[img]96|left|||no_popup[/img]Dateline Jerusalem – A major tragedy occurred this week when a busload of Israeli tourists was blown up by a Muslim suicide bomber in Bulgaria. It occurred on the 18th anniversary of the bombing of a Jewish Community Center in Argentina by Iranian terrorists. Although Israel and Israelis have been victims of terror since the inception of the modern state 64 years ago, and in the last few months there have been attempts to attack Israelis in Thailand, India, Georgia, Kenya and Cyprus, Israel has been excluded from the United States's list of terror victims at the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum created by the US. Just as it is deemed offensive to pro-Palestinian and other terrorist countries to honor the Israeli athletes who were massacred at the Olympic Games 40 years ago with a minute of silence, it is offensive to countries who sponsor terror to include Israel in the Counter-Terrorism Forum. For the U.S. to bow down to them and exclude Israel from the list of victims of terror because it might offend them is more than offensive to me. It is a travest.
Yet I am not surprised by these events. For they are occurring during a time that many tragedies and calamities have plagued the Jewish people throughout history. Today is Rosh Chodesh Av, the start of the “nine days” of the “three weeks” of mourning between the Seventeenth of Tammuz and the Ninth of Av. The “nine days” begins the month of Av when Jews decrease their joy and mourn over the destruction of the Holy Temple. It is considered an auspicious time. The “three weeks” commemorates the destruction of Jerusalem and the two Holy Temples by the Babylonians and Romans, respectively, which led to the exile of Jews from the land of Israel. During the three-week period, observant Jews abstain from listening to music, getting married, cutting their hair or shaving, buying clothing or making major purchases like a new home or car, and unnecessary items. During the “nine days,” activities that bring one joy or pleasure are forbidden, such as eating meat, drinking wine. Because it is a time fraught with danger, religious Jews avoid swimming and traveling.
Historically, this period is when Moses broke the tablets as a response to the sin of worshiping the Golden Calf, the Holy Temple was desecrated when an idol was placed in it and the Torah scroll was burned, setting a precedent for the burning of Jewish books ever since. Other events occurred on the 17th of Tammuz. Pope Gregory IX ordered all manuscripts of the Talmud confiscated in 1239, more than 4000 Jews were murdered in Spain in 1391, the Jewish Quarter in Prague was burned and looted in 1559, the Kovno ghetto was liquidated in 1944, and all Jewish property was confiscated in Libya in 1970. On the ninth of Av, the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, and World War I broke out in 1914, leading to the overturning of many Jewish communities and what some historians claim as the event that led to the Holocaust in World War II.
Christopher Columbus was a “converso,” a Jew forcibly converted to Catholicism during the Inquisition but who observed Judaism in secret. He was supposed to sail on the ninth of Av, the day all Jews were given the choice of converting, leaving Spain or being killed. An interesting historical fact: Because it was an unlucky day to sail, Columbus asked King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain for a postponement to sail the following day, giving weather as an excuse.
Although travel is considered dangerous during the “three weeks,” it cannot be said that the bombing of the bus of Israeli tourists in Bulgaria could have been avoided had the Israelis stayed home. Israelis are victims of terror all year long, whether at home in Israel or elsewhere in the world. As long as the world is afraid to offend those who encourage, abet, support, and sponsor terror, there will be no safe place for anyone.
L'hitraot. Shachar
