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From the Rabbi:
Next week, Monday night/Tuesday, is Tisha B'Av. The customs of mourning and the Tisha B'Av schedule at KOT can be found here.
The Shabbat immediately preceding Tisha B'Av is known as Shabbat Chazon. This name is taken from the haftarah, the opening chapter of the book of Isaiah, which begins Chazon Yishayahu ("The vision of Isaiah"). The haftarah starts with a scathing rebuke of superficial and inauthentic religiosity, which God finds loathsome and burdensome: Of what good is your perfunctory religious service when your actions are unjust and your conscience corrupted? You think I want your sacrifices when you oppress widows and orphans?
But the answer isn't to leave God alone. That disconnect is the very source of the problem! It's also not what God really wants. What Hashem wants is made clear: righteous action and a just society that promote and facilitate meaningful intimacy with Hashem. But how do we get from here to there? How do we turn this sinking ship around?
Isaiah (1:18) tells us:
Come, please let us dispute! — says GOD. Be your sins like crimson, they can turn snow-white; be they red as dyed wool, they can become like fleece.
This verse, which figures prominently in the Yom Kippur liturgy, is God inviting us to argue with Him. All the pain, anger, rage, fear, shame... "Bring it to me," says God, "Let me have it." Isaiah is telling us that we can express all the negativity sitting in our kishkes however it needs to come out. In fierce wrath and rage. In bitter sarcasm. In grief and despair. "But please," says God, "please don't hold it in and let it rot you from the inside and meanwhile pretend to daven like everything is ok. Please be real. Be authentic."
In a certain way, Tisha B'Av is all about making room in our relationship with Hashem for all the hardest feelings. Those dark things we don't let ourselves feel the rest of the year. On Tisha B'Av we don't distract ourselves, even with Torah. We don't bathe or wear perfume or make ourselves up to look nice. Come as you are. It's ok to be angry at God, especially on Tisha B'Av. But please, tell Him about it. I promise you, he won't interrupt.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Shlomo
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