Community Magazine July 2021

16 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE Words of Rabbi Eli J. Mansour לעילוי נשמתם של משה בן עליזה, יצחק הלל בן עליזה, והנרייט לאה בת עליזה, דוד בן גילה, רבקה בת גילה, יהושע בן גילה, משה בן גילה, שרה בת גילה, יעקב בן גילה, ואליאנה בת גילה. ולרפואה שלמה ליוסף בן אהובה מסעודה, שילת אהובה בת עליזה, ודניאל בן עליזה. Tishah B’Av is a time for mourning, but also a time for hope. What has kept us alive and allowed us to flourish throughout the millennia of turbulent exile is our nation’s unique ability to find comfort and solace amid the hardship, to introduce faith and optimism even as we mourn and lament. We observe the three-week period of mourning, culminating with the fast of Tishah B’Av – but then we get off the floor and enter Shabbat Nahamu and a period of great confidence and hope. One of the most famous and cherished examples of this uniquely Jewish trait is the story told at the end of Masechet Makkot of how Rabbi Akiva comforted his grieving colleagues. Rabbi Akiva and three of his distinguished peers were passing near the ruins of the Bet Hamikdash , and they observed a fox scurrying about, running from the area which had been the site of the kodesh hakodashim – the holiest chamber of the Bet Hamikdash . The three other rabbis wept, while Rabbi Akiva laughed. The three rabbis asked Rabbi Akiva why he was laughing, and he returned the question – asking why they were crying. Rabbi Akiva’s colleagues were astounded. “We shouldn’t cry?!” they exclaimed. This was the holiest site on earth, where only one man was ever allowed to enter – the kohen gadol , who went inside that chamber only once a year, on Yom Kippur. How could they not cry upon seeing the site violated by a wild fox?! Rabbi Akiva responded that he celebrated the sight of the ruins of the Mikdash because it marked the fulfillment of centuries-old prophecies. If the prophets’ predictions of destructionmaterialized, Rabbi Akiva said, then we can rest assured that their predictions of our nation’s glorious redemption will also one day be fulfilled. The Other Fox There is one aspect of this famous story which often goes unnoticed – namely, that this is not the only time that we find Rabbi Akiva talking about a fox. An equally famous story is told elsewhere in the Talmud, in Masechet Berachot (61b), about Rabbi Akiva’s tragic end. The Roman government issued an edict banning Torah study, but Rabbi Akiva courageously defied the ban, and publicly taught groups of students. Ultimately, he was captured and tortured to death. Before Rabbi Akiva’s capture, a man named Pappos approached him and asked why he would risk his life by defying the authorities’ strict edict. Rabbi Akiva replied by telling a fable of a fox who walked along the seashore and observed the fish frantically jumping about. The fox asked what they were doing, and the fish explained that they were desperately trying to avoid the fishermen’s nets. “Why don’t you just come to the shore?” the fox asked, “You’ll be safe over here.” “They call you the cleverest of the animals?!” the fish responded. “You’re not clever; you’re a fool!” The fish explained that if their lives were endangered in the water, the place where they were generally able to live, then certainly they would face even graver danger if they left the water, their life source, to live on dry land. Similarly, Rabbi Akiva explained, if the Jews faced danger while living “in the water,” immersed in Torah learning, their very lifeblood, then they would face far greater danger if they abandon Torah study. In this story, the fox represents the seductive lure of life without Torah. It is the voice that tries convincing us that life will be better, Beware of the Fox