Q&A: Tisha B’Av and the Holocaust
Tisha B’Av and the Holocaust
Question
What is the logic of mourning for 3 weeks, including fasting twice, not eating meat, not doing laundry, etc. — all because a few zealots fought among themselves, and an enlightened empire destroyed a slaughterhouse? But for the murder of 6 million of our people, which is the greatest genocide in human history, there is one day whose biggest effect is some one-minute siren?
Answer
Indeed, there would have been room to establish mourning also for the Holocaust, but there is no body with the authority to do that. So it gets folded into the existing days.
Beyond that, the significance of the destruction of the Temple is not measured by the number of people killed. Your dismissal of the matter is your own unfounded assumption, and I wouldn’t build objections on it. And the reason for the destruction was not the zealots. They contributed to it, but they were not the cause. Beyond that, why is the cause important? We mourn the result.
In short, it seems you wanted to blow off steam under the guise of a question. So you did. Every now and then we provide that service too.
Discussion on Answer
As an aside, it may be worth noting that this is not the greatest genocide in history (not that this detracts from its severity).
A very important service.