I would like to examine the reason for the Three Weeks of Mourning, as explained in the Talmud and Rishonim (early Rabbis). Are we Jews mourning only over the loss of the Holy Temple? In this shiur (Torah lecture), I intend to show that the theme of the
The Jews did fast on Tisha B’Av during the Second Temple era, because of the many troubles that occurred on Tisha B’Av.
three week mourning is the loss of Jewish sovereignty over the Land of Israel.
“Rabbi Chelbo quoted Ula Bira’a, who said in Rabbi Elazar’s name: ‘One who see the cities of the land of Judea in ruins should tear his shirt as a sign of mourning, and recite: ‘Your holy cities have become desert’. ( Isaiah 64). Upon seeing Jerusalem in ruins, one tears and says: ‘Zion has become a desert, Jerusalem desolated’. One who sees the site of the destroyed Temple tears and says: ‘Our Holy Temple and our Splendor, for which our forefathers praised the Lord, has become a conflagration, and all our delight has turned to ruin’ ” ( Talmud Tractate Moed Katan 26a).
The Beit Yosef (Orach Chaim, chapter 561) explains that Rabbi Elazar seems to mean that one mourns if the cities are in ruins and have no populace at all. However, if they are populated but under the rule of Goyim (non-Jews), then it seems that one would not tear and not recite mournful passages. Perhaps, though, even if the cities have a Jewish Yishuv (settlement) but are under non-Jewish rule, this would be defined as “Judea b’Churbanan (destroyed) and one would mourn. And I regard this as the accepted view”. The Bach concurs with this last opinion of the Beit Yosef. So do the Magen Avraham and the Chafetz Chaim, with the latter writing, “even if Jews live in the towns of Judea, but as long as Yishmaelites rule over them, that is called b’Churbanan” (chapter 561, Mishnah Brura)
There is the famous dictum of the Ramban that “we have been commanded to seize the Land which the Almighty gave to our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We are enjoined to not leave the Land in the hands of other nations, nor to allow the Land remain desolate.
This command is spelled out in the Torah: ‘And you must seize the Land and settle it, for I have given you the Land for you to occupy’ (Numbers 33). And make no mistake concerning this, thinking the verse refers to history’s ancient battle against the seven Canaanite nations… it is not so, for the Lord has bid us not to leave the Land under Canaanite domination or under the rule of any nation that comes to take their place in any future generation. Thus, this is a positive command (Mitzvat Asei) of the Torah, binding for that and all future generations”. (Ramban, Sefer Hamitzvot, Mitzvah 4) Compatible with this thought of the Ramban, the Pe’at HaShulchan stated that the reason for the mourning over the destroyed cities of Judea is because in Judea was the main seat of the kingdom and sovereignty (Hilchot Eretz Yisrael,siman 3, s”k 1; there is no mention of the Temple in this argument).
The Rambam’s explanation of a Mishna in Rosh Hashanah is highly significant for our times: “The High Court sent out messengers to announce the date of Rosh Chodesh (the first day of the upcoming, new month) on six months: on Nisan 1 for the upcoming holiday of Passover, on Av 1 for the fast (of the 9th of Av) ….and when the Temple stood, they went out for also Iyar because of Pesach Katan”. The Rambam views the word “ also” as critical, indicating that the messengers went out for Av even in the Temple period; indeed, the Rambam writes that during the Second Temple messengers were not sent out in Tevet and Tamuz because the Jews didn’t fast in those months( as they do today, in mourning over the Temple). “But the Jews did fast on Tisha B’Av during the Second Temple era, because of the many troubles that occurred on Tisha B’Av. This despite the fact that the decision was theirs to make (l’irtzonam), whether to fast or not” (Rambam Peirush HaMishnayot,R. Hashanah 1,3).
The Tashbetz vehemently disagrees with the Rambam’s words on this issue, calling them “puzzling words (divrei teima)” and concluding that “they must be a scribe’s error” (Cheilek 2, siman 271). The Sefat Emet, however, disagrees with the Tashbetz and upholds the Rambam’s words that the Jews fasted on Tisha B’Av during the times of the Second Temple. The Sefat Emet uses the words of Rav Chana bar Bizna (Rosh Hashanah 18b) as the basis for his defense of the Rambam: “The prophet Zachariah says that ‘the fasts of the fourth month, and the fifth month, and the seventh month, and the tenth month (i.e., the 9th day of Av) will become days of joy and happiness for the House of Judea’ (Zachariah).
Rav Pappa explained that in days of peace, the fasts will become days of joy; in days of destruction (shmad), they will remain fast days; in days that are neutral, neither overly peaceful nor predominantly destructive, it is at the Jews’ discretion: if they want, they can fast; if not, they need not fast… But Tisha B’Av is different because of the many historical troubles on that day, and Jews fast on it”. Sefat Emet notes that Rashi there defines “peace is that the hand of non-Jewish rule is not over the Jews” (as opposed to Rabbeinu Chananel, who defines peace as the existence of a Temple, and who therefore declares that the Jews did not fast on 9 Av during Temple times).
The Sefat Emet thus concludes that the Rambam is correct, and that during those times that the Persians and Greeks held dominion over the country, the Jews fasted on Tisha B’Av despite the presence of the Temple.
Rav Drukman notes that the Rambam uncharacteristically makes a historical note about the Second Temple era, and this could only be because of the halachic ramifications ( for Tisha B’Av) in the history: “In the Second Temple era, the Kings of Greece made decrees against Israel, plundered their land and violated their daughters, entered the Temple and destroyed its partitions (designed to keep out non-Jews from certain sections)… persecuting the Jews and oppressing them greatly …”(Hilchot Megillah v’Chanuka 3:1). During those times the Jews fasted on the 9th of Av. However, during the rest of the Second Temple era the Jews did not fast, for they were under Jewish kings, “ even though those kings were far from perfect, and did not follow our Traditions, and would use force to appoint High Priests who were not worthy” ( Rambam, Peirush HaMishnayot Yoma 1;3).
So we see that Jewish sovereignty of any character, including irreligious, counted as “peace”, and the Jews did not fast and mourn; “and today’s Israel would certainly be considered Jewish sovereignty, by these standards and by those of Rav Tzvi Yehudah Kook”,says Rav Drukman.
Rav Drukman left the conclusions to us listeners, but they are obvious: we must certainly fast on Tisha B’Av, for though we have Jewish sovereignty, we have no Temple. But we must keep in mind the Rambam’s ruling, and mourn during these nine days of Av; mourn not only for Temple, but for our misuse of our sovereignty in our Holy Land, and ignoring the Ramban’s dictum “to not leave the Land in the hands of Goyim”. We must resolve to realize our potential as rulers in this Land, and make no concessions to the Arabs belonging to this fiction they call “Palestine”.
Rav Drukman concludes that the Kuzari ( who is Rabbi Yehuda Halevi, whose moving Kinot (elegies) we will read on Tisha B’Av) finishes his book with the words “and when the Jews will awaken in love of that Place, then the much-awaited conclusion will come to be…for Jerusalem shall be rebuilt when the Children of Israel desire her with the utmost desire, until her very stones and dust will find favor in their eyes, as it says: “ Ata takum, teracheim Tziyon ki etl’chen’na.. Ye shall arise, Zion will receive Mercy, for the time of her favor has come, for the appointed date has arrived-because her servants desire her very stones, and her dust has found favor in her eyes’”.
(translated and explained by Dr. Aryeh Hirsch)