Tisha B'Av 9th of Av, 5777- August 1, 2017

Yellow Star of David worn by

European Jews during WWII.

The first of August this year coincides with the

Hebrew date of Tisha B'Av, or the ninth day of the month

of Av, which is considered a day of  national mourning in Israel

and for Jewish people all over the world.

A day of fasting and solemn remembrance,

not only of the destruction of the first temple in Jerusalem 

by the Babylonians, and the second temple by the Romans, 

 but of all the terrible persecution and tragedies which have

befallen the Jewish people over the centuries, which includes

 the massacres of Jewish communities during the Crusades,

 spurred on by the rampant antisemitism 

which flourished in Europe for many years and was, 

 one at time, sanctioned and encouraged by 

both the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches there.

"Therefore be on your guard against the Jews,

knowing that wherever they have their synagogues,

nothing is found but a den of devils..."

Martin Luther

"Concerning The Jews and Their Lies
By Martin Luther

The signing of the Nazi-Catholic Concordat in 1933

This unholy agreement signed between the Holy See and the Nazis

  gave the latter moral legitimacy, while bolstering the confidence of

  newly-elected Chancellor Adolf Hitler and the growing influence of
the antisemitic policies of the Third Reich throughout Germany.

This unreasonable, satanic-inspired hatred,
born of ignorance and superstition, as well as
the deliberate taking of scripture out of context
to justify the systematic persecution of the Jews

in Europe for many centuries, would eventually
culminate into one of the most greatest and
horrific tragedies the world has ever seen.

In Hebrew, it is called, "Ha'shoah" a word of biblical origin which means, "destruction".
This dark episode of World War II history is better remembered as the Holocaust.

"Do you know what it's like to spend every waking

moment of your life simply thinking how to stay alive?...

The first thing I did every morning was say the Shema,

the Hebrew prayer acknowledging God's oneness..."

"I Am A Victor"

The Mordecai Ronen Story

 By Mordecai Ronen

(2015)

Overcome with emotion, Holocaust victim and author Mordecai Ronen
 returns to Auschwitz Concentration Camp, now a museum in Poland.  
He was only eleven years old when he and his parents and sisters
 were sent to the death camp by the Nazis. 

 He was the only member of his family to survive imprisonment there.

Never again?

But it is happening again.
In one of the most unexpected places.

In the wake of the violent protests and senseless terror attacks of the past weeks, under

a heavy police presence,  Israelis and Jews from all over the world 
commemorate Tisha B'Av by visiting the Old City of Jerusalem's Temple Mount Compound. 

While Jews and other non-Muslims are permitted to visit the area, they are prohibited 

 from praying there.  Only Muslims are permitted to pray inside the compound.

This decades old arrangement enforced by Israel makes no sense to me at all.

The Temple Mount is the most holiest of all places to the Jewish people.