On Tisha B’Av afternoon, the Nachem
prayer is
added into the amida of the Mincha service:
Console O Lord our God,
The mourners of Zion
The mourners of Jerusalem,
And the city that is in sorrow, laid waste,
Scorned and desolate;
That grieves for the loss of its children,
That is laid waste of its dwellings,
Robbed of its glory, desolate without inhabitants.
She sits with her head covered like a barren childless woman.
Legions have devoured her;
Idolaters have taken possession of her;
They have put your people Israel to the sword
and deliberately killed the devoted followers of the Most High.
Therefore Zion weeps bitterly,
And Jerusalem raises her voice.
My heart, my heart grieves for those they killed;
I am in anguish for those they killed.
For you, O Lord, consumed it with fire
And with fire you will rebuild it in the future,
As I said (Zecharia 2:9) “And I myself will be a wall of fire around it says
the Lord and I will be its glory within.”
Blessed are you HaShem who consoles Zion and rebuilds Jerusalem.
Now that we have the Modern State of Israel as well as a united Jerusalem,
is this prayer still necessary and is it possible to make changes to reflect
today’s reality?
In 1967, after the reunification of Jerusalem, Rav Shlomo Goren made some
changes to the prayer, adding in excerpts from the Talmud Yerushalmi Brachot
4:3. However, in 1978, he retracted his changes explaining:
I will admit and not regret that after the bloody Yom Kippur War, when there
was a moral and national deterioration in the people and the state, and in
light of the recognition of the Palestinian people on our part, and the
preparations made here for the betrayal of much of our land ... I see no reason
to change the original nusach (format).
Rav Ovadiah Yosef was against
changing the prayer:
Since the text of the prayer was established by the men of the Great
Assembly, we lack the power to change it. Additionally, not only is the
physical state of the city on a low level, but the religious level of the
people of Israel in general is severely lacking. The Temple Mount and The
City of David which is directly south of Temple Mount are almost entirely in
the hands of hostile Arabs and are for most purposes “mournful, ruined, scorned
and desolate.”
Rav Aharon Lichtenstein recited
the regular nusach. However
he removed the following words which
do not ring true today:
That grieves for the loss of its children,
That is laid waste of its dwellings,
Robbed of its glory, desolate without inhabitants.
Rav Chaim David HaLevi stated:
I felt on the first Tisha B'Av after the Six Day War that I could no longer
say in my prayers these things, which are an examination of a liar before God.
Not only throughout the whole year but especially on holidays,
including the 5th (Yom HaAtzmaut) and 28th of Iyar (Yom
Yerushalayim), Jerusalem is bustling with celebrating, thousands upon thousands
of sons of the nation ... but even on Tisha B'Av, the day of national mourning,
when masses of Beit Yisrael come to the Western Wall , wrapped in mourning for
the destruction of the house, even then a certain corner is felt in my heart,
into which mourning can not penetrate, it is a corner of joy at the beginning
of the growth of our redemption ... and therefore there is no doubt that
there is a liar before God to say this about Jerusalem: "The desolate city
of desolation without its sons."
While it was too soon to change the prayer, one would could not honestly say
that the city was in a state of destruction and denigration. Therefore, Rav Chaim David HaLevi added the
word “she-haytah — that was” before words
of destruction, indicating that the city had been destroyed.
According to the Beit Yosef in
Hilchot Tisha B'Av:
A city in Israel is called "chareva", destroyed only when it is
under a non-Jewish government. However, when a city is under a Jewish
government, it is called "bnuya" built, even if most of the
inhabitants are non-Jews.
Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik in Nefesh HaRav taught:
Any time that the Beit HaMikdash is not built- the whole city of Jerusalem
is considered as "chareva", destroyed...
We see here that there is a fine line between if we are living at the time
of exile or at the time of redemption and therefore it makes sense not to
officially change the prayer by adding to it. However, if we want to be true to
ourselves about what is happening in the modern city of Jerusalem today it
makes sense to remove the phrases that Rav Lichtenstein took out. However, if
we follow the thinking of Rav Soloveitchik and Jerusalem is referring to the
Temple Mount which is desolate, where Jews are forbidden to pray and are only
allowed to visit during certain hours with certain conditions then those words
should be left in.
In any case, Tisha B’Av is a time to reflect on our loss of the Beit
HaMikdash and even though we have the Modern State of Israel, it will not be
fully complete until the Temple is rebuilt speedily in our days.
Shabbat Shalom and have a meaningful fast,
Sharona Margolin Halickman |