Compared to the familiar t’hilim, Shema, and Amidah of daily prayers, it can be difficult to keep up with selichos and kinos, which are read only on fasting days, often quickly and without announcing the page. To feel the spirit of Tishah b’Av, I usually take a history book to shul that relates to the first Jewish uprising against the Romans that resulted in the destruction of Yerushalayim and centuries of exile for most Jews.
My selection for this year is Susan Sorek’s book The Jews Against Rome, published in 2008. It examines the intra-communal tensions that ignited a civil war among Jews, which then expanded into a rebellion against the ruling superpower. Relying on Josephus as its leading source, it documented the factions within Judean society whose views toward the Romans ranged between assimilation, accommodation, and armed resistance. Reading the escalating series of events, one could feel that the Churban was very much preventable, but looking back at history, it was inevitable and necessary for our spiritual growth.
I fear that our generation could become the Dor HaChurban, witnesses to the end of the third sovereign Israel, G-d forbid, as we continue to pray for a Third Temple. We can look back with pride at the elimination of Syria as a military threat, nearly the entire leadership of Hezbollah brought to justice by fire, and likewise for Hamas, the downgrading of Iran as an existential threat to Israel, and continued efforts by so many individuals in our local Jewish community to pray, donate, volunteer, and stand with Israel as it faces its longest war for the stated goals of returning hostages and eliminating Hamas.
At the same time, we have many more reasons for mourning. More than 3,000 Jews in total have been killed since October 7, 2023, on the front lines, in the tunnels of Gaza, at the hands of terrorists in Israel and the diaspora, ongoing boycotts, electoral defeats, lawfare, and loss of longtime allies.
In this rapidly changing environment, in which public opinion is shaped by viral posts from social media influencers, it can make one’s head spin amid a sense of helplessness: no progress on the hostages, no end to the war, and a pile-up of hostility.
Perhaps the solution is not to despair as public discourse divides society into inseparable camps intolerant of dissenting or nuanced views. I support Jewish communities in Yehuda and Shomron on the sense of justice and historic birthright to live in those lands, and at the same time, I am troubled by the silence of many supporters concerning illegal outposts and violence against Palestinians by Jewish youths. How can Israel claim to be a democracy and expand on the Abraham Accords when it fails to account for the zealots undermining efforts toward peace in the region? Do they realistically believe that the world will stand by as long as the Trump administration unconditionally backs Israel? Can the country survive economically and politically on support from only one ally that is 5,000 miles away?
Perhaps they’re trying to force the hand of Hashem, as an earlier generation of zealots did during the life of Josephus. During those final nine days, they were besieged in the Beis HaMikdash, low on sacrifices, food, weapons, and personnel. Having killed so many of their own for not being supportive enough of their revolution, they fervently prayed for a miracle. Hashem did not relent. Their judgment was sealed, and all Jews were to suffer for their extremism.
The Rosh Chodesh of Av was also the yahrzeit of Aharon HaKohen, who served as a unifying figure in the years when Bnei Yisrael traveled through Sinai. His death was timely, serving as a counterpoint to the fratricidal hatred that caused Tisha b’Av. On Monday, another death was announced in Brooklyn, of a social worker who was once very frum but in recent years became an ardent pro-Palestine activist.
I first met Ben Faulding, 41, when he was living in Queens, studying at Queens College and working with disabled individuals at Ohel Bais Ezra. His path toward observance was shaped by Machon Mayanot and Chabad at Queens College, attending their events and supporting them as an alumnus. Raised on Long Island, his father was Black and his mother is Jewish.
From an early age, he recognized lingering racial distinctions in society, and after some degree of acceptance within the Orthodox social scene, he could not stay silent on the casual use of the term shvartze. After a series of incidents relating to race, including in 2018, when two Nassau County police officers pointed their guns at him, Faulding traded his black hat for the keffiyeh. Accused of shoplifting while listening to music, he did not initially hear the officers’ commands. “Had the officer been a little bit more jumpy or had I flinched the wrong way... well you’ve seen the videos,” he wrote.
Without doubt, Faulding was among the “Jews for Zohran” who defined their Jewish identity on their terms, fitting into their view of the world. As his social media posts became increasingly hostile toward Israel and Orthodoxy, I distanced myself from Faulding, missing the bright mind that reached the wrong conclusions on the Jewish experience. Most of us struggle to reconcile the many contradictions of ideals and practices, acceptance and opposition toward actual and perceived wrongs.
I thought of that term, shvartze, and a recent letter in another Jewish newspaper where my polite disagreement with a local Republican politician resulted in an anonymous letter calling me a communist. It is as nonsensical as calling survivors of the Holocaust genocidal, and the only democracy in the Middle East an apartheid state. With enough retweets, the world recognizes these lies, and many Jews, including my late friend, also accepted them as the truth.
France will be recognizing Palestine in September, and Britain will likely follow. I do not expect President Trump’s patience to extend much longer, as Israel has no solution for the humanitarian, political, and military future of Gaza. In theory, I would like to see the rebuilding of Gush Katif as much as the Beis HaMikdash, but I don’t expect either to happen short of divine intervention. I remain supportive of Israel, praying for a good outcome to this war.
Dr. Naider is a former Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at the College of Staten Island and Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry and Chemistry at the City University of New York. He lives in Rehovot. The opinions in this article are his own.
