Tisha B’av is a day of deep mourning for the Jewish people and marks two of our largest national calamities; the destruction of both the first and second Beit HaMikdash. The Talmud (Yoma 9b) teaches us that the first Beit HaMikdash was destroyed because of three sins: idolatry, sexual immorality and bloodshed.  It would seem logical that if the Jewish people were committing these three cardinal sins, that their service to HaShem had been so disregarded and their connection to Him so severed, that there wasn’t room for HaShem’s Shechinah to rest and remain in the holy Temple. Yet, even after committing these grave sins, the second Beit HaMikdash was built a mere seventy years later. In contrast to this, the second Beit HaMikdash was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE and yet, here we are in 2012, still waiting, still longing for the third Beit HaMikdash to be built. What could have caused the destruction of the second Beit HaMikdash so long ago, that still today we haven’t merited its rebuilding? What terrible sin could we be guilty of that the Talmud Yerushalmi (Yoma 1:1) would state of us that “any generation which does not see the Beit HaMikdash rebuilt is considered to have destroyed it?!”

The Talmud (Yoma 9b) gives us an answer:

Why was the Second Temple destroyed, seeing that during the time it stood people occupied themselves with Torah, with observance of precepts, and with the practice of charity? Because during the time it stood, hatred without rightful cause prevailed.

מקדש שני, שהיו עוסקין בתורה ובמצות וגמילות חסדים מפני מה חרב? מפני שהיתה בו שנאת חנם.

The Talmud seems to be saying that the nation’s service to HaShem had improved; the Jewish people were learning Torah, doing mitzvot and were meticulous in their relationship with HaShem.  They seem to have corrected what their downfall was in the destruction of the first Beit HaMikdash and yet it wasn’t enough to keep the second Beit HaMikdash standing. It was what the Talmud calls “sinat chinam,” hate without reason or cause and their lack of respect and acceptance of others that caused the complete destruction of the Beit HaMikdash. They were working to enhance and perfect their personal relationship with HaShem but not working on their relationships with others, with their spouses, children, friends or community members.  The Jewish people were under the influence of a colossal misunderstanding. They hadn’t realized that one of the greatest ways to show love of HaShem is by loving one another and fulfilling the mitzvah of v'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha (love your neighbor like yourself), through the realization that each and every person is created b’tzelem Elokim, in the image of G-d. I once heard an idea from the Lubavitcher Rebbe that helps us to understand this point with the following parable: What if someone said to you, ‘I love you, but I don't like your children?’ You would probably say: ‘You may think that you love me, but you don't really. You don't care for what I care most deeply about. Obviously, you don't know anything about me, and you don't know what love is, either!’ Loving a fellow human being, another child of G-d, is showing we love what He loves, cares for who He cares for, and is ultimately one of the greatest ways to demonstrate love of HaShem.

On the Shabbat before Tisha B’av, known as Shabbat Chazon, we read from the book of Isaiah:

Why do I need your numerous sacrifices?...I am sated with elevation-offerings… the blood of bulls, sheep and goats I do not desire...Bring your worthless meal offerings no longer, it is incense of abomination to Me…My soul detests your New Moons and your appointed times…When you spread your hands in prayer I will hide My eyes from you, even if you were to intensify your prayers, I will not listen; your hands are replete with blood. Wash yourselves, purify yourselves, remove the evil of your deeds from before My eyes; cease doing evil. Learn to do good, seek justice, vindicate the victim, render justice to the orphan, take up the grievance of the widow.

Isaiah 1:11-17

לָמָּה לִּי רֹב זִבְחֵיכֶם יֹאמַר ה' שָׂבַעְתִּי עֹלוֹת אֵילִים וְחֵלֶב מְרִיאִים וְדַם פָּרִים וּכְבָשִׂים וְעַתּוּדִים לֹא חָפָצְתִּי. כִּי תָבֹאוּ לֵרָאוֹת פָּנָי מִי בִקֵּשׁ זֹאת מִיֶּדְכֶם רְמֹס חֲצֵרָי. לֹא תוֹסִיפוּ הָבִיא מִנְחַת שָׁוְא קְטֹרֶת תּוֹעֵבָה הִיא לִי חֹדֶשׁ וְשַׁבָּת קְרֹא מִקְרָא לֹא אוּכַל אָוֶן וַעֲצָרָה. חָדְשֵׁיכֶם וּמוֹעֲדֵיכֶם שָׂנְאָה נַפְשִׁי הָיוּ עָלַי לָטֹרַח נִלְאֵיתִי נְשֹׂא. וּבְפָרִשְׂכֶם כַּפֵּיכֶם אַעְלִים עֵינַי מִכֶּם גַּם כִּי תַרְבּוּ תְפִלָּה אֵינֶנִּי שֹׁמֵעַ יְדֵיכֶם דָּמִים מָלֵאוּ. רַחֲצוּ הִזַּכּוּ הָסִירוּ רֹעַ מַעַלְלֵיכֶם מִנֶּגֶד עֵינָי חִדְלוּ הָרֵעַ. לִמְדוּ הֵיטֵב דִּרְשׁוּ מִשְׁפָּט אַשְּׁרוּ חָמוֹץ שִׁפְטוּ יָתוֹם רִיבוּ אַלְמָנָה.

ישעיהו א:יא-יז

What a powerful rebuke! HaShem is telling the people He doesn’t desire their sacrifices and He doesn’t want their prayers because they are worthless until there is harmony between His children. Until His children can look out for one another and care about one another’s well-being, HaShem can’t find His place. He can’t find rest within a restless nation and He can’t find peace among a peace-less people.

Learning to love another, even those who we disagree with, those whose opinions may differ greatly from our own, and those with different religious backgrounds, can be a daunting and difficult task. But, if we want to see the Beit HaMikdash rebuilt, we must overcome this challenge.  As Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, first Chief Rabbi of Israel, famously wrote:

If we were destroyed, and the world with us, due to baseless hatred, then we shall rebuild ourselves, and the world with us, with baseless love — ahavat chinam.

Orot HaKodesh vol. III, p. 324

ואם נחרבנו, ונחרב העולם עמנו, על ידי שנאת חנם, נשוב להבנות, והעולם עמנו יבנה, על ידי אהבת חנם.

אורות הקודש, חלק ג' עמ' שכד

Rav Kook takes it even one step further saying that there’s actually no such thing as “ahavat chinam- baseless love.” Why should we regard love of another Jew as baseless?! The mere fact that someone is a Jew should be reason enough to love him or her, after all, we refer to ourselves in our tefillot as “acheinu kol beit Yisrael-our brothers, the entire family of Israel.” 

But how do we put this into practice? How do we apply this to each of our own communities? Are there not people in our lives whom it is difficult to like, and even more so to love?

While my husband was studying for his semikha at Yeshiva University, in one of the classes he was taking, they were discussing how to deal with difficult congregants or community members. Rabbis are human too and may find that certain members of their communities are irritating or bothersome, and a student asked how they were to deal with that. The teacher thought for a moment and replied, “You don’t need to like all your congregants, you only need to love them.”  After the initial confusion at this seemingly backward statement wore off, the point this seasoned shul rabbi was trying to make became clear. Rabbis—and all other people for that matter—don’t have the responsibility to like and enjoy the company of each of their congregants or community members but rather, we each have a responsibility to see past the flaws of those around us and love each individual we come into contact with simply because he or she is our Jewish brother or sister. 

It would seem that this is the essence of ahavat Yisrael-love of Israel. G-d is not asking of us that we like people whose character and behavior we may find distasteful, what He is however demanding and expecting of us is that we love the person nonetheless, just as we would with our own family. When we can each learn to do this—remove baseless hatred from our hearts and mind, and replace it with a love for all Jews—then we will finally have corrected the sin of our ancestors and be worthy of rebuilding the Beit HaMikdash.

There’s a beautiful story of a chassid who went to the Rebbe with a question he’d been wanting to ask for a long while, “Rebbe, why does Moshiach not come? I can see that maybe in the past, the world wasn’t ready, it wasn’t the right time. But now, after the Holocaust and the return of Jews to their land, has the time not come?” The Rebbe continued to gaze at the student and asked him to go on. The student continued, “ Doesn’t the Talmud teach us that one day a King will rise up against the Jewish people whose decrees will be as evil as Haman’s- and did that not happen with Hitler and his wicked decrees? And didn’t Moshe teach us that at the end of exile HaShem will gather us in even though we’ve been banished to the most distant lands? And has this not occurred too, with Jews returning to Israel from more than a hundred different lands?  Why then does Moshiach not come?”

“I’ll tell you, my son”, said the Rebbe. “How could he come? If he was a chassid of one sect, the chassidim of the other sects wouldn’t recognize him. If he were orthodox, the Reform Jews wouldn’t recognize him. If he was secular, the religious Jews would not recognize him. So how then can he come? But now I will tell you a great secret. It is not we who are waiting for Moshiach. It is Moshiach who is waiting for us. He has been here all the time, and it is we who are not yet ready for him.” Before the student could reply, the Rebbe continued. “Now let me ask you a question. What would you do if Moshiach did come? Would you greet him as you would a long-lost, long-awaited friend?  Would you not invite him and treat him like a royal guest and treat him with the utmost honour and respect?” The student was shocked, “Of course I would. Can the Rebbe doubt that?”

“Well” said the Rebbe, “I’ll tell you then what you must do and teach others. Regard every person you meet- familiar or stranger, young or old, observant or not, learned or unlearned-as if they might be the Moshiach, for Moshiach will arrive in disguise. And if we would do this, we would find that even without maybe realizing it, Moshiach had come”.

On this Tisha B’av—a day on which we continue to mourn the destruction and lack of rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash because of the sin of sinat chinam—may we find our own strength and ability to treat each person we meet, and the individuals in our communities, as loved family members, and through this merit the coming of Moshiach and the building of the third Beit HaMikdash.