14 Jul DEVARIM: 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’atim 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’atim 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.