Not Feeling the Nechama this Nachamu

I was hoping that, with Tisha B’Av behind us, I could share some lighter material.  You know, some thoughts on relaxation, vacation, and recharging our batteries.

Then the headlines got it in the way.

Right after Tisha B’Av, a Member of Knesset from the Jewish Home party called for a bulldozer to be used against the Israeli Supreme Court.  This was in reaction to tensions in Beit El, where the court ruled that illegal structures must be razed.  These statements were condemned by all – including members of his own party, and the MK later attempted to walk back from the statement.

Turning to Beit El, whatever one’s opinion regarding settlement expansion may be, the rhetoric is scary.  Times of Israel editor David Horowitz describes this confrontation as “a step on the road to intra-Jewish destruction.”  It sounds like the biryonim, who destroyed the storehouses of food during the Roman siege so as to force a confrontation and war, all over again.  And right after Tisha B’Av!!

Yesterday, the story was of an ultra-Orthodox man who stabbed 6 people at the Jerusalem gay pride parade.  The suspect was jailed for a similar attack 10 years ago.  How?  Why? What?  Is this how a Jew behaves?

I wish I was done.  This morning, I woke up to the horrifying news of a “price tag” arson attack in which an 18-month-old Palestinian child was murdered and his four-year-old brother and parents critically injured and severely burned.  Prime Minister Netanyahu (among others) appropriately condemned this terrorist attack.  I am sick just writing the sentence, so you can read the article for details. 

Eicha – How can we behave this way?  Why would anyone say and do such things?  Like on Tisha B’Av, I cannot comprehend.  Why can’t there be some sense of civility, decency, and morality?  Why can’t there be legitimate disagreement without disrespect, violence, or murder?  We live in a loud world where the biggest, boldest, and most extreme voices and actions seem to matter, so that is the way people behave. 

It needs to stop.

If there is any nechamah (consolation) from this Shabbat Nachamu, it is the obligation to turn around.  How does consolation work?  How does one move from pain and horror to a sense of normalcy?  Nechama means to change perspective, a radical transformation of attitude.  It means the way things are cannot be tolerated and we move back to the way things should be.

This may be difficult or even seem impossible, but, when you consider the alternatives in today’s headlines, we have no other choice.

May this Shabbat usher in some sense of Shalom.