בס”ד
By Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
Painting by: Baruch Nachshon z”l
And You Shall Settle Upon the Land Securely
This drawing exhibits the sentence we say in Lecha Dodo: “Mikdash Melech ir melucha” – “Sanctuary of the king, royal city, Arise! Leave from the midst of the turmoil; Long enough have you sat in the valley of tears, And He will take great pity upon you compassionately.” We see Jerusalem as if in a fire/smoke in the heavens above the “earthly” Jerusalem. This matter seems to indicate our prayer on Tisha Bav “for with fire You have burnt it and with fire You shall build it.” One of the matters this prayer may indicate to us is that a key to building the Beit Hamikdash is kindling our souls with fervour, as by fire, for its rebuilding.
“Leave from the midst of the turmoil; Long enough have you sat in the valley of tears” – In a different painting we remarked that it seems that R. Nachshon related the words of Parashat Nitzavim Vayelech that evil will come upon Israel in the end of days when they scorn “niatzuni” God – a term closely resembling “Nazis” to the Nazis. It is also possible to connect these words to the verse “And all those who scorn me “vechol mena’atzai” will not see it [the Land of Israel]” which is said in context of the sin of the spies and it is known that from the sin of the spies a mourning was set for generations and the Holocaust is also included in this.. Tisha Bav is the day of the sin of the spies and is also a pivotal day of the Holocaust: The beginning of the end of the Warsaw Ghetto coincided with Tisha B’Av. Indeed, it was the day of Tisha B’Av itself, July 23, 1942, that the first trainload of Jews arrived at their destination, Treblinka, and sent to the gas chambers. Remarkably, it was one year earlier, on July 31, 1941 – on the evening of the 8th of Av – that Hermann Goring signed a document to implement the “final solution of the Jewish problem,” i.e. extermination. Even today we are witness to the horrible Nazi-like cruelty of Hamas and how so many nations of the world sympathize with them. Indeed, we can root Hamas-Gaza today to the evacuation of Jews from Gaza on Tisha Bav twenty years ago. Nevertheless, today we are in a far better position than the Holocaust, seeing the prophecies of redemption, one of them being the revival of the “dry bones” in Ezekiel, being realized before our very eyes.
Hebron is where Kaleb took the courage to fight the scheme of the spies who caused Tisha Bav, and therefore with Hebron also lies the cure of Tisha Bav. Hebron – the eternal Jewish city – is not only a testimony to Israel’s unceasing survival throughout the generations, including the Holocaust, but is also a testimony to the revival of the “dry bones” in Ezekiel’s vision of turning destruction “Hurban” into Hebron (same letters) that unites our people. Ascension of souls to our renewed holy land ultimately God does in the miracle “He brings a soul to the people on it [the Holy Land]” (Isaiah 32:5), which is understood by our sages to mean that the resurrection of the dead will take place in the Holy Land.