A cartoon shows two men sitting in a plush library. The older of the two relates an ancient maxim, but with a twist: “Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it. Yet those who do study history are doomed to stand by helplessly while everyone else repeats it.”
This saying resonates as we enter the annual period when we commemorate the destruction of both Jerusalem Temples and other historical calamities that are associated with Tish’ah b’Av, the Ninth day of Av, and as we think of events in Israel today.
Two events associated with Tish’ah b’Av stand out as historical models worth noting: the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE, and the tragedy of the Bar Kokhba revolt, which ended on Tish’ah b’Av with the fall of Betar some sixty-five years later, in 135.
Rabbinic sources, as well as Josephus, recall that during the Roman siege of Jerusalem there were those who wanted to negotiate with the Romans. We have the famous story of Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, one of the leading rabbis, who, in order to pass the Jewish zealot cordon, had to be smuggled out of Jerusalem in a coffin to meet with Vespasian, then the general commanding the siege. The zealots opposed any negotiations; they were so bent on engaging in a fight that they burned the granaries that could have sustained the Jews of Jerusalem through a protracted siege. They would brook no dissent: assassins stabbed those who opposed them. In the end, the messianic thinking of the zealots was no match for the might of the Roman Empire; the Temple was burned to the ground, and Jerusalem fell, with much Jewish blood spilled - a situation that might have otherwise been avoided.
The Bar Kokhba revolt brings another example of messianic overreach that had disastrous repercussions. Yehoshafat Harkabi, former chief of intelligence of the IDF, chronicled that war in his book, The Bar Kokhba Syndrome. Bar Kokhba engaged Rome in battle at a time when the Roman Legions throughout the empire were not otherwise occupied, and were easily mobilized to Judea. No doubt there were reasons for Jews to be unhappy under Roman domination, but while the Jewish community of Judea was decimated in the war, the Jews of the Galilee did not rebel, its populace survived, and it became the center for the growth of rabbinic Judaism in the Land of Israel after the war. The war, according to Harkabi’s analysis, was unnecessary; it was prompted by a messianic worldview that took hold and that would not consider the potential consequences for their actions. The consequences included the loss of many lives, enslavement of many others, and the end of Jewish autonomy in Judea and Jerusalem for the next 1,800 years.
One could ask what might have happened had that war never taken place.
The Jewish people have suffered with the scars of the fall of Jerusalem and the Bar Kokhba defeat ever since. Still, many have not learned the lessons of either defeat. Despite the preponderance for moderation in rabbinic sources, its harsh criticism of the zealots of Jerusalem and of Bar Kokhba, those lessons have been forgotten by many. While the Israel of today has among the finest defense capabilities in the world, its dependence on its might outweighs the skillful engagement in diplomacy and negotiation.
But despite its strengths in building a state with a powerful military and many successes in industry, science, culture and education, it remains haunted by its past. That past should never be forgotten. But it should never keep us fettered, unable to move into the future.
On the eve of Tish’ah b’Av we remove curtains from the ark and covers from the lecterns of our synagogues, but in the afternoon, before the Mincha prayers, even as we still fast, they are restored, and the spirit of mourning turns to one of hope. During Mincha, a special prayer is added to the Amida, a prayer of consolation, recalling the pain of the past, but concluding with these hopeful words, “Blessed are you, Lord, who consoles Zion and rebuilds Jerusalem.” Even during those darkest of days, before anyone could dream of what our eyes can now see, these words were uttered in the present.
Some of us fear for Israel's future because of the external threats that she faces. For me and many like myself, the greater threat is from within. The paring down of Israel's democracy, the continued settlement of the West Bank and moves towards an eventual single-state solution pose a grave danger to the future of a democratic Jewish state. And once again, not unlike two millennia ago, Israel's greatest enemy may be the one from within.
For a people with an appreciation for the past, we haven't learned much from history.
