Rabbi's Message

Yesterday was Rosh Hodesh as we began the new month of Av. The Talmud teaches: Mi’shenihnas av mema'atin b’simha - when we enter the month of Av, our joy is diminished.  As Av enters, we begin a period known as the Nine Days, a period of mourning on the Jewish calendar that culminate with Tisha B’Av (the 9th of Av), the saddest day on our Jewish calendar.  Tisha B’Av solemnly marks many of the tragedies and calamities that have befallen the Jewish people including the destruction of both the First and Second Temples.  While Av is a month filled with grief, it is also a time of the Jewish year that reminds us of the importance of holding onto hope for the present, and especially, the future. One example of this is the Shabbat before Tisha B’Av. The Shabbat before Tisha B’Av (which is this coming Shabbat) is known as Shabbat Hazon, the Shabbat of Vision. While there are numerous understandings for why we call it Shabbat Hazon, several Chassidic Rabbis taught that it receives this special moniker because on Shabbat Hazon we are granted a vision of the Third Temple. 

Now, whether or not we believe there should be a next installment of the Temple, it is a powerful teaching that precisely in this moment, as we make our way towards Tisha B’Av, holding onto the ancient stories of grief and struggle of our people, we are given a glimpse of change, and optimism. Something within us perceives that despite everything, redemption and hope are possible. Our spirits sense that although we may not know exactly what it will look like, our future is bright.  

As author Rebecca Solnit writes: “to hope is to give yourself to the future.”  So if Judaism is grounded in hope, then in turn, it must also be about bringing hope to the present in order to ensure a brighter future.  And this is something I get to witness first hand each summer when I visit Camp Ramah in the Poconos and the JCC Camps at Medford.  Two weeks ago, Rabbi Lindemann and I visited with our dozens of TBS campers and staff at Camp Ramah in the Poconos.  And this week, Cantor Cohen, Alex Weinberg, Michele Hasit Waxman, and I have spent many hours visiting with our well over one hundred TBS campers and staff at JCC camps at Medford.   

First, a huge thank you to the leadership of both camps, especially to TBS’ own Sara Sideman and Jared Kaufman, the Director and Associate Director of the JCC Camps at Medford.  Thank you for your tireless work and dedication to our community and to our children.  Thank you for giving them the gifts of joy, fun, friendship, Jewish learning, and menschlikeit. Second, allow me to share something that I feel strongly every year when I get to visit these amazing camps, but I have come to understand more deeply in the context of Shabbat Hazon and Tisha B’Av. Our children are our future. The Third Temple will not be a building made of stone. It will be a community made of people; namely our children. Whenever I am privileged to spend time with our students, I see that our future is indeed bright. To hope is to give yourself to the future. May we continue to dedicate ourselves to our children as we continue to nourish and cultivate our Jewish future.