Page 38 - HaMizrachi Tisha B'av 5782 USA

JEWS

with
VIEWS Rabbi Ya’akov Shoshana

Trump Judelman

t’s a time of complex emotions. I think lifetime ago, at sleepaway camp, we sat
first about the unnecessary tragedies that on the outdoor basketball court and
unfolded during the final years before the read Eicha by candlelight. I remember
destruction of the first Beit HaMikdash. It the somber tone of the evening but
Iwas a tumultuous time, when the last kings Aalso the poignant beauty of hundreds of
We asked five of Israel reigned in quick succession and Judea Jewish teens sitting together to read this scroll
plunged into a futile war against the Babylonian
of agony and yearning. It connected us to each
accomplished empire that could only end in destruction. I other and to our collective past in a unique and
think of Yirmiyahu’s pain, how he was chosen
empowering way. Modern kids reciting ancient
to become a prophet against his will to warn a words, together.
I continuously seek that kind of connection,
Jews from nation that was unwilling to hear his criticism, the feeling of being a link in the chain of Jewish
a generation incapable of self-reflection. I dwell
on the tragic moment when King Yehoyakim practice and community that has stretched
around the publicly threw Yirmiyahu’s Megillah of Eicha on for millennia. At the intersection between
into the fireplace to silence his message, and
history and memory the past becomes personal
how the rabble flung Yirmiyahu into the pit as and each one of us can tap into the strength of
world: his prophecies began unfolding. our people.
But then I also remember that Yirmiyahu
One of the most precious items I own is my
What do you refused to give up on his people. I remember his grandmother’s rolling pin. I never met her, but
I think about her often. She passed away just a
love for those who refused to heed his warnings.
I think of Yirmiyahu writing a letter to the Jews few years after immigrating to America from
think about already in exile, giving them hope and direction, war-torn Europe. When I use her rolling pin, I feel
her presence, her hands over mine as I roll out
and bidding them to be active members of their
host societies. the dough. I imagine her davening to Hashem for
during the of Yirmiyahu – his pain and exasperation her family’s safety and health, for faith to see her
As Eicha begins, I try to channel the emotions
through the challenges. In my mind’s eye, I see
on the one hand, and his compassion and countless generations of Jewish women doing
moments understanding on the other. Yirmiyahu saw, the same thing. And I join them.
In the moments before Eicha, I imagine the
firsthand, that our people sometimes act as its
before we own worst enemy, and yet he never lost faith in collective energy of these tefillot going up to
them. I ask Hashem to have compassion on us
storm the heavens and beseech Hashem to take
as a community and for us, in turn, to learn the us out of darkness and bring us close to Him,
read Eicha? lessons of the past so we may soon be redeemed, with the geulah shleimah.
together.

Shoshana Judelman teaches Chassidut for Shiviti
Women’s Institute in Jerusalem and in the Shirat
Rabbi Ya’akov Trump is the Rabbi of the Young David Community in Efrat, and is a guide at Yad
Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, New York. Vashem.

38 |