Tishah be-Av Night, 5769 (2009)
Speech by Nadia Matar, Women in Green, at the Tisha be-Av night March Around the Walls
On Tishah be-Av, it was decreed that the Israelites in the wilderness would not enter Eretz Israel because of the sin of the spies. Ten of the spies slandered the Land, and the people’s response was: “The whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night” (Numbers 14:1). Rabbah said, in the name of R. Johanan: That day was the Ninth of Av. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: They wept for nothing, therefore I will set it aside for weeping throughout the generations to come (Taanit 29a).”
It was their crying that prevented their entry to Eretz Israel.
In contrast, we also read of another kind of weeping (Jeremiah 31:15):
“A cry is heard in Ramah – wailing, bitter weeping – Rachel weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children, who are gone. Thus said the Lord: Restrain your voice from weeping, your eyes from shedding tears; for there is a reward for your labor, declares the Lord: they shall return from the enemy’s land. And there is hope for your future, declares the Lord: your children shall return to their country.”
We see, then, there are different kinds of crying.
There is negative crying. Crying that prevents our entry to the Land, as in the sin of the spies. Weeping out of weakness, the weeping of a lack of faith in the justness of our cause, the crying out of fear of the non-Jews, the crying of the fear to declare that this Land belongs to us.
And there is positive weeping, such as Rachel’s weeping – weeping, by merit of which G-d rewarded her: “your children shall return to their country.” By its merit, we return to Eretz Israel. The weeping of longings for Eretz Israel. The weeping of the refusal to accept the disaster of the Galut (the Exile), the refusal to be consoled before matters are rectified. The weeping of resolution. The weeping that is not crying for its own sake, but that of action, action on behalf of Eretz Israel. “There is a reward for your labor” – when we act on behalf of Eretz Israel, then “there is hope for your future.” Only when we act on behalf of Eretz Israel, only then, “your children shall return to their country.”
This is the fifteenth year that Women in Green have held this event on Tishah be-Av night. An event in which we take an oath of loyalty to Eretz Israel, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount. Like a bride who encircles the groom under the wedding canopy, so, too, we encircle the Temple Mount, the place of our Temple. What haven’t we experienced in those fifteen years – Oslo, Wye, the road map, the expulsion from Gush Katif and northern Samaria, and other plans of slandering Eretz Israel devised by grasshopper-like leaders, by those leaders seeking to curry favor, crybabies, some motivated by baseless hatred, while others are simply weak leaders who are incapable of withstanding the pressure of our enemies. All of them have caused the people and the Land much suffering, mourning, and weeping.
Today, when we hear that the nations of the world are once again assaulting us, with the aim of choking, drying up, expelling, and destroying, and our political leaders once again respond with the crying of weakness and fear, there is only a single way to rectify the sin of the spies: it is incumbent upon each and every one of us to participate in activities on behalf of Eretz Israel. Eretz Israel is the burning issue now.
And, if anyone still needs proof: look, what a wonder! The peoples of the world are not interested in the genocide in Sudan, or the blatant human rights violations in Iran, or the nuclear threat that hangs over all of us. Nor do the peoples of the world care if all the Jews were to study Torah, put on tefilin, or repent. But if five Jews go to some hill in Judea or Samaria and build a shack there – the entire United Nations, the European Union, Amnesty International, and the Obama administration all hysterically cry out “Gevalt!” This is Number One on the world agenda now – stopping Jewish life in Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem, severing the people of Israel from the Land of Israel. How ironic. The non-Jews understand the importance of Eretz Israel in the process of redemption to an even greater extent than do many of us.
This, therefore, is the message of Tishah be-Av, 5769 : enough with the negative crying, defeatism, folding up. We are following in the path of Rachel. We are going over to positive action for Eretz Israel, because only in this way will we rectify the sin of the spies and return to every place in Eretz Israel. What does this mean? Every little thing connected with the struggle for Eretz Israel, both in speech and in deed, exerts some influence. Tremendous forces are inherent in our people. They just need to be actualized.
There are infinite examples of action:
* Now is the time, for example, to move to Judea and Samaria. Whoever can, will build a house, another floor, another apartment. There aren’t permits? Then build without permits.
* If we hear of a house in danger, we come to defend it. Such a house, for example, is that of Tamar and Mudi Bibi in Netiv ha-Avot in Elazar, Gush Etzion. There might be a struggle there at any moment. We will be there.
* You heard about the struggle for Jewish Shdema, the place between Har Homa and Jerusalem that the Arabs are trying to steal from us. The Committee for Jewish Shdema, together with Women in Green and the Action Committees, has been active for more than a year, and conducts activities at the site that increase the Jewish presence. Come, be partners in the struggle.
* Now is the time to strengthen the outposts. The outposts defend the settlements, and the settlements in Judea and Samaria defend Tel Aviv.
The list goes on and on – only, let’s not sink into crying and inaction.
G-d says, There is a reward for your activity – that is, we must act.
I wish to thank all the members who helped with the preparations for the march, and to the many who spread the information, in e-mails and on the Internet – thanks to you, the march was a success.
We will conclude with a quote from a flyer that appeared in Ha-Hazit, the Lehi (Lohamei Herut Yisrael) publication, from Adar 5705 (1945), that is just as relevant today:
Our Land Will Not Be Cut Up, Will Not Be Sliced Apart, Will Not Be Divided
Was there any other land in the world that was meant to be a homeland for a nation in ancient and distant times, when G-d descended from His lofty abode, was revealed to man that he might know Him, promised and swore: “For I give all the land that you see to you and your offspring forever”? All the land – forever. The promise was given to the fathers of the nation, and it is written in the Book of Books, before which there was nothing sacred like it for all the denizens of the earth, nor will there be after it, to the end of all time. This promise, forever and ever – who will break it and his plot not be foiled?
There is no person from the nation – even if outstanding and revered – who will be entitled to sign, in the name of the people, for the splitting of the land.
There is no power of attorney for such from past generations, who lived and died on this earth. They worked it by the sweat of their brow, they fought over it, and they shed their blood in its defense. Judges and kings, shepherds and prophets, zealots and rebels, their voice bursts forth from every corner, and calls to possess and settle in the land, through its length and its breadth.
There is no power of attorney from the present generation, that thirsts for redemption in the homeland, for land, for bread, for freedom.
There is no power of attorney from the generations that will be born in this land to a life of freedom and liberty. In whose name can such a commitment be made? Who will dare to give them a homeland split asunder, and whose ears will not hear the curse that their lips will utter.
There is no power of attorney, nor shall there be.
And there is no power in the world that will compel us to accept the decree and acquiesce in it.
This is the land which was ours, which will be ours.
All of it.
