Twas The Shabbat Before Tisha b'Av.....

Here's an excerpt from my sermon this week. If you'd like to receive the full sermon please e-mail me. (RabbiMichaelSimon@gmail.com)

Wednesday evening begins the observance of Tisha b'Av, the commemoration of the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem as well as countless other tragedies which have befallen the Jewish people. In light of the destruction of the first Temple, the prophet Isaiah chastises the Jewish people for their behavior. He compares them to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah!

The crimes that caused God to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah were economic, judicial and social crimes, not sexual ones. Those cities had failed to create a just and fair society.

And in Isaiah's time, the time preceding the destruction of the first Temple, no one was concerned that there were people who were hungry or were forced to live in the street or had no work while others lived in great wealth. Sound familiar?

Isaiah compared the leaders of the Jewish people to the leaders of Sodom and Gomorrah, in that they both cheated the poor and perverted justice. And the people were similar to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah in their evil actions as well.

So what does the story of Sodom and Gomorrah have to do with Tisha b'Av?

The answer is that the Sodom and Gomorrah story gives us a window into which we might view and perhaps understand a little better not only the reasons for the destruction of the Temples, but a way of applying them to our own times as well.

Isaiah reasoned that the way to avoid some of the destruction and despair that has overcome the Jewish people, especially on Tisha b'Av, is to build a more just and fair society.

So Tisha b'Av comes around also to remind us of the work we still have to do, individually and collectively, to make ourselves and our society better. And it reminds us that if we don't repent and change our ways and make ourselves and our society better, then we will be punished. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed as were the Temples.

In just seven short weeks we will celebrate Rosh Hashanah, a time for introspection, cheshbon nefesh, and teshuvah. But we need not wait for Rosh Hashanah to begin this process. We needn't even wait for the beginning of Elul when we sound the shofar each morning.

No. Tisha b'Av reminds us that we can and should begin right now. It's a reminder that if we have faith in God, if we begin the process of teshuvah; and most importantly, if we erase corruption and unjustness from our society; then we will know that the world envisioned by God and the prophets, a society marked by justice, honesty, and love for one's fellow man, will be a world which we must all strive to create, a world and a society which will endure and prosper and which will never be destroyed.

Shabbat Shalom to all!