Destruction & Renewal

1) Tisha B’Av – Mourning the Destruction
2) Unity Torah
3) BBQ Sunday in Temescal Canyon
4) Work Study
5) Save the Date: Hawaiian Luau and Welcome Shabbat
6) Thought for the Week

1) Tisha B’Av – Mourning the Destruction
The ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av begins tonight at sunset. This day marks the anniversary of the destruction of both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, in 423 BCE and 69 CE by the Babylonians and the Romans respectively. Throughout Jewish history, many other calamities of note happened or began on this same day. It is observed as a day of fasting and mourning, because it is only through our awareness of where we came from and what we’ve been through that we can continue to move forward and appreciate who we are and who we can become. (More on that in the Thought for the Week.)

The basic observances of the day include:
No eating, drinking, bathing, marital relations, or wearing leather shoes from sunset tonight (Wednesday, August 2) until nightfall tomorrow night (Thursday, August 3.
Hearing in the synagogue or reading the book of Eicha (Lamentations).
Refraining from any study of Torah not directly pertaining to the story of the Destructions or the laws of mourning, for Torah study is the truest form of joy.
Giving charity (some say at least the value of the meals we are not eating) to the poor.

For more information on the history and detailed observances of Tisha B’Av, click http://www.chabad.org/holidays/3weeks/calendar/article.asp?AID=144575

Here in Los Angeles, the fast begins tonight just after 7:50 pm, and ends tomorrow night just before 8:30 pm.

2) Unity Torah
As rockets continue to rain down on our brethren in the Holy Land and the violence swirls all around (just today there were 210 rockets and missiles! Do you realize that there are over 1,000,000 refugees from the current violence in Israel alone? And another million people living in bomb shelters! This in a country of some 6 million people.), I strongly encourage each of you to join in a spiritual act of solidarity:
Join thousands of other Jewish students around the world in purchasing a letter in a special Torah scroll being written to express our unity and solidarity. It’s just $1-, but the message it sends is priceless.
More info at www.unitytorah.com

You can also read up on other things you can do to help the current situation at www.chabadoncampus.org/crisis www.standwithus.com or www.aipac.org

Also, make sure to check out www.jnet.org for an awesome opportunity for Jewish learning on your schedule at your pace.

3) BBQ Sunday at Temescal Canyon

In case you can’t read the image:
The Persian Jewish community has a tradition of congregating outdoors on the Sunday following “Shabbat Nachamu” – the Shabbat after Tisha B’av. This year, the local campus Chabad Houses will be there with a fully catered Persian BBQ.
You’re invited to join us: Sunday, August 6. 12 – 6 pm. At Temescal Canyon Park.

4) Work Study
Just a reminder that we’re looking for a few good men and women to work with us at Chabad this coming school year. If you are Work Study eligible please contact Runya at runya@usc.edu
Work in a friendly environment, make a real difference in Jewish life at USC, all while getting paid!

5) Save the Date
School is almost here. I’ll give the full rundown of upcoming activities next week, but save these dates already:
Thursday, August 17 we’ll be kicking things off with an amazing Hawaiian Luau BBQ right on campus at 5:00 pm.
And on Friday, August 18, USC’s best weekly Jewish experience returns with our long-anticipated Welcome Shabbat. Catch up with old friends and make new ones as we kick another semester off in style.

6) Thought for the Week
I don’t know if the following story really happened or is a legend, but either way the point is true.

During the height of his conquests, Napoleon was once riding with his entourage when he heard sounds of a commotion coming from a nearby structure. As they drew near the sounds of mournful wailing reached their ears.
Napoleon himself strode into the structure to see what the crying was all about. He saw a classic scene of mourning: dimmed lights, people sitting on the floors, and weeping and crying throughout the room.
“Find out what this is about,” he commanded his courtiers.
It took just a moment. “This is a Jewish synagogue,” they reported back. “And they’re crying over the destruction of their Temple.”
Napoleon was outraged. “This was obviously a building of import. How could such a thing have taken place in my empire without my knowledge and authorization? Where and when was this Temple destroyed?”
The answer shocked him. “The Temple was destroyed in Jerusalem over 1700 years ago. Today is the ninth day of the month of Av, the anniversary of that Destruction.”
“If a people can mourn a loss so deeply and truly for so long,” declared Bonaparte, “surely they will merit to see it rebuilt once again.”

Unknowingly, Napoleon had struck on a teaching of Judaism. “Whoever truly participates in mourning for the destruction of Jerusalem,” our sages taught, “will merit to see in its rejoicing.”

But what exactly is this mourning? Why is it so important? Isn’t mourning centuries later just a sign of paralysis and stagnation? Why not move on?

Of course, on a basic level, there’s no reason to want something unless you truly recognize what it is that you’re missing. So learning about the Temple, recognizing what it meant to the Jewish people, even feeling how much we currently lack that type of relationship with the Divine, are all necessary components of being able to truly want to have it again.

And we all know the quote, “those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.” So on a purely nationalistic level, the awareness of our history and consciousness of the suffering and persecution in which our nation was forged again and again are key components of understanding what it means to be a Jew.

But I believe the mourning for the Destruction of the Temple achieves more than just that.

“He who plants in tears harvests in celebration” declared the Psalmist.

We’re not just crying for wood and stone. If we were, we’d just go out and build a new structure.
We’re not just weeping for lives lost – bitter as that period in our history was. The reality of the Jewish people and our world as a whole is that there have been many more calamities since.
We’re not just focusing on the grief and sadness of events in our past. Because if we are stuck on a long-ago reality we are failing to live up to the potential that exists in each and every day.

We’re planting in tears. We’re sowing a seed. A seed of awareness. A seed of consciousness. A seed of redemption.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe often pointed out a fascinating phenomenon: The Hebrew word for exile – golah – is comprised of the very same letters as the Hebrew word for redemption – geulah, with just one important difference. The word for redemption has an added aleph.

What is an aleph? It is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It’s the first letter of the Ten Commandments, with which G-d introduces himself. It’s the Hebrew symbol for one: One G-d, unity within creation. As it is spelled out, aleph also means teaching, as in the verse aalephca chochma, aalephcha binah – I will teach you wisdom, I will teach you understanding.

Aleph essentially is consciousness. Consciousness of a Higher Being. Consciousness of a higher purpose. Consciousness of an inherent and essential design within all of creation.

Introduce an aleph into exile and you’ve got redemption.

The planting in tears is not something separate from the celebration of the harvest. It’s through the planting that we can reach the harvest. And it’s often through the tears that we can reach the celebration. Because if we get down and deep, if we understand what lies within the tears and perceive the purpose of the exile, we come to recognize that it was all about the joy of the redemption in the first place.
That’s what the tears over the Destruction of the Temple are about. We’re not stuck in the past. Our tears are focused on the future. Our mourning for the destruction is the way through which we get in touch with the glorious promise of its ultimate rebuilding.

May this be the last time we commemorate – even outwardly – the pain and suffering of our exile, as we speedily merit the day when “the L-rd your G-d will erase all tears from the earth” with the coming of Moshiach.

Shabbat Shalom,
Dov and Runya