Politically, the next 2-3 months may be one of the most important challenges the Jewish People have ever faced; and Tisha B’Av’s modern lessons are right in the midst of it (August 3, 2025).

As a rabbi in the late 60’s and 70’s, I remember trying to make Tisha b’Av (a day of mourning for the Destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple) relevant to my congregation by references to the Vietnam war. In the 80’s and 90’s the temporal proximity of Tisha b’Av to the anniversary of the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan was an often used connection, although there really was no parallel because the two atomic bombs quickly ended World War 2 and thus saved more lives than they took. 

Unfortunately, the rise of political and religious extremism throughout the world in general, and in Israel and Jerusalem in particular, has made learning the lessons of Tisha b’Av vital to the future of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. Over the last 65 years, I have come to appreciate more and more the wisdom of many of our Rabbis’ comments related to Tisha b’Av. 

When I first came across the argument that-we were exiled and Jerusalem was destroyed because of our sins and I was outraged. I thought it was blaming the victim, as was routinely the practice in rape cases in those days. When this explanation was occasionally used by some Orthodox Rabbis in reference to the holocaust, I was more than outraged; I was nauseated. I thought they were simply blaming Jews for God’s failure to protect Jews from their enemies; or more accurately to protect their own orthodox theologies about God’s potency for reward and punishment in this world. 

But, in the last three decades, several examples of extremist beliefs and actions among some political and religious leaders in Jerusalem have changed my mind. In the Land of Israel Jews do have some power to direct the course of their history, and therefore they do have a responsibility to act wisely. Failure to do so can lead to catastrophic loss not just for individuals but for a whole community. I used to think that Tisha b’Av was a service dedicated to self........

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