Geula is a slow process. They said it would be so, in the Gemara. Many Tannaim said they'd rather not live to see it - it would be too painful.
Slowly we are rebuilding our nation, taking millions of Jews from thousands of years of torture, pogroms, assimilation, distrust of authority (expressed by some as anti-government, some as anti-religion, etc), and trying to figure out howto bring it all together, in this challenging time in world history, and create a model nation.
Tish'a B'av is not during the school year. Unlike all other significant days on the Jewish calendar, this date isn't on the non-religious school curriculum.
About 15 years ago, Rav Malchior, Major General (res.) Uzi Dayan and others decided that Tish'a B'av cannot be simply a day in which restaurants and theatres are closed. It has to be made meaningful to everyone. It is the day to try to correct what we as a nation do wrong; to connect to our roots and to each other. They created the הלילה לא לומדים תורה programme. A late night discussion , after readign Megillat Eicha, in groups that are intentionally composed of Jews with very different perspectives.
Over these past 15 years, "הלילה אל לומדים תורה" programmes have been getting Jews from different backgrounds together in cities across the country. The agenda is how to become a better nation. How to be more moral, more equal, more fair. How to educate the next generation to achieve a higher moral standard.
On TV tonight there was an "open studio"of "Halayla lo lomdim Torah". There were several hours of movies and discussions dedicated to correcting and connecting. The first hour presented movies made by a group of Beit Shemesh women - Hareidi, Religious, traditional and "secular" - as a cooperative , get-to-know-the-other-side project.
It's a slow process. I daven each day to see the "end" of the process - to see Israel as an international leader in justice and fairness, alongside our Gd-given world-leadership in technology and the Special Olympics. That we should deserve the geula by correcting all the ills that led to the many hurbanot in our history - including the one we brought upon ourselves in Gush Katif and the Shomron 8 years ago)
As Israeli society as a whole is learning to use Tish'a B'av to address the problems in society, in groups that are intentionally heterogeneous, it is obvious that we are headed in the right direction, and we are working with HaShem to fulfill the "good part" of last Shabbat's Haftara:
ואשיבה שופטייך כבראשונה ויועצייך כבתחילה, אחרי כן יקרא לך: עיר הצדק, קריה נאמנה
I think the next passuk describes a PRE-CONDITION for full redemption: JUSTICE
ציון במשפט תפדה, ושביה בצדקה
Living at a time that so much injustice and corruption among Jewish leaders worldwide is being exposed is hard on the nerves. But with the exposure comes the willingness to fight against it, to end it, to create a nation that is based on Justice - a Goy Kadosh in the full meaning of Parashat Kedoshim - including the mitzvot of social justice, which can only be implemented in a sovereign Jewish State.
Kim'a kim'a....
I am grateful that I am living through it (but please pass me the valium, well, after the fast...)
May we all have an easy and meaningful fast, and next year we should celebrate 9th Av in Yerushalaim Habenuya, because:
כה אמר יהוה צבאות צום הרביעי וצום החמישי וצום השביעי וצום העשירי יהיה לבית יהודה לששון ולשמחה ולמעדים טובים והאמת והשלום אהבו
