Every year, one of the greatest challenges going into Tisha B’Av is the statement of the Gemara Yerusalmi “A generation in which the Temple is not built is considered to be one in which it was destroyed” (Yerushalmi, Yoma 1:10). The Gemara also tells us that, the people at the time of the destruction studied Torah, observed the mitzvot and performed good deeds. Their great failure was in sinat chinam- baseless hatred. It was internal strife and conflict that ultimately brought about the Temple’s destruction( Yoma 9b). The logical conclusion that one must take from these two Gemarot, is that if in our days the Temple is still not rebuilt, then our generation is still suffering from the ills of sinat chinam, which was the cause of the original destruction.

The Netziv (Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda of Berlin), in his introduction to the book of Bereshit, writes that the cause of sinat chinam during the time of the Second Temple was that people believed that they had a monopoly on Avodat Hashem. He says that when people saw others worshiping Hashem in the way that they deemed unfitting, they would declare them to be heretics. These people were not doing anything wrong, on the contrary they were finding their own unique expression in serving Hashem but since it did not fit into what was thought to the “right” world view, it was deemed heretical, which ultimately led to in fighting amongst the Jews and the destruction of the Temple. As the Netziv writes that Hashem cannot stand “Tzadikim” like these and because of this the Temple was destroyed.

The question that should confront us each and every year, is how are we going to change this year, so that the Temple will be re-built speedily in our days? Rav Kook writes that, “If we were destroyed, and the world with us, due to baseless hatred, then we shall rebuild ourselves, and the world with us, with baseless love — ahavat chinam. (Orot HaKodesh vol. III, p. 324)

How are we able to develop this trait of ahavat chinam, which if we are successful in that endeavor will bring about the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple? I believe that the answer can begin with the gemara in Meschet Ta’anit . The gemara writes that – “Whoever mourns for Jerusalem will merit sharing in her joy” Ta’anit 30b). After a cursory glance of this Gemara it begs the question, why did the Sages say that those who mourn Jerusalem will merit seeing it ‘in its joy’? It would be more consistent to say that they will merit seeing Jerusalem, restored and rebuilt. After all, the mourning is because of the destruction of the city?

Rav Kook in Mo’adei HaRe’iyah explains as follows, the Sages knew that when the city of Jerusalem would again be rebuilt everyone alive at the time would witness the rebuilding of the city. Even those people who did not mourn, or realize that there was anything lacking in its destruction, would see it rebuilt. Therefore, the Sages are telling us, it is true that many people will see Jerusalem rebuilt, however only those who mourned for its destruction, will “merit sharing in her joy” feeling the joy and excitement of its rebuilding.

Though Rav Kook has explained why the Sages chose the words that they did, it is still puzzling why the Gemara wrote “Whoever mourns for Jerusalem” and not “whoever mourns for the Temple”? I believe that within the identity of the city of Jerusalem, there are fundamental lessons that need to be internalized, without which rebuilding the Temple will be a very daunting task.

The Gemara in Bava Kama 82b lists ten Mitzvot ,which were not practiced in the city of Jerusalem, including making the declaration of an “ir ha-nidachat” (idolatrous city), etc. The reason given in the Gemara for this unique status was that Jerusalem, unlike all other portions of The Land of Israel, was not divided amongst any of the tribes.

The Gemara Yoma 12a continues in a similar theme and writes that houses may not be rented out in Jerusalem because “it (Jerusalem) is not theirs.” Meaning, the halakha that Jerusalem was not divided among the tribes means, in a practical sense, that Jerusalem does not belong to us. The status of Jerusalem transcends the individual , is not the private property or personal acquisition of any person in Israel, but rather is a part of Klal Yisrael collectively.

Temple Mount activist groups are suing the police for “racist discrimination” and for tens of thousands of dollars in damages after the law enforcement agency closed the holy site to hundreds of Jews on Tisha B’Av Tuesday.

The police had promised on Monday to open the site to Jews for limited visiting hours. Earlier on Monday, the police escorted Jews off the Temple Mount for the second time in five days after Muslims barged into the group and threatened them to leave. (See video below.)

Among those who waited in vain to ascend the Temple Mount were two Knesset Members, Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin of the Likud and the other Jewish Home MK Shuli Mualem-Rafaeli.

Activists who encourage Jews to ascend to the Holy site warned on Monday that the police would close the site. In response, police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told the Jewish Press on Monday “it would be open as usual, depending on security.”

Police usually allow Jews to visit the Temple Mount for approximately two hours, until 11 a.m. However, at 7 a.m. Tuesday, on the Tisha B’Av day that marks the mourning of the destruction of the First and Second Holy Temples, the police stated it would not be open to Jews and other religions – except Muslims.

The explanation was that “security assessments” dictated  that the Temple Mount would be off limits “to all visitors, in order to prevent disturbances.”

Attorney Aviad Visuly, acting on behalf of Temple Mount groups, said he is suing the police for compensation and also is demanding explanations from the police as well as the firing of its Jerusalem district commander, Yossi Parienti.”

He pointed out that the closure of the Temple Mount on Tisha B’Av at a.m. came at a time when “there almost no one there and when there were no disturbances.”

“This is racist anti-Jewish discrimination, while Jews are not at all suspect  in riots and disturbances on the Temple Mount, “ where Muslims routinely riot and threaten Jews, the lawsuit adds.

It noted that the Supreme Court has scolded the police several times for not putting a stop to violence on the Temple Mount and for a policy that prevents Jews from ascending the site and praying, The court has warned that police polices may not be legal.

The lawsuit, besides demanding that Parienti be fired, wants answers to several question by next Monday:

• Who decided to close the Temple Mount to Jews on Tisha B’Av?
• What were the reasons?
• What measures did the police take to prevent the closure?
• Why was the Temple Mount closed to Jews and other religions and not to Muslims?
• Was the political establishment involved n the decision?
• How many police  were no hand to prepare for disturbances?
• How will police keep the Temple Mount from being closed to Jews in the future?

The biggest challenge we have on Tisha B’Av is relating to its sadness. Our Judaism is so upbeat and so positive that it can be hard to find the inner strength to be sad on this day. We are more Slabodka than Navardhok. We are more Chasidishe than Litvishe. We are more Mesillas Yesharim than Shaarei Teshuva.

That’s contemporary Judaism. Asceticism is out. Joyful service is in. Eating is the new fasting.

As such, it can be difficult to muster the requisite sadness and appropriate mood for Tisha B’Av. I struggle with this every year and I know many others who do as well.

Since the time around last Tisha B’Av I have been stuyding and teaching Daf Yomi. I think that the daily Talmudic study may have a secret that can inform our Tisha B’Av experience this year.

One of the beautiful things about studying Talmud is appreciating the way the text immerses you in the conversation. The reader is not a passive bystander. The reader is an active participant in the discussion. Sometime we are the Tanna Kamma. Then we are the voice of the Gemara that challenges that Tanna. Then we become the the various Amoraim who answer these challenges. All along the way we take on the persona and logical faculties of the speaker in the text. One second you’re R’ Yehoshua, the next second you’re R’ Elazar, the next minute you are Abaye, and immediately thereafter you are Rava. We read their words and we strive to understand their thinking.

I find this exhilarating. Every other book I have read or studied tells you what to think. The Talmud asks you to join along in thinking with it.

This Tisha B’Av we can try to do the same thing with the Tisha B’Av liturgy. We hear the haunting intonations of Eicha. Instead of trying to feel pain that is so fleeting for us today, let’s try to empathize with the pain of Jeremiah. His pain leaps off the page. Can we hear the agony in his words? Can we step into his shoes and experience his torment?

We can do the same thing we read the Kinos. They are obscure and arcane. But they can also give us a window into the hearts and minds of their composers. When we read the poetic dirges written centuries ago we must transport ourselves to that day in history. We must try to feel what they are feeling when they wrote these searing laments. We may not be able to feel our own pain, but we can all empathize with our ancestors and feel their pain.

I propose that we treat the Tisha B’Av liturgy the way we treat the Talmud. We read the lines of the Talmud and we put ourselves in the place of their speaker. We can do the same thing on Tisha B’Av. We can become Jeremiah, we can become HaKalir, we can live Eicha and the Kinos vicariously.

Perhaps if we feel their pain, it will awaken the dormant pain in our hearts this Tisha B’Av. And maybe if we awaken that latent pain found deep in the recesses our soul, we will merit to have that pain replaced with the joy of a time when Tisha B’Av is a day of celebration and no longer a day of mourning.

השיבנו ה’ אליך ונשובה חדש ימינו כקדם

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On Tisha B’Av evening, the Women in Green led their traditional march with a packed crowd (despite the late hour) around the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu picked up the phone on Sunday to personally call Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas and say, “I called to greet you on the occasion of Ramadan.”

That was the first time the Prime Minister has called Abbas since the new government took office this year.

Cynics might say that Netanyahu simply was being a political opportunist, calling days before U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pays his sixth visit to the region this to re-invent the “peace process.”

“I hope that we will have an opportunity to speak to each other and not just on holidays, and that we begin negotiations,” the Prime Minister added. “This is important. I hope that American Secretary of State John Kerry’s efforts have results.”

That certainly should satisfy the cynics.

Unfortunately, the Office of the Prime Minister, which made sure the media knew about the phone call, did not mention what Abbas said in response, if anything. Government spokesman Mark Regev told the Jewish Press, “I cannot go beyond the statement.”

Presumably, Abbas said, “Thank you.”

That would be a good start.

The United States has been acting as middle man for Israel and the Palestinian Authority for more than 20 years, orchestrating the moves of the leaders, whether they be Arafat, Abbas, Netanyahu, Loment or Sharon.

Until now.

The Obama administration, which simply is carrying the flameless torch of the Bush administration, has put each side into a tight comer with no room to wriggle except to turn around and quit the game of charades.

If the international community, whatever that means today, would let Israel and the Palestinian Authority figure this out for themselves, maybe the locals actually know what is best.

Netanyahu got the ball rolling.

Who knows? Maybe Abbas will call him today and wish a “good fast” for Tisha B’Av?

Tisha B’Av marks the date that the First and Second Holy Temples were destroyed.

A cynic would say, “Wait a minute. The Palestinian Authority is trying to convince the world that the Jews never had any connection with the Temple Mount and that the Bible is simply Zionist propaganda.”

In that case, Abbas would not make any reference to  Tisha B’Av.

Oh well, there always is Rosh HaShanah.

The “9 days” started yesterday, and I keep seeing “how to survive the 9 days” posts, ways to make the best dairy meals, and how to get past Tisha B’Av in one piece.

The real answer lies in this video: The Children Are Ready.

And they are… we need to get past the Kotel, get past the mindset of 2000 years of exile, and look to the future.

The future is within our grasp…we just need to be ready. Are you?

Israel’s Temple Institute, which encourages praying on  the Temple Mount and working to build the Third Temple, has released a video production that shows children taking adults out of synagogue on Tisha B’Av to join them to rebuild the Temple.

The Chief Rabbinate of Israel discourages Jews from praying on the Temple Mount because of Halachic issues, while the Temple Institute and many other rabbis have ruled that Jews can ascend to certain areas of the Temple Mount.

Jews around the world are in the traditional Nine Days, the last part of the three-week period of mourning over the destruction of the First and Second Temples, both of which were destroyed in Tisha B’Av, or the Ninth of the Hebrew month of Av that began on Monday.

The Temple Institute has produced a two and a half minute video entitled “The Children are Ready II,” a sequel to last year’s video at this time.

The video shows men sitting on the floor and reciting the Lamentations that are said on Tisha B’Av, while children decide it is time to bring out their tools and get to work to rebuild the Temple instead of only crying over the past.

They march into the synagogue and convince the adults to leave behind their prayer books and come with them.

“Tisha B’Av is not about just mourning; it is about contemplating a world devoid of the Holy Temple, a house of peace and prayer for all nations, and it’s about asking ‘when will the mourning stop?’” said Rabbi Chaim Richman, international director of the Temple Institute.

“Last year, ‘The Children are Ready’ inadvertently outraged the Arab world with the Egyptian government releasing a formal complaint and rebuttal videos made by Hamas and other Islamist organizations,” the Institute commented Monday.

The Palestinian Authority and the entire Arab world have increasingly published propaganda about Jews trying to take over the Temple Mount and rebuild the Temple, and the new video is likely to cause an uproar among Muslims, particularly since the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins this week.