Who is responsible for blessings and who is responsible for rebuke? Just a few weeks ago, we read of Bilam, who was supposed to curse the Jews but blesses them. This Shabbat, it is Moses, the leader of the Jewish people, who rebukes his own community.
Rabbi Aha asks, “Shouldn’t it have been the other way around?” The answer, “If Bilam curses them, the Israelites would have said-the one who hates us curses us.” If Moses blesses them, they would have said, “One who loves them is blessing them.” So God reversed these roles, and Moses, who loved his people, rebuked them, and Bilam, who hated the people, blessed us.”
We enter into Shabbat Chazon, a Shabbat of vision as Tisha B’Av begins at sundown Saturday evening. We will sit on the floor of Kohn Chapel, with the lights dim and recite the book of Lamentations, written by the prophet Jeremiah. We are living in a time where it is unclear who showers us with blessings and who stains us with curses.
We ask ourselves, “How do we sort out the messiness and arrive at a moment of love?” With information coming at a speed we cannot keep up with, how do we decide what is a blessing or a curse?
Lamentations concludes with a message of hope, “God, take us back and renew our lives as in days of old.” We say these same words when we place the Torah back into the ark every Shabbat.
We will mourn for an entire day but at the conclusion of this commemoration, we will look toward creating a brighter tomorrow, a day of return to our own souls.
