Don't just mourn the past, fix the present
By LEADEL.NET
LAST UPDATED: 08/08/2011 15:53
Rebbetzin Oshra Koren says Tisha B'Av represents a lack of unity among people, a dilemma today's society is still struggling to overcome
Prostesters in Jerusalem's Kikar Zion. Photo: Marc Israel Sellem
Commemorating
Tisha B’Av isn’t simply mourning for the past, it’s a call to social
action to fix problems in present-day society, Rebbetzin Oshra Koren says. In
an interview with Leadel.net, the rabbi discusses the meaning behind
Tisha B’Av, the day of mourning marking the destruction of the first and
second temples, and how it relates to the current socioeconomic
struggles facing Israelis today. The
tent city uprisings protesting high housing and food costs is symbolic
of a loss of unity and a greater gap between the rich and the poor, a
division that existed in the time of the temples, says Koren, who is the director of Matan Hasharon.“When
I think of Tisha B’Av and I’m mourning Tisha B’Av I’m not mourning
2,000 years ago. I’m mourning the situation of 2,000 years ago that
still lives with us today.”She
adds: “And we have to learn the lessons and if we don’t learn the
lessons of bridging the gaps between the different segments of society,
the Temple will not be built. As the rabbis said, that every generation
that the temple is not built in, it’s as if it was destroyed in their
time.”