Why Josh Can't Be Left Alone

Just a quick thought between my hard-boiled egg and the reading of Lamentations.

Tisha B'Av is the saddest day of the Jewish calendar, and many people aptly use it as a day of reflection to assess where they are spiritually, where the Jewish people are as one group, where the world is as a body. Many will point to current events, and others will explore various communal faults, all as they can be related to the somber tone of the day.

But some will forget that at the heart of everything, today is not about repentance. It is a day of mourning. For all the travesties of history that we recall today, there is really only one that represents the tragedy of Tisha B'Av. On this day, Gd was forced to abandon his House in the world, allowing the Temple in Jerusalem to be burnt for His sake. Today we mourn - the same as if a close relative died - because part of the divine presence left on this day.

As we look for ways to make the day relevant to our lives, let's not forget that at its heart, it is the tear of this spiritual separation that leaves us sitting on the ground of the synagogue floor in prayer.

It is this spiritual rending that we have to yearn to repair. For all of the symptoms, we have to treat the cause.