It's the Eve of the 9th of Av, Tisha B'Av, the culmination of three weeks of mourning for terrible tragedies that have happened to the People of Israel over the millennium on the same dates according to the Jewish Calendar.
I find that listening to the news and reading
Eicha, Lamentations and
Kinot all sound the same. There's a war going on here in Israel. I'm not quite sure that the name the government public relations department came out with is relevant today. First they called it an "operation," envisioning a short security "procedure," not some long dragged out
war of attrition with dozens and dozens of dead IDF soldiers and the revelation to the country and world that the supposedly primitive Gazan Hamas Arab terrorists had built a very sophisticated maze-like network of tunnels leading from Gaza to various Jewish communities in the south.
Now there are reports that the government is trying to lure back residents who had fled by offering them more fortification and the stationing of elite IDF troops close by.
The government just doesn't get it. Israelis are sick and tired of this cycle of wars and ceasefires. We want to do the job and destroy our enemies to the point of surrender. Instead the government is strengthening the terrorists by giving them chances to reload. Even worse,
we are feeding them and giving them medical supplies.
I wish this was a joke. But remember that on Tisha b'Av, we must be serious, mourn and study the tragedies that have befallen us.
The Government Press Office (GPO), today (Monday, 4 August 2014), held a foreign press tour, for two dozen media crews, of Kerem Shalom Crossing, where hundreds of trucks laden with food, medicines and fuel enter the Gaza Strip as humanitarian aid.
In the last 24 hours, many such trucks have entered the Gaza Strip. The Israel Electric Corp. has joined the effort and today delivered ten generators to UNRWA.
The deputy head of security at the crossing, Yair Ben Or, briefed the journalists and explained the daily routine at the crossing: "The crossing has operated continuously throughout Operation Protective Edge. Our employees have worked under daily mortar fire in order to provide necessary equipment to the Gaza Strip. Most of the supplies are medicines, bedding, clothing, agricultural produce and medical equipment."
It's obvious that we have lost our moral compass. As Jews the arrow is supposed to point to G-d and the Torah. We aren't supposed to make helping our enemies and trying to impress antisemites, foreign leaders etc. We are supposed to have ourselves, our country as
numero uno, number one priority. If not, we will lose the Land, G-d forbid. That is the reason we are required to read these depressing texts on this day, while our stomachs are protesting that they want more...
We are reminded that the rich can lose it all if that is what G-d wants.
Eicha איכה Lamentations Chapter 1:
ג גָּלְתָה יְהוּדָה מֵעֹנִי, וּמֵרֹב עֲבֹדָה--הִיא יָשְׁבָה בַגּוֹיִם, לֹא מָצְאָה מָנוֹחַ; כָּל-רֹדְפֶיהָ הִשִּׂיגוּהָ, בֵּין הַמְּצָרִים. {ס}
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3 Judah is gone into exile because of affliction, and because of great servitude; she dwelleth among the nations, she findeth no rest; all her pursuers overtook her within the straits. {S}
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ד דַּרְכֵי צִיּוֹן אֲבֵלוֹת, מִבְּלִי בָּאֵי מוֹעֵד--כָּל-שְׁעָרֶיהָ שׁוֹמֵמִין, כֹּהֲנֶיהָ נֶאֱנָחִים; בְּתוּלֹתֶיהָ נּוּגוֹת, וְהִיא מַר-לָהּ. {ס}
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4 The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly; all her gates are desolate, her priests sigh; her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness. {S}
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ה הָיוּ צָרֶיהָ לְרֹאשׁ אֹיְבֶיהָ שָׁלוּ, כִּי-יְהוָה הוֹגָהּ עַל רֹב-פְּשָׁעֶיהָ; עוֹלָלֶיהָ הָלְכוּ שְׁבִי, לִפְנֵי-צָר. {ס}
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5 Her adversaries are become the head, her enemies are at ease; for the LORD hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions; her young children are gone into captivity before the adversary. {S}
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ו וַיֵּצֵא מן בת- (מִבַּת-) צִיּוֹן, כָּל-הֲדָרָהּ; הָיוּ שָׂרֶיהָ, כְּאַיָּלִים לֹא-מָצְאוּ מִרְעֶה, וַיֵּלְכוּ בְלֹא-כֹחַ, לִפְנֵי רוֹדֵף. {ס}
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6 And gone is from the daughter of Zion all her splendour; her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer. {S}
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ז זָכְרָה יְרוּשָׁלִַם, יְמֵי עָנְיָהּ וּמְרוּדֶיהָ--כֹּל מַחֲמֻדֶיהָ, אֲשֶׁר הָיוּ מִימֵי קֶדֶם; בִּנְפֹל עַמָּהּ בְּיַד-צָר, וְאֵין עוֹזֵר לָהּ--רָאוּהָ צָרִים, שָׂחֲקוּ עַל מִשְׁבַּתֶּהָ. {ס}
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7 Jerusalem remembereth in the days of her affliction and of her anguish all her treasures that she had from the days of old; now that her people fall by the hand of the adversary, and none doth help her, the adversaries have seen her, they have mocked at her desolations. {S}
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