Yearning

Some two weeks ago I sat down at my desk, ready to write an important email.  There was a problem though. My computer screen was blank and no matter what button I pushed I couldn’t make anything light up. In desperation I called my husband. When he finally was able to take a break from work and try his hand at first-aid he was no more successful than I’d been. I contacted our neighbour, a high-tech technician, and he told me he’d come the following morning. I had to admit to myself that my computer plans for the day weren’t going to come to fruition. I was frustrated.

Was it coincidence that this break down happened on the fast of the 18^th of Tammuz? Pushed off from Shabbat the day before I was commemorating the beginning of the three weeks that proceed the 9^th* of Av, the day we mourn the destruction of both the first and second Holy Temples.

It has been said that one of the saddest things about the fast of Av is that we don’t even know what we’re missing. I knew what I was missing without my computer, though. Could I take such a trite example as a lesson to what the Jewish people had lost?

It is asked if there was fasting on the 9^th of Av after the second Holy Temple was built. The answer is both yes and no. The second Temple did not have the holiness of the first Temple. Therefore, those who were old enough to remember the glory of the first Temple did fast. The younger ones were satisfied with what they had and did not fast.

There are some today who wonder why we continue to fast. After all the sovereignty of the Jewish people has returned to the land. There is more Torah learning here than there has ever been. Everywhere we look we see building. Soon the majority of world Jewry will be in Israel.

Despite all that, Israelis in the south must contend with rockets and kite terror. Those on the Syrian border are under threat. So many of us have had our lives shattered by Arab terror.  I think we all understand why we can’t stop longing for the Holy Temple to be rebuilt.

It took over a week for my computer to be fixed. During that week I prayed and hoped it would be repaired with its memory intact. My friends and family heard about how much I missed it. I felt its absence throughout the course of each day.

If only I could use some of those emotions in longing for the Holy Temple. It’s true, I observe signs of mourning beginning on the 17^th of Tammuz. I increase those symbols on the first of Av and add more as we draw nearer and nearer to the fast. Do I really long for the Holy Temple, though, or am I just going through the motions and giving lip service?

Yes, I never did see the Holy Temple. Yes, it’s hard to mourn something I never knew. Still, I know that assimilation is so rampant that some consider intermarriage the continuation of the Final Solution. I know that anti-Semitism is on the rise world over. I know that even in the land of Israel Jews continue to be expelled from their homes in a vain pursuit of false peace. I know that it is only when the third Holy Temple is built these evils will cease.

So, I must channel those hopes for my computer into anticipation for the Holy Temple. While remembering all the good HaShem has done for us I must still yearn for more. I must never give up and stop praying for the full redemption. May it come speedily in our time.

*This year the 9^th of Av falls on Shabbat so the fast is pushed off to Sunday, the 10^th of Av.