Why we must mourn

Reacting to my switch to black in protest at the implementation of disengagement, DovBear surpasses even his own usual talent for missing the point:

It's over Biur. Time to stop protesting, time to stop wallowing, and time to begin recovering and doing your part for Jewish unity.

There's good in this, there's good in everything, even if this is 10 miles of cloud, there's still an inch of silver.

Find it and you'll start to feel better.

# posted by DovBear : Friday, August 12, 2005 3:29:06 AM

Every line, every phrase of this smug scolding just gets it wrong. Where to start?

"It's over Biur."

No, not quite. Until the last Israeli civilian and soldier leaves Gaza, it is not yet over. Until then, thousands of people still have thousands of actions to take, decisions to make. They remain free agents and retain free will. It ain't over till it's over.

Time to stop protesting, time to stop wallowing, and time to begin recovering and doing your part for Jewish unity.

When a tragic mistake of historic proportions is about to be made, it is precisely the time to protest. When a Jewish government uproots Jewish homes in the Land of Israel, it is time for mourning. Only once the dust has settled (literally and figuratively) will it be appropriate to resume business as usual. You want me to start recovering before the mourning phase has even begun?

You are mistaken if you think I'm "wallowing" and need to "feel better". I am not sulking under the covers. (Actually, I'm enjoying the company of my magical daughter!) My protest is not driven by emotion (though this is not to say I am unemotional about the event - far from it). I protest out of a clear, rational analysis of the move and its consequences. I grieve out of a sensitivity to the reverberations of Jewish history.

Listen to yourself. Is that how you'd advise a friend who has lost a loved one, God forbid? Stop wallowing and move on already? Before he has had the chance to mourn? There is a time for sorrow and a time for recovering.

What about you, DovBear? Did you mourn yesterday, Tisha B'Av? Get over it, man! The temples were destroyed centuries ago. Time to stop wallowing, no?

No.

So long as we continue to mourn the loss of our sovereignty 2000 years ago at the hands of our enemies, so long as the halacha requires us to rend our garments at the mere sight of the destroyed ancient cities of Judea, we must at least grieve for the deliberate razing of Jewish communities in the Land of Israel at the hands of our own leaders, to hand them over to our enemies.

The very "Jewish unity" you invoke in fact demands that Jews everywhere feel solidarity with the suffering of the Jewish families uprooted from their homes; feel regret at the loss of Jewish sovereignty over part of our ancient homeland; feel respect for the sincere protest of those among us who cannot support this drastic move. After we have shared the sorrow, we can proceed to share the new challenges ahead, for better or worse. You cannot blind yourself to Jewish sorrow and suffering in the name of Jewish unity, nor can you deride the sorrow felt by others.

There's good in this, there's good in everything, even if this is 10 miles of cloud, there's still an inch of silver.

Find it and you'll start to feel better.

There may be good in this, though I can't for the life of me see any, try as I might. I expect an unmitigated disaster (God forbid), just as I did with the Oslo Accords.

Regardless, you have it backwards again. Faced with immediate sorrow, we respond with grief - even if there may be a bright side later. This, too, is a clear halachic principle. We mourn the loss of a parent, even if there will be an inheritance. We mourn the loss of soldiers in battle, even if they won the war. We mourn the loss of our temples, even though new prosperity was found in other lands. In no circumstances do we rejoice in the possible silver lining while closing our eyes to the dark cloud itself.

So we must mourn our loss of Gaza to our enemies, even though it may ultimately have been a matter of time, even though there may be benefits to be had, even though it may be seen as only a tactical retreat, even though the alternatives may have been worse.

To do otherwise is to deaden our sensitivity to human suffering and the sorrow of our Jewish brethren.