A very educated young man was walking down a path when he met Tam and Chacham. The young man heard them talking about the sad time leading up to Tisha b’Av. Everything he learned from his school and society made him see religious observance as old, outdated and silly. He decided to strike up a discussion and asked. “You are recognized as leaders and teachers of the Jewish community, so explain to me what is the use of all of this mourning and sadness between Shiva Asar b’Tammuz and Tisha B’Av? Couldn’t we do just as well without it?”

Chacham answered, “By remembering all the terrible things that happened during those three weeks throughout our long history, we hope for a better future.”

The young man countered, “what so terrible happened?”

Chacham continued, “During the three weeks:

Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our Teacher) broke the tablets on which Hashem had written the Aseres haDibros (Ten Commandment) when he saw the Jewish people worshiping the Golden Calf.

During the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, the Jewish people were forced to stop offering the daily sacrifices due to the lack of sheep.

Apostomos the evil Roman general burned the holy Torah in public

An idol was placed in the Holy Temple during the time of Antiochus, and.

The walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Babylonians and later by the Romans.

Tisha b’Av is a very sad day in Jewish history, for on this day:

The spies returned from the Promised Land with frightening reports, and the children of Israel had second thoughts about entering the land. G‑d decreed that they would therefore wander in the desert for 40 years. (Numbers 13-14)

Both Holy Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed on this date. The First Temple was burned by the Babylonians in 423 BCE and the Second Temple fell to the Romans in 70 CE unleashing a period of sorrow and suffering which is felt by the Jewish people to this very day.

The Bar Kochba revolt against the Romans in 135 CE ended in defeat: The Jews of Beitar were butchered on the 9^th of Av and the Temple Mount was plowed one year later on the same date.

Later on in our history, many more tragedies happened on this day, including the beginning of the Crusades 1n 1095, the expulsion of the Jewish people from England in 1290 and the expulsion of all Jewish people from Spain.”

The young man laughed, “All that’s ancient history, today the world is much more enlightened and such things can never happen. All this sadness has led to a cultural depression among the Jewish people. Come on, let’s look at today and tomorrow and not live in yesterday.”

Chacham just starred at the young man in disbelief and then responded,

“On Pesach (Passover) we remember the wicked son who asks, ‘what is this service of yours?!  He says of yours—implying that it is not for him. By excluding himself from the community…’ “

Tam seeing that Chacham was getting upset and a grin of satisfaction was spreading across the face of the young man began, “Let me try to answer your question in another way.

Once there was a fire that destroyed many homes. Some of the homeless people search the ruins to find things that may have escaped destruction. Others don’t bother looking! Those who look are the ones who expect to rebuild their homes. The others have probably given up and don’t even want to make the effort,

“Our mourning is the same way. We remind ourselves of the destruction of the Beis Hamikdosh (the Holy Temple) because we haven’t given up. We are looking forward to the coming of Moshiach (the Messiah).”

May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

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