Tisha B'Av – Baal Teshuva

Tisha B’Av – Day of Disaster or the Opportunity for Correction

Judaism is very familiar with coincidence

There are over a dozen tragedies that occurred at or about the same date on the 9th day of the Hebrew calendar month of Av. Wikipedia lists 5 major and 9 more catastrophes to the Nation of Israel. What are the chances of having 14 disasters all occurring on the same day? A quick calculation is 1 out of 5110.

What triggered all this in the first place?

The ultimate destination, the goal, the promise as set forth in the Torah for the descendants of Israel is to reach and live properly in “…a land flowing with milk and honey.” Exodus 3, 8.

There are no less than 34 direct references to the “Promised Land” in the Torah.

Moses sends twelve spies to collect information before fulfilling this ultimate promise and mission as set forth throughout the entire Torah. The conquest of land of Canaan. Hashem repeatedly reminded the population that He (Hashem) will go ahead and fight for them. The following is one of many; “The Lord, your God, Who goes before you He will fight for you, just as He did for you in Egypt before your very eyes, and in the desert, where you have seen how the Lord, your God, has carried you as a man carries his son, all the way that you have gone, until you have come to this place.” Deuteronomy 1, 30-31

Forty days later, carrying huge fruits, to impress everyone of the land’s goodness, 10 of the 12 spies sinned.

The two ways they transgressed

The 10 spies sinned in two ways. First they were ordered to gather information regarding the land and it’s inhabitants and nothing more. They stepped over the line when, after reporting the data, they decided to add their own personal interpretation of that data.

The analysis of the intelligence gathered was supposed to be left to the more qualified leaders; Moshe and Aaron.

The second sin was to completely reject Hashem’s promise and then publicly pronounce that the inhabitants of the land are giants and warriors, way too powerful to conquer and then falsely insisting that the land can not be conquered, as G‑d has commanded.

Only 2 of the 12 spies, Caleb and Joshua reminded the people that Hashem had unequivocally promised success…

The more significant third sin

Unfortunately all the people ignored Caleb and Joshua’s positive report as well as the many promises from Hashem. They focused only the negative misinterpretation from the 10 others. The third, more critical mistake was buying into false information.

The main question

How could the entire population of people who had lived through the giving of the Torah and a multitude of unparalleled miracles, the likes of which have never again been seen in history, How could an entire nation fall hook, line, and sinker, for the fake news ?

May I propose that this was the catalyst that was to forecast all future suffering for Jews throughout our generations?

If you see any relationship to the events of today, it may be a good time to reflect on our heritage as Jews, and our ultimate purpose. The reality that we are living in a time where we are experiencing both miracles and strong wake-up calls.

At the time of this writing no one could possibly doubt the absence, denial and attempts to re-write history. Many are restless and angry, we are in the midst of a relentless plague. All media sources are reporting violent rioting and promoting unprecedented baseless hatred.

The answer

Q. How could the entire population of people who had lived through a multitude of unparalleled miracles, the likes of which have never again been seen in history fall hook, line, and sinker for fake news?

The answer to the above question can be discovered by understanding the Torah definition of what makes a great leader. A true leader must be someone who can be entrusted for truth. In many ways the need to question everything is more important today than ever, no matter the source.

ForwardWing.org has a great article regarding leadership that answers this perfectly

The following is a portion that article:

A leader has to be caring. It is no coincidence that in ancient times the people recorded as the most successful leaders, all had the same profession before their leadership roles. They were all originally shepherds. This career offered the perfect training to learn the qualities needed to be most effective in guiding groups of people. The concerns of a shepherd are the health and well being of the flock.

Moses, arguably, the greatest leader of ancient times had a serious speech impediment as well as being described as the most humble man to walk the earth.

Perhaps the lesson to learn is to beware of “leaders” and messengers who are suave and sound confident in their tone and mannerisms.

Today with mass and social media, we are in an especially vulnerable place. We need to be cognizant of being lured by a charming or attractive person, or speaker with a confident facade. Anyone with the skills of theatrics can appear credible and convincing. Voice skills, can be mastered with almost hypnotizing allure. The focus needs to be on the message and the deeds.

The true leader needs to be one can who can nullify their ego, and concern themselves only with those who they lead. Read the whole article

The Opportunity for Correction

We are so fortunate to be living in a time where after over 2000 years we have Israel again. But, as in the Torah Hashem wants us to fulfill His promise so that He can fulfill His. Having a permanent home for the descendants of Israel is absolutely assured!

The sin of the spies must never be repeated

While we now have our homeland back, living peacefully and with Torah values may not “appear” easy, considering aggressors surround the land, but by following good leaders like Moshe and with total trust in Hashem it will happen. When that will happen is up to us.

Great book “Making Sense of Suffering a Jewish Approach” available at ArtScroll

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