Commentary on the 9th of Av

This weekend is a fast day of Judaism, commemorating with mourning the destruction of the First and Second Temples, which took place on this same day, though hundreds of years apart. You can read a good explanation here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tisha_B%27Av

Notice that there is a definite tone that many Jews kind of wonder what this has to do with them anymore. I've noticed in the years that I've been alive that even in my time there has been a rapid diminishment, even among the wise, of what the relevance of the destruction of the Temples means to the modern Jew. This diluting of understanding is part of the overall problem that all faiths have with flourishing within a society that has increased its separation from God. People no longer understand what they had and what they lost on even its most fundamental basis. So here is a reminder.

The Temples were the place where one "gave back to God" in the form of sacrifice. It used to be that people's entire lives were permeated with the understanding that one went into the Temple to thank God for what they received, and to "give back to God" a portion of what they had, rich or poor. They did it in the form of sacrifice (of animal, grain or oil) and monetary donations to the Temple. Jesus points out to the Apostles "the widow's mite," how even the poor widow gave what she had to God. Prayers were also conducted in the Temple but again, against the constant backdrop of sacrifice to God (for example, the priests who conducted daily incensing with the burning of incense being viewed as sacrifice to God, as indeed it was as precious materials were burned in order to create incense pleasing to God).

So Jews wonder today why they should mourn the destruction of the Temples. They should do so because it is recalling that for two thousand years now there is not the permeation among the pious of the "giving back to God" God's portion of what he has given to them. In many ways this is how Jews and Protestants (and other Christian non denominationals) are very different from Catholics and Muslims. Catholics and Muslims retain sacrifice to God, the Muslims doing so in the Haj and Catholics doing so in the bread and wine of the Holy Eucharist in the daily Mass). Jews and non-Catholic Christians have, in my eyes, a much more "Bible study" and Torah study focus in their relationship with God. They view "giving back to God" as being fulfilled in liberal social agendas. And while that is charitable and truthful reflection of God's love, that is not the same as sacrifice to God. I've explained before that Jesus did not eliminate the need for sacrifice to God; he offered himself once for all, but also as the form of bread and wine, a bloodless sacrifice that one does not need the money changers in the Temple. Sacrifice in the Catholic Mass is reverence to God, giving him "his due" and it is free.

So if I were to counsel Jews, especially those who are more liberal and secularized, why this day should invoke a pathos and a mourning, even in these modern times, it would be to explain that when the Temples were destroyed, Jews lost their places where they could "give back to God a portion of all that he has given to them." That is different from the golden rule and liberal social good works. This is taking a part of what you have and giving it to God in the way he has instructed he wishes to receive it, no more and certainly no less than that. Catholics understood that Jesus transformed sacrifice to God from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, but he did not declare the elimination of sacrifice. This is what we celebrate in the Mass. Likewise, Muslims have a full understanding that the Haj sacrifice to God is separate from the good deeds of the giving of alms to the poor and the needy.

Now, I am not making a commentary that orthodox Judaism is flawed; far from it. I am explaining that orthodox Jews do have a fuller understanding of what was taken from them when the Temples were destroyed, and thus it is correct to be serious, sober and mournful in commemorating this fast day, if you are Jewish. In a way the recognizing that Jews lost the means by which they "gave back to God" is a sacrifice, a prayerful and respectful sacrifice, when one contemplates this. When the Temples were destroyed, a means that the pious had to please God was taken away from the people. God understands, of course, but it is helpful to remember that this is a sad loss for the people, more than obviously God, who does not in the strictest sense "need" anything from humans. However, people are healthier if they retain a continuing activity of sacrifice to God because it brings them closer to God in understanding his ongoing gifts to you.

Imagine if when the Temples were destroyed if God went, "Hmm, well, they can no longer sacrifice meat and grain to me so why bother letting them have meat or successful grain harvest at all? I mean, if they no longer sacrifice to me, why should I give them anything?" Of course that does not happen because God understands the travails of his people, and all that has happened. God continues to shower prosperity and goodness on humanity, even when they do not sacrifice to him in return what is due to him. That is all the more reason to love and honor God and yes, to fear him, because fear means that you understand what it would be like to lose your precious relationship with him.

So these are the kinds of things I would recommend that you prayerfully contemplate on the 9th of Av.