What a hard time this is for us. This year that statement does not refer to our History, but to our current situation. The events of these weeks have led me to some reflection that I would like to share with you.
Will sacrificing be re-instituted?
Will Korbanot be reintroduced in the Messianic era? Absolutely! And I hope and pray that will be soon. Why? Because making a sacrifice is about demonstrating the will to pay a price. And the price we are willing to pay for something determines the value we attach to it. Korbanot (sacrifices), set the price we are willing to pay for our attachment to G-d. They set the value we associate with the Divine sanctity of the Jewish Nation.
We make sacrifices for our children's education; because their education is valuable to us. We sacrifice for our families' economic security; our families are important to us. We sacrificed in the Holocaust – heavily. We demonstrated to G-d as we walked to the gas chambers that we are willing, if necessary, to pay the highest price for that which is of the highest value to us: our divine mission, our attachment to G-d, our survival as a holy nation and a kingdom of priests. In the Holocaust we sacrificed our crown Jewels, the gems of our society. We sacrificed precious young men in the various wars and struggles that made Israel a reality. And now again as some of the finest and noblest of our young men are losing their lives Al Kedushat Hashem, Israel is sacrificing its gems for the safety of our land and our people. We are sacrificing all the time. If we had a Beit Mikdash , we could sacrifice our animals, our economic security and wealth. Now without a Beit Mikdash we can only sacrifice our children, our brothers and our sisters. This is what we mourn on Tisha Be'Av.
Tisha Be'Av is the day we remember the martyrs of the Holocaust; it is our Yom HaZikaron. But in the remembrance of that, one of the most catastrophic sacrifices of our history, we have so much for which to be thankful. Often we are accused of having gone “like sheep to the slaughter,” without a struggle, without dignity. But that is not so. We waged a massive battle against the Nazi's….and we won. Where is Hitler? Where is the Nazi Party? Where is the Third Reich? Where is the Jewish People? We are thriving. Hundreds of thousands of people learning Torah around the world. A vibrant State of Israel. Worldwide economic prosperity. We did win the war against Hitler, but we lost 6 million casualties in that war. We mourn our casualties, but we celebrate our victory.
On Tisha Be'Av we mourn not only the loss of our Temple . We also mourn the loss of every drop of Jewish blood spilled in the service of Hashem and His people. We remember, we recognize and we mourn each of the human sacrifices we have offered up for our own survival.
