Prophets of doom are not popular, and no one was more unpopular than Jeremiah. Today is the 9th day of the Hebrew month of AV, the quintessential day of Jewish tragedy. In cyclical time, it was today that both Temples were destroyed, it was today, the Spanish Inquisition’s deadline of leaving the country or facing death, it was today that World War I was declared, ushering in the political and economic collapse that resulted in the Bolshevik Revolution and the Holocaust. We fast and mourn through tonights darkness until tomorrow nights Light. “Come on, keep me where the light is” – John Mayer.

A proper understanding of and reflection upon the causes of destruction reveal that contained within it are the seeds of redemption. We don’t forget our tragedies, but we do retain our optimism, “Had I not fallen, I could not have arisen, had I not sat in the darkness, G-d would not have been a light for me” (Midrash Tehillim Ch. 22)