Baruch Atah Ado-nai Elo-henu Melech Ha'olam asher kidshanu bemitzvotav vetzivanu la'asok b'divrey Torah.
Blessings to You, Ado-nai Our God, Sovereign of the Universe, who made us holy with the commandments and instructed us to study the Torah.
*Although study of most Torah is restricted on Tisha B'Av, we still give thanks to God for the ability to gather here and reflect on the meaning and message of this day.
- The 9th of Av appears in the summer when there are no other holidays or major observances.
- It is a memorial of destruction and loss.
- Our tradition makes a deliberate connection between the 9th of Av and the High Holidays that are 7 weeks away (notice the symbolism) -- 7, Seventh month (Tishray)
- What could be the connection between this day of national calamity and loss and the beginning of the New Year? The New Year feels far away, but it is close, and closing in, in the big picture.
ראש חדש אב שחל להיות בשבת מפטירין (ישעיהו א, יד) חדשיכם ומועדיכם שנאה נפשי היו עלי לטורח מאי היו עלי לטורח אמר הקב"ה לא דיין להם לישראל שחוטאין לפני אלא שמטריחין אותי לידע איזו גזירה קשה אביא עליהם
Tosfot to Megillah 31b:
...Our custom is according to the Pesikta to recite 3 [Haftarot] of rebuke before Tisha B'Av...and after Tisha B'Av [we recite] 7 Haftarot of consolation, and 2 Haftarot of return (repentance)...
- From the 17th of Tammuz in the summer, there are 10 special Haftarot - 3 for the 3 weeks until Tisha B'av, to prepare for Tisha B'Av, 7 following Tisha B'Av to prepare for Rosh Hashanah (exactly 7 weeks later), followed by 2 after Rosh Hashanah.
- The 3 prior to 9 Av are messages of rebuke, the 7 after 9 Av are consoling the people after the destruction of the Temple, and the 2 right after Rosh Hashanah are messages of repentance and return.
- These 3 special readings are meant to prepare us for 9 Av and then to prepare us for Rosh Hashanah (7 weeks after 9Av), then to re-emphasize the message of the New Year.
Rabbi Tzadok Ha'Kohen of Lublin (1823-1900) Re'sisay Laila:
The topic of the closing portion of the year [when we chant] the three [Haftarot] of rebuke and seven [Haftarot] of consolation, the [special] Haftarah readings of the final 10 weeks of the year is the conclusion of the complete structure and the time of all creation that is like the creation of the world [that began] in darkness and then light, in the same way as it's said in the Midrash, "The righteous begin in suffering and end in peacefulness."(Br. Rabbah 61:4)
From Gershom Scholem On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead (Doubleday):
*'complete structure' - the year is a unity, a whole, a complete circle of time and so each New Year is a time of renewal.
- What are the themes/messages of the 3 Haftarot of rebuke?
First Haftarah of Rebuke: Jeremiah 1:1-2:3
(13) And the word of the LORD came to me a second time: What do you see? I replied: I see a steaming pot, Tipped away from the north.(The Babylonian empire.) (14) And the LORD said to me: From the north shall disaster break loose Upon all the inhabitants of the land! (15) For I am summoning all the peoples Of the kingdoms of the north —declares the LORD. They shall come, and shall each set up a throne Before the gates of Jerusalem, Against its walls roundabout, And against all the towns of Judah. (16) And I will argue My case against them For all their wickedness: They have forsaken Me And sacrificed to other gods And worshiped the works of their hands.
Malbim (R. Meir Levush, 19th C., Ukraine)
'They have forsaken Me': If they had abandoned me but not worshipped other gods, then that would have counted as positive for them that they did this of their own free will but they worshipped [these other gods].
Second Haftarah of Rebuke Jeremiah 2:4-28, 3:4
כי פנו אלי עורף ולא פנים, כי העובד העץ להיות אמצעי בינו ובין השם הוא פונה פניו אל יי, רק שמשים הע''א כאמצעי בינו וביניו, אבל הם שמהו ככח נשגב בפני עצמו בלתי נתלה מיי כלל, ופנו מן יי פניהם אל האליל, ובכ''ז
Rabbi Meir Levush
They turned their backs to me instead of their faces - the one who worships a wooden [idol] as a mediator between the person and God, [that person] is [really] turning a face toward God, only he/she is placing the idol as an intermediary, but they [the Jews at the time of Jeremiah's prophecy] worshipped the idol as a stand-alone power that was not taken from God at all...
- According to Malbim, the key message of the first 2 Haftarot of rebuke is that we, as a people, are worshipping idols.
- However, Malbim suggests we could have redeemed ourselves if we had recognized the idols as being products of God's creation and not gods themselves.
- Is this a surprising statement in light of our understanding of Jewish law and tradition?
- Could Malbim be suggesting that our faith evolves over time and moving toward faith in the invisible Holy One requires a stage in between?
Third Haftarah of Rebuke: Isaiah 1:1-27
(12) That you come to appear before Me— Who asked that of you? Trample My courts (13) no more; Bringing oblations is futile, Incense is offensive to Me. New moon and sabbath, Proclaiming of solemnities, Assemblies with iniquity, I cannot abide. (14) Your new moons and fixed seasons Fill Me with loathing; They are become a burden to Me, I cannot endure them. (15) And when you lift up your hands, I will turn My eyes away from you; Though you pray at length, I will not listen. Your hands are stained with crime— (16) Wash yourselves clean; Put your evil doings Away from My sight. Cease to do evil; (17) Learn to do good. Devote yourselves to justice; Aid the wronged. Uphold the rights of the orphan; Defend the cause of the widow.
- Here the message is not about worshipping idols, it's about justice.
- Are our ancestors suggesting that worshipping idols leads to injustice in society? Or does this Haftarah suggest that injustice was ongoing? Earlier in the same chapter of Isaiah the prophet says, "They have forsaken the Lord, spurned the Holy One of Israel".(Isaiah 1:4)
Overtones of the High Holidays in the reassuring closing words of the Haftarot of rebuke:
- The 7 Haftarot of comfort are all meant for reassurance and renewal.
- We see even in the Haftarot of Rebuke the seeds of hope for the New Year.
- Where else do we see the seeds of hope?
On the day [the Messiah] was born, the Holy Temple [in Jerusalem] was destroyed. (Jerusalem Talmud, Berachot 2:4)
(16) For these things do I weep, My eyes flow with tears: Far from me is any comforter Who might revive my spirit; My children are forlorn, For the foe has prevailed.
Menachem (comforter) is the Messiah. (Pesikta Zutreta, Lekach Tov)
The righteous ones used to say: This Shabbat (Shabbat Chazon, prior to 9 Av) is a great Shabbat, and the reason is simple: When we bring in a light into a dark place the light is especially pleasant. And the same is true for these days, days of suffering and sadness, languishing and darkness...and in these days of trouble, days of God's hidden-ness and God's strict justice, the light of this Shabbat comes to reveal the good that is foreseen in the [apparent] emptiness [of God's Presence].
-R. Avraham Yakov of Sadigora
- This time of darkness in the Jewish calendar contains within it the light of hope.
- Shabbat Chazon is the day just prior to Tisha B'Av - the 7th day that foreshadows the New Year in the 7th month (counting from Nisan in the spring).
משנכנס אב ממעטין בשמחה
When the month of Av begins, we reduce our happiness (Ta'anit 26, Mishnah)
In these days we...reduce and restrict ourselves from many things, but [we do so] in a happy way.
(*Meaning of the 'Bet') - Hadisic teaching
Rabbi Yohanan b. Zakkai once was walking with his student Rabbi Joshua near Jerusalem after the destruction of the Temple. Rabbi Joshua looked at the Temple in ruins and said, "Alas for us! The place which atoned for the sins of the people of Israel through the ritual of animal sacrifice lies in ruins!" Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai spoke to him these words of comfort, "Be not grieved, my son. There is another way of gaining atonement even though the Temple is destroyed. We must now gain atonement through deeds of lovingkindness. For it is written, "Lovingkindness I desire, not sacrifice." (Hoshea 6:6)
From the beginning of the 1st Haftarah of consolation.
דברו על לב Speak ye comfortably. The expression דבר על לב speak to the heart means always to speak kindly, so as to remove sorrow and regret for things which have already past; comp. Gen. 50:21. (Ibn Ezra)
א' אדם המתחיל בתשובה ואחר כך מסייעין לו מלמעלה, כמו שכתב הט"ז באורח חיים ריש סי' א', ב' שאינו מתחיל כי אם על ידי סיוע מלמעלה, וכמו שדרשו חכמינו ז"ל (בסוף מדרש איכה רבתי) שזה הוויכוח בין הקדוש ברוך הוא ובין כנסת ישראל, כי הקדוש ברוך הוא אומר (זכריה א') שובו אלי ואשובה אליכם, ר"ל שיהיה האדם המתחיל בתשובה ויי יגמור בעדו לטובה, והבא לטהר מסייעין לו (יומא דל"ח ע"ב) לכך נאמר שובו אתם תחלה, וכנסת ישראל משיבה אין בנו כח להתחיל, אלא (איכה ה') השיבנו יי אליך ונשובה...
Mekor Mayim Chayim on Baal Shem Tov:
There are 2 types of teshuvah - the first, a person cannot begin without help from Above...This is a conflict between the Holy One and the People of Israel, God says, "Return to me, and I'll return to you", this means the people begin in teshuvah and God helps them fulfill their teshuvah for the good, [as it says in the Talmud] 'The one who comes to be purified, they will help him.' - that is why God says 'Return' to them first, but the People of Israel respond, "We don't have the power to start [toward teshuvah], so they say 'Take us back and we will return!"
We pray that with help from God and from each other, we will gather ourselves over these next 7 weeks and find the strength to face the New Year with hope, with a sense of purpose, and with faith in God's guiding Presence.