We finally caught up with the communities in Eretz Yisrael in our reading last week. It was the first time since Pesach that a visitor from Israel heard a new Parasha here. I mentioned that we are in no hurry to catch up but we finally did last week in order to make sure that Devarim comes before Tisha B’Av. Or, as this year, ON Tisha B’Av.
Devarim is always read before Tisha B’Av because it contains the seeds of understanding Tisha B’Av. Moshe Rabenu’s speech begins with a history lesson. Those stories are about the future, however, as much as they are about the past. There is very little use for history as history per se. It always has to be about the future.
His overall goal is to give guidance and something of a pep talk about entering the land. He reviews stories which reveal how to get there and a basic pattern. Whether it is in refraining from war with Moav and Esav, or about joining the battle with Og and Sichon, the message is the same: Do as commanded.
But his first memory is about the Meraglim. Even though that is 40 years earlier, it is still about the future. Surely, he is reviewing why they are here now. But he is also telling them the most important thing to avoid. The episode comes down to one phrase. He recalls that they said, “B’SInat Hashem Otanu hotzeeanu meretz mitrayim” -- Out of Hashem’s hate for us He brought us out of Egypt. Only one who hated us could do this. Rashi points out: But Hashem loves them. Rather, it must be that you hate him. And then Rashi gives a lesson in human relations: Because you project that He hates you, you hate him.
Why did they believe Hashem hates them? Because they believe they have been put in an impossible situation, a situation in which they cannot succeed. Is that true? Strictly speaking, yes, it is true. They cannot conquer Eretz Yisrael without assistance. But who can do anything without assistance? Yes, Hashem has lofty expectations but that does not mean that there is no mercy, or assistance. The lesson in the desert was supposed to remedy this problem. For this new generation, it is supposed to be easier. Hashem had trained them like a parent -- food every day, drink every day, cloud cover, clothing which did not wear out. This was supposed to give them confidence about the future.
But the fundamental pattern is the same. One cannot succeed without assistance. One must go boldly forward based on the confidence that if Hashem has brought me this far, He will keep going. A former member here made a Bar Mitzva for her son in Eretz Yisrael a few weeks ago. When she lived here, she used to say, “I have not come this far in order to only come this far,” and she repeated that at the Bar Mitzva of her son. It is a statement of spiritual ambition. But it is also a way to say -- “Hashem has not brought me this far in order to only bring me this far.”
The reaction after the spies was sadness. Chazal say in Taanit that Hashem’s message was that if you want to cry for nothing now, then I’ll give you something to cry about for the generations.
Crying, Bechi, comes from the word Mevucha, or confusion. It’s what comes when one cannot see through to the end and then despairs that that is because there is no way out. The only way out was assistance. He says if you want to choose the no- way-out route, then I will give you a forever of no-way-outs.
The seeds of Tisha B’Av are in our despairing conclusion that Hashem does not love us. When I speak about this subject, I often get funny faces. What is he, some kind of priest? One of the reasons for our difficulty is that we associate this so-Jewish idea with other religions. This is because we have internalized what the Christians have told us. We agree that perhaps we have exhausted Hashem’s patience, let alone His love, for us. He grew tired of us, and abandoned us, and all of our suffering points to the same, Chas V’Shalom. For centuries, the Church used the suffering of the Jews as confirmation that Hashem had abandoned them. When we adopt that position, they have won. R’ Soloveitchik recalled that Christians would sidle up next to him on trains during the war and point to what was happening in Europe as further evidence that Hashem had moved on from us. Let this Tisha B’Av put an end to this. Let us work to understand how we are loved, and look forward to an end of no-way-out thinking. Let Tisha B’Av be the way forward out of the cul de sac, soon and in our days.
Congregation Emek Beracha 4102 El Camino Real Palo Alto, CA 94306
