Tisha B'av After The Birth Of The State And Great Miracles

Rav Soloveitchik:

Yet, the great historic event of the construction of the Second Beis Ha-Mikdash could not perform one task. It could not answer the question posed by Yirmiyahu in Eicha, namely, why did the Churban occur? The perplexing problem of Tzaddik v’ra lo v’rasha v’tov lo (the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper) comes to expression repeatedly throughout Eicha. It asks why did God allow the destruction of His Holy House at the hands of areilim u-temei’im, unclean villains. Why did God remain silent at the murder of prophets and priests in the Beis Ha-Mikdash, the deaths of infants, and the dishonoring of women in Jerusalem by hordes of savages and brutes. These questions remain unresolved and unanswered even after the restoration of the Second Beis Ha-Mikdash. They remain as puzzling and enigmatic today as they were during the 70 years of the Babylonian Exile. The question of…why innocent people were killed by savage criminals has not been answered.

Of course, the Jew accepts this fate with humility. Nonetheless, the events of Churban remain as inexplicable and incomprehensible as ever.

Of course, we are obligated to thank God for His mercy, love and kindness. Yes, our gratitude to the Almighty does not, ipso facto, erase from memory events and experiences which demand explanation. We must continue to ask Eicha, where is the justice of the Churban?…

The same is true nowadays as well. The question of Eicha remains unresolved. Can the proclamation of the state of Israel, with all of its glory and all of its Kiddush Hashem (Sanctification of God’s Name), ever rationalize the cataclysmic events which befell our nation in the 1940’s under the Nazis? Does Yom Ha’atzmaut answer the question of Eicha? Only arrogant fools can believe that the State of Israel is a prize for the massacre of six million Jews. Only one who lacks sensitivity, only one who is cruel and indifferent, can ever assert such a sadistic belief. Does the joy and victory of 1967 rationalize and supersede the anguish and despair of the last few decades? Aren’t we today as speechless and perplexed as before?…

As long as Eicha remains as inexplicable as it was during the dark nights of Hester Panim, as long as historical events have not been placed within the proper perspective, as long as we grope in the darkness of the prima facie nonsensical world and absurd situations, as long as people scoff at us because of our faith in the benevolence of the Almighty, as long as the riddle of Eicha is not unraveled, Tisha B’Av cannot be abandoned! As long as one Jew asks the question of Eicha, Tisha B’Av must be observed.

Tisha B’Av will be abandoned only after the question of Eicha will be answered. What was true in the era of the Bayis Sheni (the Second Temple) is certainly true today as well. Only after the Messiah arrives, only after God will reveal Himself to mankind, only after history will be placed within the proper perspective, only when God’s truth and justice will finally be acknowledged and man will live in peace, will Tisha B’Av be celebrated as a day of redemption and will become a holiday.