A day I never heard of

Beginning this Motzei Shabbat (Saturday night) and all through Sunday, Jews around the world will mark Tisha Ba’av, the 9th day of the Jewish month of Av, the saddest day in the Jewish year.

I grew up never knowing about this day, Having not gone to Jewish day school, and with no after school Hebrew school (which we unapologetically called “Jew Jail”) in the summer, and has only gone to Jewish summer camp once….who ever heard of the 9th of Av?

And who wants to be sad about something you don’t understand? Actually, the fact that I never heard about the Beit Hamikdash (the Holy Temple), let alone its destruction, is what is sad.

Recently Pew did a report on the state of American Jewry, and the results are not sad but tragic. A growing number of Jews don’t care if their grandchildren are Jewish and believe Israel is an apartheid state. And if you take out the Orthodox, which is the minority of American Jewry, the intermarriage rate is now 74%.

It is clear– Jews are leaving Judaism not because of what they know but because of what they don’t know. It is the same with turning their back on Israel.

For the first time in history, Jews are free to leave any country they live in; no one is trapped or imprisoned against their will. It is no longer “Let my people go”; it is now “Let my people know.”

May our tears of sadness turn to tears of joy.