29 Jul MOURNING – AND REBUILDING – TOGETHER

Once, as I was giving a
class about the halachot of
Tishah B’Av, I mentioned
the law regarding work on
this day – that Halachah
permits working on Tishah
B’Av, but the Rabbis teach
that one who does so will not see blessing
from his efforts. Although work is
permitted, we are warned that no blessing
will result from work performed on Tishah
B’Av.
As I was teaching this halachah, it
dawned on me that Tishah B’Av is one of
two days on the Jewish calendar when
working is allowed but will not bring
berachah, the other being Purim.
I started thinking, what do these two
occasions have in common? Why
specifically on these days are we advised
that although working is allowed, it will
not bring us blessing?
The answer, I believe, is that these are the
two days when we are commanded to feel
the “mood” of the Jewish People. Halachah
teaches “Mishenichnas Adar Marbim
B’Simcha” – we all increase our joy when
the month of Adar begins, and
“Mishenichnas Av, Mema’atin
B’Simcha”– we all decrease our joy when
the month of Av begins. Purim and Tishah

B’Av are days marked by a national mood.
Jews across the world are happy and jovial
on Purim; and Jews across the world are
sad and somber on Tishah B’Av. If
somebody goes to work, as though it’s just
a normal day, he is separating himself from
the Jewish People. He’s too preoccupied
with his own affairs to participate in the
nation’s joy, or in the nation’s pain. And
when we separate from Am Yisrael, when
we’re too focused on ourselves to think
about the rest of the nation, there’s no
berachah, there’s no blessing.
One of the races in the Olympics every
four years is the 4 X 100 meters relay.
Each nation is represented in this race by
four runners, each of whom runs for 100
meters and then passes the baton onto the
next runner. For decades, the United States
consistently won the gold medal for this
race, because it has the fastest runners.
More recently, however, the U.S. has had
less success – not because its runners
aren’t as fast, but because they haven’t
been able to pass the baton smoothly to the
next runner.
As Jews, our job is not only to “run fast,”
to reach the finish line ourselves, but also
to “pass the baton” to the people around
us. Our “race” is not only individual, but
national. We need to run together. And this

means that we can’t just be looking
out for ourselves. We need to be
looking out for one another.
Rabbis aren’t the only ones
saying this. Our bitterest enemies
are saying this, too.
Sapir Cohen is a young woman
who was captured by Hamas
terrorists on October 7, 2023, and
released 55 days later. She has
since shared that at some point
before she was freed, the terrorists
who held her captive showed her
the news reports on TV. She saw
the vigils being held in “Hostage Square”
in Tel-Aviv, attended by Israelis from all
backgrounds, spanning the political
spectrum. She noticed that this was not the
same Israel as the country she lived in on
October 6th – a country that was bitterly
divided. Her captor told her that the fierce
in-fighting among Israelis before October
7th encouraged them, the terrorists. They
knew that when Israelis are fighting with
one another, they are so much weaker and
so much more vulnerable. They saw the
fighting and felt confident that their attack
could succeed.
“Mishenichnas Av, Mema’atin
B’Simcha” On Tishah B’Av, we mourn
together – because we need to rebuild

together. In order to recover from the
hurban (destruction), in order to bring our
final redemption, we need to “pass the
baton” to one another. It’s not enough for
each person to decide what he needs to do
personally, which mitzvot he needs to
observe better, which personal
improvements he needs to make. Of course
this is very important. But we need to do
more than that. We need to remember to
“pass the baton,” to look around at all our
fellow Jews, no matter how different they
are from us and from each other, and
extend a hand. We need to run this race not
alone, but as a nation, and this means
reaching out to every fellow Jew in need
and to feel closely bonded and connected
to the entire Jewish Nation.