May We Know No More Sorrow

Dear Momentum Family –

I am thankfully still in Israel, still on a high from last week’s MOMentum trip that featured Mothers of Lone Soldiers.

As is often the case, we went from celebration to sorrow. This week in Israel there was a collective tragedy as a 19-year-old IDF Hesder soldier (one who combines Torah learning at IDF service) was kidnapped and killed.

The Jewish people are one family, and although there are challenging divisions politically, religiously, and culturally, when we need one another, we are there.

But coming together in tragedy is not the ideal.

Beginning this Saturday night and continuing through Sunday is Tisha Ba’av. Tisha Ba’av is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. We mark the destruction of both Temples, the Beit Hamikdash, where G-d’s presence was strongest and where Jews could unite. Because we refused to unite for good, the Almighty allowed us to be vulnerable to our enemies, leading to the fall of the Temple and the exile of our people. On Tisha Ba’av, we unite in sorrow, as we realize we still have not come together and still have not merited the complete ingathering and rebuilding.

Let us make a personal decision now to strive for “Unity Without Uniformity,” coming together because we focus on the good in one another, even with our differences and mistakes.

And may we know no more sorrow.

Good Shabbos, Shabbat Shalom–