REFLECTIONS ON SHABBAT

This is a mini-rabbinic "sermon" as we near our last days in Europe. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to catch you up on the amazing meeting we had this morning with the woman from the Forum for Dialogue Among the Nations. For now, a few thoughts:

Good afternoon or good morning! It’s Shabbat afternoon, and this evening marks the beginning of Tisha B’Av - the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av - the Jewish commemoration of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem twice (in 586 B.C.E. and again in 70 C.E.) by the Babylonians and then the Roman forces.
Why is this meaningful as our group spends the day here in Warsaw, and as this blog today reflects on the last few days?

First, because today several of us went through the new museum here in Warsaw, dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising. This is not the Jewish Ghetto uprising, but the uprising of the Polish community against the Nazis. The tragedy of the destruction of the Warsaw community at the end of that failed uprising is seared into our minds - a reminder of the intense cruelty of the Nazis against the Polish people. This is a MUST SEE museum for all travelers who come to Warsaw. The photos, period films, testimonies on video and excellent displays are very provocative. Just as we Jews yearn for the Polish people to understand our suffering during the Holocaust, we must also feel the deep suffering of this community. On the day of Tisha B’Av, the Jewish custom is to read from the book of Lamentations from the Bible. Walking through this museum was truly a Lamentation.

Second, we will spend tomorrow - the actual day of Tisha B’Av - around the former Warsaw Jewish ghetto. Just as our people fought against the Roman army nearly 2000 years ago, so did the last Jews of the ghetto choose to die fighting rather than be simply sent off to death camps.

Lastly, we come to Tisha B’Av as Reform Jews with a mixed approach. Reform Jews, like all Jews, mourn the great destruction and oppression of our people by the Romans two millennia ago. However, unlike some others in the Jewish religion, we do not pray for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. We accept that Judaism grows and evolves. Judaism maintains its values and beliefs, but can also take on new forms. We cannot go back to the time before that destruction. Neither can we return to the period before the destruction of European Jewry in the Holocaust. What we can do in 2008 is keep today’s Jewish people and Judaism alive. That is the hope here in Poland and in all of the countries where the Holocaust changed the face of the Jewish people forever.

---

---