The Foundation Stone

This Sunday is Tisha B’Av, and, not surprisingly, the world seems to be turning against us. Lies about Israel fill the media. The push to create a state for people who openly reject peace and glorify terror gains momentum. It’s a disastrous idea, and it’s nothing new.

But what is new — what’s always in our hands — is how we respond.

In this week’s Parsha, Moshe begins to recount the nation’s journey and, crucially, the sin of the spies. What was their great failing? A lack of trust in God. Despite all they had seen — Egypt, the sea, the manna — they feared the people in the land more than they trusted the God who had brought them this far. The Talmud teaches that this moment planted the seeds of exile: Rabba said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: The night the spies returned was the night of the Ninth of Av. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to them: You wept needlessly that night, I will therefore establish for you a true tragedy over which there will be weeping in future generations.

When we lose faith in God, we lose our way.

What’s the antidote?

Teshuva — return.

We don’t survive because the world agrees with us. We survive because we have a covenant with the Almighty — our protector, our strength, our shield. But for that covenant to be real in our lives, it must be solid; we must believe in it. We have witnessed enough to justify it.

JK Rowling said about herself, “When I hit rock bottom, I found my foundation stone.” This Tisha B’Av feels very close to rock bottom; incredibly, it’s a place we can find our foundation stone.