Re-Birthright

It's past midday on Tisha B'Av so the rules for mourning are a bit relaxed now.
I went to shul early, read Kinot, then watched "The Pianist" with my family. Indeed I did feel real sorrow for the loss of Jerusalem and the great many tragedies that have befallen our people through history.

However, for the last three years I have been to the Kotel on the 9th and every year I felt something other than sadness. Anticipation, excitement, a buzz in the air. Jewish multitudes come, tens of thousands mull around at night smiling, singing, and strolling. Beautiful Jews everywhere. The Kotel has the air of a show about to start - a construction site with work in progress. In Israel, the Jewish people are being reborn and all the souls of the millions of murdered Jews are recycled into this rebirth - you can feel it.

Tisha B'Av is certainly about mourning. But tomorrow let's dry our tears and get to workin' on making Israel the best place in the world. Don't be cynical about the state of our State - cynicism regarding Israel is merely a superficial reaction to the incomprehensible Jewish renaissance of our time. The retrograde actions of our leaders only serve to mask the progress of the Jewish rebirth and the Third Temple period. Sometimes it's hard to see the big picture, especially when it's so big.