Saturday night at our Tisha B'av Bonfire I spoke about loneliness. The Book of Eicha (Lamentations) begins with the words איכה ישבה בדד העיר רבתי עם היתה "How she sits alone, the city that [previously] had many people was..." This can perhaps be understood in a slightly more creative manner, that the prophet Yirmiyahu is lamenting about how can there be people who sit alone in a city that has many people.
Where is the love and concern for those who are lonely?
The prophet Yishaya (Isiah) berates the Nation for conducting fasts during which they do a wonderful job of fasting and doing acts of repentance, but they do nothing at all to show genuine care and love for those who are alone.
How are we spending our Tisha B'Av?
We are taught that the Bais haMikdash (Temple) was destroyed because of Sinas Chinam (unwarranted hatred). The only antidote for that must be the opposite, unwarranted love.
The most appropriate way for people to spend their Tisha B'Av would be by seeking out those who need love and offering it to them. By engaging in truly selfless acts.
Over the past decade or so Tisha B'Av in the Orthodox Jewish Community has become movie day. Many organizations produce and show vidoes for the Tisha B'Av entertainment industry. I will certainly concede that watching inspiring videos on Tisha B'Av, geared to keeping viewers minds on the theme of the day, os better than spending ones Tisha B'Av watching pre-season NFL games.
But inspiration only goes so far. Where is the le'masseh, the putting all that inspiration into action?
My wife and I had planned to spend a few hours Tisha B'Av afternoon bringing our family to a nursing home to ease the lonleliness of some of the patients there and to share some love. Our plans were dashed when we heard of the funeral of 16-year old Chananya Backer. I joined what was certainly more than 1,000 people at his funeral.
A common theme heard from the speakers was about how he and so many other teenagers feel misunderstood and alone. They spoke of the need to reach out to these kids and let them know how despite their struggles we love them and care.
What are we doing about it?
2 comments:
But Chaim didn't Rabbi Zigdon and Rabbi Teichman say that they did reach out to Chananya?
Yes, they said that, and they did reach out to him. But what of the rest of the community? How did we view him, how did we reach out to him. And how about his friends? Is someone, or are enough people, reacing out to them?
Are they being shown unconditional love?
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