Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the month of Av, is the saddest day in the Jewish calendar. It is the culmination of a three-week period of mourning, commemorating an array of tragedies that have befallen the Jewish People over the years, the most notable of which were the destruction of both the First and Second Holy Temples (Beit HaMikdash) and the subsequent loss of sovereignty and exile. And yet, the Prophet Jeremiah, who witnessed the destruction of the First Temple, refers to Tisha B’Av as [Lamentations 1:15] “a holiday (mo’ed)”. The word “mo’ed” usually means “festival of joy”, putting Tisha b’Av on the same footing as Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot. This definition has halachic ramifications. For instance, unlike every other fast day, we do not recite selichot on Tisha b’Av. What exactly are we celebrating?

A potential answer lies at the core of the “Startup Nation”. Israel is known as the Startup Nation because its culture of ingenuity, entrepreneurship, and problem-solving has enabled it to produce a remarkable number of innovative companies and technologies relative to its size. Why has Israel given the world Waze, Iron Dome, high-energy laser weapons, and the Disk On Key, while countries with similar populations and greater resources have not? My experience leads me to believe that it is our willingness to fail. We plan our flight tests at the ragged edge of the envelope to see what our systems are really capable of. And if they fail, we find out why and make the necessary corrections so we can stretch the system even further. Compare this with Eastern culture, where the concept of “losing face” discourages any kind of failure. There, weapon systems are tested in impossible-to-fail scenarios[1], after which everyone can go home happy that they are not the ones being blamed for a missile that missed its target. Only a country willing to fail is willing to learn, and only a country willing to learn will thrive. Each time we lost our sovereignty, we learnt a lesson. The Second Temple was not destroyed for the same reason as the First Temple[2] and the Third Temple will be even more robust – it will last forever. This........

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