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August 1, 2025 |
By nature, I am a hopeful person. I believe that the challenges we face can be addressed when we come together, when we see the best in one another and not the worst. I am as guilty as anyone else in being critical of others and highlighting what is going wrong as opposed to what it is going right, but that is not necessarily the best way forward.
The confluence of this week’s Torah portion, which marks the start of the fifth book of the Torah, Devarim (Deuteronomy 1:1 -3:22), and Tisha B’Av, the fast day that commemorates the destruction of both Temples along with a number of other calamities that have befallen the Jewish people invites one to look at Tisha B’Av in a different way, possibly with more hope and more expansively.
When we read or hear Eicha Saturday night, we will hear the voices of refugees running for their lives, confronting unspeakable realities, wondering what caused them to be in these desperate straits. In years past we have recalled the Shoah and its aftermath. More recently, we have seen the faces of those running from Afghanistan and Ukraine. This year, it seems like the darkness is encompassing us from every direction as we lose our ability to see and hear one another. The rabbis teach that baseless hatred among our own people was the cause of the destruction. The picture painted with words is a dire one. Before the destruction and exile there had been internal cracks leaving people with the inability to come together.
Mitzvah of the Week
On July 4, we in the United States celebrate the "certain unalienable Rights" laid out in the Declaration of Independence. On the domestic front, we are reminded that our democracy is fragile. In other parts of the world, "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" are tragically elusive, depending as they do on the decisions of those in power who only seek the destruction of others. This week, we bring you two ways in which you can help those displaced by the evil that is war.
Dror Israel is working with Israeli children evacuated because of Israel's war with Iran. "Dror Israel's 1,300+ educators are working round the clock in hotels, and evacuation centers, providing trauma support. As summer begins, our camps and programs will provide the structure and care children need to heal." Click HERE to donate.
World Central Kitchen has resumed operations at select kitchens in Gaza after over 12 weeks of having no supplies. If properly provisioned, WCK provides daily nourishment to thousands of Gazans (especially children) facing extreme hardship and malnutrition. Please donate HERE.
| Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya'aseh shalom aleinu ve'al kol Israel, ve'imru, Amen. |
| May the One who makes peace in the heavens, make peace for us all and all the people of Israel. |
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