Every Rosh Chodesh (beginning of a new Jewish month), I treat myself to a big tasty breakfast. But even though today was the start of a new month, as I perused the aisles of the local Albertson’s Grocery Store, I had a hard time finding something to eat. As much as I wanted to enjoy my breakfast, the reality that today is only eight days away from the ninth of Av was on my mind. How could I celebrate on this day that commemorates the destruction of the Temple and our exile from Israel?
“Chak natan v’lo ya’avor,” a decree was given and it will not be uprooted. We find this line in the Psalm which begins the ceremony that sanctifies each month’s new moon. What was this eternal decree? That the sun and moon should be fixed in the heavens to govern day and night. Rashi says that this decree can never be violated. Never be violated? Says who? If G-d makes a decree, I’m pretty sure G-d has the power to unmake it. “Natan,” given, is a Hebrew palindrome...nun taf nun. It’s spelled the same forwards and backwards. That’s really the essence of giving, someone is giving and the other person is giving a vessel to receive the gift. If that’s the case, then a decree G-d gives only has power if we make a vessel for it.
The Jewish people have always been symbolized by the moon. Though our national power has waxed and waned throughout the course of history, we have never vanished from the scene. She has no light of her own, the moon. We, too, are mere reflections of the light, the holy spark, of our G-dly soul. We’re dependent, but so is God. From the beginning, G-d included us in the process of creation: “Let US make man in our image.” G-d gave us the light of our soul, and we gave G-d a place for that light to reside.
The ninth of Av (tisha b’av) commemorates the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, but it’s also the start of a beautiful new month...a month full of possibilities for birth, for growth, for achievement. These extremes live together. The moon waxing fuller over the next eight days is a reminder of our relationship with the ultimate giver. In the wake of the destruction of the Temple which was the physical body that housed G-d’s light in this world, we find that we are the only remaining dwelling places for G-d’s presence.
The Torah we live by isn’t a closed book signed by G-d and delivered to us. It’s a process we created together, and it lives and thrives via our interaction with it... right here in our own bodies. Even as the darkness of a people cast into exile looms larger, the brilliance of a people starting to realize their potential shines brighter.