Jerusalem 586 BCE and Gaza 2014

Summary:

As religious Jews recall the tragedy of the fall of Jerusalem and the Temple in 586 BCE, it may be more than a mere coincidence that we are also witnessing the tragedy of Gaza. Perhaps the prophet Jeremiah, whose words form much of the leitmotif for this observance, can shed some light on these dark moments.

Full Text:

It’s that time again; that liminal summer month when my Jewish soul experiences shock and awe. Religious Jews wander somewhat insensate through the three weeks leading up to the observance of Tisha B’Av, the Ninth (day) of (the Hebrew month of) Av. According to Jewish tradition, both Jewish Temples were destroyed on Tisha B’Av, the first two items on a long list of national tragedies that are said to have taken place on this day. For three weeks leading up to this observance, our liturgy plods through the rebukes of the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, who insist that these calamities were the natural consequences of the nation’s shortcomings. It was our fault; we sinned. (See “Sin Is Out” on this blog). Then, on Tisha B’Av, we come face to face with the torment of siege, suffering and death that accompanied the Babylonian assault on Jerusalem in 586 BCE as recounted in the Book of Lamentations.

This year, however, we mark these observances as we witness the tragedy of Gaza. It is not my intention to unravel the politics of this war--the charges and counter charges that appear to me as a broken record, a kind of stale drama whose script is brought out every few years so that the various, well-rehearsed actors can read their all-too familiar lines. So I’ll give Bibi Netanyahu his hackneyed phrases. It’s their fault, those Gazans. They sinned. They use their civilians as human shields and place their rockets in schools and hospitals. Especially during these three weeks, we ought to realize that even if it is their fault, it’s no less tragic. The tears of little children crying to their mothers for food and safety is as heart wrenching in Gaza of 2014 as it is for those of us who recall Jerusalem in 586 BCE, regardless of who’s at fault.

However, I’m struck by another thought this year as I reflect on the biblical prophet whose words echo through this three-week period. Jeremiah witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, and all of the events that led up to that moment. He is a tragic figure in the midst of a national tragedy. He is a suffering prophet, reflecting his own and his people’s suffering, but also expressing the divine suffering that attends the shattering of the divine/human relationship, which Jeremiah understands to be the primary cause of the ensuing disaster.

^“Oh, that my head were a spring of water
    and my eyes a fountain of tears!
I would weep day and night
    for the slain of my people” (Jeremiah 9:1).

But Jeremiah is also an unabashed iconoclast. He challenges the aristocratic elites of his day—the king, the royal officials, the priests and the prophets. These rely on the false sense of power and authority built into a royal ideology that sees the monarchy and its corresponding Temple apparatus as a guarantee of God’s presence in assuring the well being of the nation. Yes, he faults the people for their worship of false gods—that is, the worship of things made by humans—but he also rebukes them for relaying on their own stale rituals and liturgies while ignoring the social responsibilities that, for Jeremiah, form the core of Israel’s covenant with God.

“Do not trust in deceptive words and say, ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!’ If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors forever and ever. But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless”(Jeremiah 7:4-8).

How fascinating that Jeremiah mocks the people with their empty words and hackneyed phrases: temple of the Lord, temple of the Lord, temple of the Lord. They are insufficient to guarantee the well-being of the nation. For that, the people have to come to an understanding of their divine obligations. To guarantee their future in their land, they need to come to know God, which is the ultimate basis of their presence there. And what does it mean to know God? (I am, after all, a religious humanist.)

“This is what the Lord says:

‘Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
    or the strong boast of their strength
    or the rich boast of their riches,
but let the one who boasts boast about this:
    that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
    justice and righteousness on earth,
    for in these I delight,’
declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:23-24).

Tisha B’Av falls on the evening of Monday, August 4. I would suggest that every reader spend that time reading the Book of Lamentations. Perhaps by that time, we will be able to put aside our stale rituals and liturgies, our empty words and hackneyed phrases. As we weep with the mothers of Jerusalem in 586 BCE who are weeping for the suffering of their hungry, besieged children, perhaps we can weep with all of the weeping mothers and children that inhabit our contemporary world—all of them!! If we can’t, I’m afraid we’re lost. Just ask Jeremiah!