B"H

TISHA B'AV IS NOT OVER

      I cannot stop myself from writing to you once more, dear friends, because of the tragedy unfolding before our eyes in the Land of Israel.
      This week we read Parshas Va'eschanan, in which Moses "implores" the Al-mighty for the privilege of entering the Land of Israel.
      Today we are throwing that precious Land away to our enemies!
      We thought Tisha b'Av would be over by now, but we were wrong.
      The seeds of Tisha b'Av were planted thousands of years ago in the parched sand of the ancient Sinai Desert on the day the spies returned to tell our ancestors that our enemies were "too strong" to be conquered. They lost faith in G-d, Who had just freed them from Egypt and protected them as they trekked through the "howling wilderness."
      My friends, that exact scenario is being played out today in Gaza!
      When we lose our faith in G-d, then we are afraid of everything, even the sound of a dry leaf scudding before the wind. Our Israeli government, a government that does not rely on G-d, is afraid of our enemies and thus despairs of ever being able to settle peacefully in the Land of Israel. And so the cycle continues: lack of trust in G-d leads to inability to settle the Land and inevitably to the tragedy of internecine hatred – sinas chinom – the heart-wrenching spectacle of Jew fighting Jew, Jew living in fear of his enemy and hatred of his brother.
      My friends, when will it stop?
      It will stop when all of us, every single Jew, and believe me I include myself in this list, will return to G-d in trust and submission. Then we will pray with Moses and implore G-d with one voice, "Va'eschanan, please oh G-d, let us return to Jerusalem and Israel as one nation! We are not afraid! We know that You will protect us. We know that Your Torah will protect us. And we promise to love our brothers and sisters as one family."
      Only then will we see an end to needless and senseless tragedy among our people and an eternal era of peace in the world.

Roy S. Neuberger