A Sad Day In Menachem Av

by Rabbi Eli Hecht (Printed in Shalom L.A. 8/1/03)

On Wednesday night August 6th, Many Jews world over will begin a 24 hour fast. They will be praying at homes and places of worship. They fast, pray, and read sad prophetic writings concerning the destruction of the holy Jewish temple called the Beis HaMikdosh. 
    
Oh how I really have a sad time with fasting and remembering the bad and sad times especially when there is still so much current suffering in the world.

At an early age, I was traumatized by stories of a place called Babi Yar. The Stories were simply unbelievable. I was a very young when I first heard of Sasha Gurevitch, an old crippled woman who had been in Kiev during the systematic slaughter of the Kiev Jewish population. 

It was in September 1941 that the Jews were told to gather to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.  They were going to be relocated to a safe haven.  They were told to bring their valuables and clothing.  When arriving to the capital the following took place: 

The poor unsuspecting Jews were immediately lined up near a ravine in Babi Yar and mercilessly machine-gunned to death.  For three days, fifteen to twenty five thousand Jews were led by the Nazi occupiers to the ravine and brutally murdered.  Complete families were destroyed and their bodies thrown in the ravine.  In total over one hundred thousand Jews were dumped into this ravine.  Some were still alive while other were dying and begging for mercy.  The heaving of the bodies was seen for days.  The cries of the wounded and the dying were unbearable.  The nefarious Germans didn't even bother to cover up the dead. 

Over the years new groups of poor Jewish families were subsequently brought to the ravine, killed by machine guns and thrown in the human pile of decomposing human bodies.  The stench of the dead was in the air for years. During the sad Jewish month of Av thousands of Jews were killed.

Every Jew in the Ukraine knew of Babi Yar and considers it the most holy resting place for their martyred brothers and sisters.  Many still go there to say prayers for their martyred families.

After the war the Soviet Union covered the ravine with a park as if to obliterate the horrific crime done to the Jews.  Since millions of Soviets were killed no special recognition was to be given to dead Jews.  In the early 1960s construction of houses and parks were extended over the ravine totally ignoring the pleas of the Jewish population for a respectful monument for their dead to be erected. 

Sasha said, "every time the Soviets build something over the Babi Yar graves a catastrophe would happen; the buildings would collapse or the earth would open causing the bodies of the dead to be revealed."  The ravine flooded and bodies would appear.  Jews world over protested but to no avail.

In the late 1960s the Soviet Union finally recognized the "official Jewish suffering" and a monument was placed there.  However, it paid tribute only to the massacred citizens of Kiev, not mentioning the Jewish massacre.  In 1991 Jews built a menorah on the site symbolizing that the martyred massacred victims were Jews.  It was at this Russian monument where the Pope prayed and not at the menorah.

Sasha once told me that as she grew older she would visit the park with her family.  A garden had been planted there bursting with beautiful flowers.  Young and old would meet; here was a place for all visitors.  Once she asked her parents "Why don't the roses smell?"  She was told, "Because they were planted in the Babi Yar hell and watered with Jewish blood."  Since then, when smelling roses, I think of Sasha's words.  I can't bring myself to "smell the roses" without thinking of her words.

My Rebbe me told of the great French leader, Napoleon Bonaparte.  He once was traveling through a small Jewish town in Europe.  He entered a synagogue. There he saw an incredible sight.  Men and women weeping.  They were sitting on the floor on small stools holding candles while reading from books.  The synagogue had an elaborate chandelier but only a few candles were lit.  If not for the small candlelights the magnificent synagogue would have been in complete darkness.  It was a gloomy and sad sight to behold.

Napoleon asked why the people were weeping and wanted to know what misfortune had happened here.  An enlightened Jewish French officer told him that nothing new and terrible had happened.   The Jewish people had a custom to gather once a year on a day called the ninth day of Av, the day that marks the destruction of the Jewish people's Temple.  Twice they built a magnificent Temple in Jerusalem and both were destroyed.  After their second Temple was destroyed the people were scattered all over the world and sold as slaves.  Some escaped and built their homes world over.  Somehow the Jewish people exist without their country and their Temple. 

In order to commemorate these sad events they gather once a year in synagogue.  There they fast, pray, and read sad prophetic writings concerning the destruction of their Temple and land.  What we see in this town is happening in all Jewish communities.

Napoleon inquired as to how many years have they been doing this and was over 2,000 years.  Upon hearing this Napoleon exclaimed, "A nation that cries and fasts for over 2,000 years for their land and Temple will surely be rewarded with their Temple."

My prayer for our holy land is that we see peace and true Shalom with the rebuilding of the third Beis HaMikdoseh and have no need for T'sha B'Av, the day of world mourning.
Amen and Dayenu!