israel is very bitter; there is huge suffering. But it also contains the seeds of redemption – it will lead to sweetness. When Jeremiah saw the almond stick, G-d was saying, “You’ve understood the meaning behind things. You have seen that good exists in bad.”
It’s interesting to note that there are 21 special days in the Jewish calendar each year, including, Shabbat (1), Rosh Chodesh (1), Pesach (7), Shavuot (1), Rosh Hashanah (2), Yom Kippur (1), Sukkot (7) and Simchat Torah (1). These 21 celebratory days teach us that, in the days to come, the three weeks – which are now a time of mourning – will become a time of celebration instead.
In the Talmud (Makkot 24b), there is a story of Rabbi Akiva traveling with a few other rabbis to the Temple Mount. When they see the Temple in shambles, all the rabbis cry except for Rabbi Akiva, who laughs.
When asked why he’s laughing, Rabbi Akiva explains that there are two prophecies: one about destruction and another about rebuilding. They all know that the second cannot happen until the first has happened and since he is seeing the first fulfilled, he feels confident that the second will happen as well.
We all have bitterness in life. Difficult relationships, poor health, expectations unmet. There are two ways to deal with the bitterness. One is to mourn. This makes a lot of sense. It is important to be aware of reality. The second way, however, is to preserve the ability to move forward with hope. This is accomplished by viewing the current situation as the seed of a better future. Rabbi Akiva and Jeremiah saw the good, the seeds of the future. They both saw the spark of goodness even in the most difficult situations.
Interestingly, Tammuz was the name of a Babylonian idol. Using this name for a Jewish month of mourning teaches that we can transform the negative, that we must look deeply into life in order to see the positive. It also teaches that combating negative things in our lives by defacing them is not a solution, since it’s possible that the psychological pull to participate in the negative activity may not disappear. As such, Tammuz is considered the month during which we can work on understanding and transforming our psyche.
In order to make this time period more meaningful, this year, during the three weeks (which starts with the fast of the 17th of Tammuz on June 29, before sunrise, and ends with the fast of the ninth of Av, July 19, in the evening), focus on seeing the good, and using the bad as the starting point to bring good things into the world.
Rabbi Shmuel Yeshayahu is head of the Ohel Ya’akov Community Kollel. He wrote this article with Deena Levenstein, a freelance writer living in Jerusalem. Her website is habitza.com.
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