Page 15 - HaMizrachi Tisha B'Av AUS 2021

GLOBAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich

The Jewish

Response

e remember Tisha B’Av oppression, is to rebuild. Our response is ago. Today we have the historic oppor-
because we cannot forget. to find the sparks of redemption hidden tunity to give back to the grandchildren,
We cannot forget what hap- in the ashes of destruction. As the prophet great-grandchildren and great-great grand-
Wpened in 586 BCE or in 70 CE, Zechariah (3:2) states: ׁש ֵא ֵמ לָּצ ֻמ דּוא ה ֶז אֹול ֲה, children of those Jews who proudly lived
the dates of the destruction of both Batei “for this is an ember plucked from the their Judaism back then.
HaMikdash. And Tisha B’Av also mourns fire.”
many other tragedies in Jewish history After all the destruction in Poland, after We are today’s ׁש ֵא ֵמ לּ ָצ ֻמ דּוא, the “ember
and even today. plucked from the fire.” The Jewish
all the tragedies, our Jewish response is to response to destruction, the meaning of
But that is not the main message of Tisha rebuild our community and support our Tisha B’Av, is to ignite and inspire every
B’Av. Although we are obligated to mourn, beloved Israel. Jew to be part of the Jewish people once
to fast and to remember, that is only part Many of the Jews in our community did more.
of our obligation. not know they had Jewish roots when
ִ
The Rabbis state: ד ַלֹונ ׁש ּ ָד ְק ּ מ ַה תי ֵּב ב ַר ָח ׁש םֹוי ְּב Communism collapsed in 1989. Their par-
ֶ
ל ֵאֹוּג ַה, “On the day that the Beit HaMikdash ents or grandparents were too traumatized Rabbi Michael Schudrich is the Chief
was destroyed, the Mashiach (redeemer) by the Shoah to be able to pass on this Rabbi of Poland.
was born.” information to their children during the
Soviet oppression. Since 1989 though, thou-
In the ashes of the destruction are the sands – and perhaps tens of thousands – of
sparks of redemption. Poles have uncovered their Jewish
Simply stated, the Jewish response to roots.
destruction is to rebuild. After the destruc- Now, once again, they have a
tion of the second Beit HaMikdash, Rabban chance to be part of the Jewish
Yochanan ben Zakkai asked the Roman people. Not all of them want
authorities to give him “Yavne and its to connect to Judaism
scholars.” No one can imagine the pain, but many do. The Jewish
the devastation Rabbi Yochanan must have response is to welcome
felt. He saw the burning of the Beit HaMik- these newly discovered
dash. And yet, in the midst of mourning, he Jews back into Am Yisrael, to
is already beginning to rebuild. encourage them to be part of
Throughout history, following the Cru- our global Jewish rebuilding.
sades, the Chmielnicki massacres as well We cannot change the number of
as countless other tragedies, what was the Jews murdered during the Shoah. We
Jewish response? To mourn, and – at the can change the number of Jews discon-
same time – to rebuild. nected and lost. And that is what
Following the nearly total annihilation of we are doing today in Poland.
European Jewry during the Shoah, what On Tisha B’Av, we
was the survivors’ response? They rebuilt remember the
their homes and built the most beautiful horrors and the
families; they rebuilt their communities destruction that
and even, after 2,000 years, succeeded in pushes us to regroup
rebuilding Israel. and build even more
intensely. No matter where you live, no
The response to destruction is to build matter how you observe your Judaism
anew.
or what your Jewish identity is – from
And this also applies even to our small, Chassidism to secular Yiddishists, from
vibrant Jewish community of Poland. Zionists to humanists, and everything in
Here in Poland, our Jewish response to between – all of these forms of Judaism
the Shoah, followed by 45 years of Soviet grew and thrived in Poland 100 years

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