Napoleon Bonaparte was the first leader to comprehend the strength of a persecuted nation exiled from its homeland. He watched in awe as French Jews fasted each year to commemorate the destruction of their temple, years ago in some faraway land. It has been 1,940 years since the Roman emperor Titus burned the Second Temple and the Jews have yet to lose hope. Elad, a nongovernmental organization that excavates the City of David (thought to be where King David built his palace and the Jerusalem city center) showcased on Monday a 2,000-year-old sword of a Roman soldier bearing a rare engraving of the temple's menorah. A few weeks earlier, the Israeli Antiquities Authority discovered a pomegranate-shaped ornament encapsulating a delicate, pure gold bell -- a treasure likely used by the temple's high priests to decorate their religious clothing, one of 72 such pieces. These discoveries are true gems of national heritage. I visited the excavation site several weeks ago, under the auspices of Elad. In the site, you can see a tunnel used for escaping the besieged city during times of crisis. It runs along the southern foundation stone of the Western Wall, and there is no doubt that a British archaeologist attempted to scratch the surface of this tunnel in the 1870s. Breathtaking indeed. Especially on Tisha B'Av, although not everyone is moved equally. Even during when Israel was under the rule of the British Mandate, Labor Zionist youth movements held a bonfire to mark the day. Their ideological guru Berl Katznelson could not simply ignore it. Even he was attached to his Jewish heritage. In some respects, it is interesting that Zionism did not shift the focus of "afflicting your souls" (the Biblical commandment for fasting Yom Kippur) to Tisha B'Av. The loss of the temple created what is known today as the Jewish Diaspora. Although the first day is prescribed by the Torah itself and the second is only a tradition introduced by rabbis, from a nationalistic perspective it would make more sense to mourn the loss of a spiritual center whose destruction also brought about the loss of the national sovereignty, rather than fasting on matters pertaining to the relationship between a human and God or between us as individuals. But it is hard to part with tradition. This day observes five calamities, the first of which was the brought about by Moses's 12 emissaries, whose disparaging report on the Land of Israel led to the Israelites wandering longer in the desert. The last, which is the most traumatic, is the razing of the Second Temple. Over the years the Jewish leadership sought to make sense of the event by comparing the period of the First Temple (destroyed in 586 B.C.E.) with that of the Second Temple (70 C.E.). The sins committed in the first destruction were ghastlier than those in the second, so why would both meet the same fate, they asked- Because of rampant, baseless hatred. Thus, the leaders concluded, baseless hatred is on par with all the world's vices combined. Many Israelis have considered this lesson lately. Look at the current state of society, the pockets of baseless hatred. For some, the notion of compromise or the idea of acting with restraint is foreign, be it because of bitterness or an inability to break the impasse on hot-button issues. There is no need to mention names; the figures are well known and are mentioned in the papers. They are outspoken and always unpleasant to hear. They are on the Left and on the Right, both with a kippah covering their head and without. But there is still valid ground for the idea that Israeli society, which at its core is tradition but also socially democratic in its world view, prefers a compromise over a clear-cut victory for one side or another. Maybe we act this way because we suffer from separation anxiety after so many years in exile. There are many explanations, and they are all beside the point. Once all are finished beating the drums and waving the flags, from he battle cries there will always emerge a practical and restrained tone, perhaps even in the wake of last week's mass protests for social justice. Let it be the case.
