THE CYCLE OF HISTORY

     It has often been said that what is past is prologue, that from the past comes the present and the future. It is the butterfly effect theory wherein the flap of the wings of a butterfly on one side of the world causes a hurricane on the other. To put it more simply, it is that six degrees of separation that often turns out to be only 2 or 3 degrees of separation. It is the consequences that ensue so quickly that we cannot even catch our breath.
     The echoes of the past are with us, and sometimes quite powerfully. Today, for Jews, is one of those powerfully linked days of past and present and the concern for the future. Today is Tisha B"Av, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av, a day that has been filled with tragedy for the Jewish nation throughout the years, the long years, of history.
     It is the day that the spies returned with a fearful report on the land of Canaan and the Israelites wandered forty more years in the desert before reaching their Promised Land. It is the day both Temples were destroyed and the day years afterwards that the Romans plowed it all under, the day of the fall of Betar, an important city in Judea, the day of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and the day a momentous and ominous decision was made about the Warsaw Ghetto.
     So today many Jews fast, chant special prayers, have special programs, all to remind us of what has been lost and what has happened to us over the millennia. It is a day wherein many pray at the Kotel, or Western Wall, Plaza and many wish to walk up to the Temple Mount where the Temple stood, just to imbibe of the air, the sense of faith that was always there for on this same mountain top Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac. But today it was meant to be forbidden as Palestinians had other plans and these included using their holy mosque as a storage place, an armory of firebombs, firecrackers, rocks, weapons, etc., all to use against the Israeli and other Jews who came to worship at the plaza or walk up to the Mount. This is how one uses a place that one considers holy? As an armory from which to attack and maim and even kill? This is the goal of their plans?
     One wonders what the world actually values amongst its various populations. Are we ever to forego the hatred from years past, the enmity that never seems to die out or are we doomed to keep stoking those ashes until the fire is burning high again. Russia is back to a dictatorship again, one that wishes to bring back the politics of the Cold War, is indulging its long, long hatred and competition with the Ukrainians. China is busy beavering into our computer files, looking for information it can use against us, ISIS has an Islamic Caliphate in an arc from Afghanistan to Nigeria. Our president is "looking for his roots" in a land where democracy is shunned, where gay men are hunted and killed, but oh, there he is dining with an extended family of a father who deserted him before birth and had truly nothing to do with him for the rest of his life other than one meeting. Where are his roots as an American? Where are his roots as an ally to his friends or does the Obama doctrine command that we smile at our enemies and frown and turn away from our
allies?
     So the Turkish government is now going to fight ISIS, or so they say, but in the meanwhile they are taking advantage of the times and killing Kurds once again. Sunni is killing Shiite and both are killing Yazidis. The Serbs and Albanians are still at each other and the posturing goes on. And all the world blames Israel for the whole mess. Interesting how powerful one tiny country is?!
     And so the world continues to mourn. The mass graves of Srebnica were opened again and the tears of the survivors once more watered the earth. And our president thinks he is making peace with Iran, for "any deal is better than none, even a bad deal." Truly? Anybody hear the whispers of Chamberlain, echoing down the years, that now the world will find peace, that we will never go to war again?  How simplistic are these actions and how dangerous for all.
     So why is Israel so concerned? Simple. It is an existential threat and if Americans were aware enough they would know that Iran is an existential threat to the world, to the "Great Satan - America" whose flags they still burn even as they chant words of hatred as their leaders threaten to change directions in this deal.
     Tisha B'Av is not just for Jews to mourn dates and actions of history. It is a day for all thinkers of the world to wonder where we are going, what we are doing. We need to wonder if G-d is there on high, holding His head in His hands and agonizing, "What was I thinking?" Let us all take stock today of where we stand in life and for those who are fasting, think of those who fast everyday for they have no food - right here in the USA. Watch the Frontline program Poor Kids and wonder at our priorities. (Sorry if this is a bit down, but this is a sad day for my people throughout history and I do not see anything changing. The echoes of the past are too strong and one day soon I will write of the new PC anti Semitism of the world.)