(JNS) This week—on Tuesday night, to be exact—we begin a rather sad period in the Jewish calendar known as the Nine Days. It begins with Rosh Chodesh, marking the new month of Menachem Av, and will conclude after Tisha B’Av on July 23. These are the saddest days of the year: a national day of mourning with a 25-hour fast commemorating the date when both Holy Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed.
The First Temple, built by King Solomon, was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in 586 BCE. The Second Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E. by the Roman Empire under Titus, hence the Arch of Titus in Rome celebrating his victory and the expulsion of the Jews from Jerusalem.
Many people ask a seemingly legitimate question. Why are we still crying over events that occurred some 2,000 years ago? “Get over it” or “Let it lie,” they say. “Why keep remembering forever? Enough already!”
It’s a fair question.
Here is a story from a more recent period of destruction, the Holocaust.
While in the concentration camp, a Torah...
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