THE SADDEST DAY FOR THE JEWS (Tisha B'av 2025 In Israel)

Evening. I would say good evening, but I'm not allowed to greet anybody because of how sad this day is. So, I'm just saying evening. So, it's after 1:00 a.m. It's a Saturday night, mats shabas, and I'm walking in Jerusalem, Israel. I'm walking to the holiest place in the Jewish religion. And I'm carrying with me a little step stool and a scissors. And shortly, I'm going to explain to you what's going on here. The streets are pretty much deserted and I don't usually walk the streets so late at night, but tonight is different. I'm here to accomplish something and to connect to something. And I didn't have a chance to do it earlier. I didn't have a chance to do it for many years. Even the years that I did have a chance to do it, I failed to do it. So now I'm here to do it and do it properly. So, as I mentioned earlier, tonight is Tishab, which is the saddest day in the Jewish calendar. On this day, 1,957 years ago, the Holy Temple here in Jerusalem was destroyed for the second time. It was destroyed previously approximately 500 years before that, but then it was rebuilt and it was destroyed for the second time. Yes. 1,957 years ago on this very day in this very city. Now I don't live in Israel. I have lived in Israel at certain parts of my life. Um the longest period was approximately 7 years. For 7 years after my wife and I got married, we lived in Israel. But eventually about 3 years ago, we moved away from Israel. And of course, this is a land that I love. This is a land that I believe and my religion believes is part of our heritage and which is the homeland of the Jewish people. So I've come here traveled very far from the United States to be here on this day on this day when our nation took a beating almost 2,000 years ago. And since that very day, since that sad day, things have never been the same for us. The Jewish people have been in exile for close to 2,000 years. Thankfully, over the past couple hundred years, and then after the establishment of the state of Israel, Jews have been returning to their ancestral homeland here in Israel. But things are still not simple. Things are still not the way they were before the temple was destroyed. There are a lot of issues here. There are wars in the region. There's hatred. There's violence. It's a lot of issues. And in many ways, we feel like even though the temple was destroyed 2,000 years ago, it still gets destroyed every year again on this day. There's a Jewish teaching that talks about the fact that every generation in which the temple is not rebuilt, it's as if the temple got destroyed in their time. And that is today, 1957 years later after the destruction. It still hasn't been rebuilt. And it's as if it got destroyed again. So I wanted to be here in this land on this day to feel the destruction, to see it up close. So, did you see that there was a young man sitting on the ground and reading something? It's unbelievable actually that almost 2,000 years after the temple was destroyed, our people essentially our family take this day so seriously that even 2,000 years later they are sitting on the ground and they're reading about the destruction of the temple. The reason they are on the ground is because it's a sign of mourning. 2,000 years ago it happened, but it still affects us to this very day. >> 1:42 a.m. >> The place is popping. 2,000 years later, people are still coming >> to unpack what happened 2,000 years ago. This place right here is called the Cardo and it was constructed by the Roman Empire. After they destroyed Jerusalem in the year 70 CE. So after our holy temple was destroyed, they built this place. And it's crazy to be standing here on this day. This is the Kurva synagogue was destroyed many years ago, but recently rebuilt. >> Let's see what's going on inside. So inside the synagogue, you saw some people who were sitting on the floor and reading Lamentations. They're reading the books that describe what happened here on that terrible day 1957 years ago. And you also saw people who were sleeping on the floor. It's 2:00 a.m. It's time to go to sleep. But people, some people don't want to sleep in a bed because it's a day of morning, so they sleep on the floor. There it is. We've arrived right there. That's the place where the holy temple once stood. So, I can see it through this crack over here. And according to Jewish law, when you see this place, if you haven't seen it in more than 30 days, you're supposed to rip your clothing as a sign of morning. Here we go. If you take a look at this wall, you see that's filled with photos of young soldiers who were killed recently in the fighting against Hamas. Also a huge tragedy that's still ongoing every day today. So, I found myself a quiet place to sit over here. >> The other place is really busy, and I'd prefer to be in a place where it's more peaceful. It's really hot. See, I'm sweating like crazy. No showers today, by the way, because that's also a sign of morning. But going to sit here a little bit and meditate about uh what this place means to me and I don't know. I don't know. [Music] >> So, I've been here for close to an hour and instead of just reading what other rabbis wrote throughout the years, which I'm still going to do today, what I did was I decided to write something of my own. So, I wrote a poem over here and I don't know if I'm going to share it with anybody, but it's meaningful to me. Another thing I wanted to point out is that the reason myself and so many others are walking around with stools >> is because you're not allowed to sit on a chair that is high because again we're in mourning right now and in Judaism a mourner doesn't sit on a regular chair. So, you can only sit on something that's about a foot up from the ground. And that's why we're using these little stools. [Music] So, now after almost an hour of sitting at the smaller part of the wall where most people don't go, I've come to the main part of the wall. It's 3:00 in the morning. Check this out. Look, >> look how many people have come here to pay homage. [Music] It's something [Music] position means a lot. [Music] Don't stop. Don't stop. You see, this guy is teaching me how to use a GoPro. I don't even know. Thank you very much. >> I don't know how to use a GoPro, too, but >> but we're figuring it out. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Welcome to the vlog. >> Yeah. >> This is Schlomi. I don't know if you know him. He's one of >> he's spreading love and peace in the world. >> We're trying. We're trying. >> We're trying. >> But yeah, I love you. I love your work. >> Korea. >> Yes, I did. Enjoy it. >> But don't ask me to delete it cuz once it's on YouTube, I can't take it off. >> Okay. >> So, I'm just leaving the wall. It's almost 4:00 in the morning. I have to get to bed a little bit because there's still a lot to do tomorrow. Those boys you just saw came over to me. Um, I guess they watch my videos or they read my articles. I don't maybe they listen to my podcast. I have no idea how they know me, but they came to say hi. They wanted to take a selfie and they also taught me how to use my own GoPro. Okay, let's go, guys. We're almost at the car. Morning. Morning. I'm not saying good because I'm not allowed to greet you guys because we are still in the morning. But it's a little bit after 10:00 a.m. I got to bed very late last night as you know. And I just dropped off my children at a special camp. It's a tish above camp where they can be entertained for a bunch of hours while the parents are fasting because it's definitely not easy to fast, especially when you have a bunch of little kids on your head. Now, obviously, of course, we love the children, but kids do need a structure. And when you're fasting, it's easier if they have a good program. You know, they're safe and kept busy. So, that's where they're at. And um yeah, today we are fasting. I know in the last video I made there was also a fast day and I was not fasting, but today we are. So, thank God we're feeling good. Although, I wish I could have a drink of water. Like, fast days remind me of how awesome it is to just be able to take a drink whenever you want to. I mean, now I could take a drink, too, but I'm just not supposed to. And I am in keeping with the rules of the day. So, it's almost 7:00 p.m. on Tishabove. It's the end almost the end of the fast. And um for those of you who are not familiar, tishabove is a day when we fast. We don't wear leather shoes. We don't shower. We don't uh obviously we don't eat or drink. We don't do anything that brings us joy. We don't do anything that's like that's luxurious or or comfortable. Well, we just tried to feel the the pain in the morning of of this terrible day. And for example, like I need a shower right now so badly. I've been sweating and it's the second day that I haven't taken a shower because tishab started on Saturday night, which is matzah shabas, right after shabas. And on shabas, we don't shower either. So, it was like extra long. Um, it's it's harder this year. It was very interesting also because we went directly from Shabas into a fast day which means that you could be sitting and eating rib steaks or drinking wine enjoying with your family and then 5 minutes later it's a fast. So that was like it's kind of extreme going from like Shabas which is the happiest day of the week to the saddest day of the year. But hopefully that's a metaphor for the way things can turn around. You know, right now the Jewish people are going through a very difficult time and since October 7th, it's been very difficult. Even before October 7th, things have not been great. But especially after October 7th, things have been terrible. And hopefully, just like we went from a happy day to a sad day, we can go from terrible times to amazing times really quickly. As you can see, the streets are still pretty quiet. I'm just running into the supermarket to get a couple things. By the way, if you're not yet signed up to my WhatsApp status, stop what you're doing. Sign up right now. Please send me a message on WhatsApp. If you don't have the app, download the WhatsApp app, send me a message. The phone number is 9297775425. That's 9297775425. Once you sign up, you'll be able to see my updates, daily updates from my travels around the world. So, make sure you sign up. Okay, so just got some last minute groceries because we're going to break our fast soon after the sun goes down. >> That's a very unflattering angle. Oh wow. That was Abdullah. The fast is over. Now we feast. They're shy. What are you doing? >> Food. Food's not try. >> Okay, >> so the fast is finally over. I ate. I got a good shower. Thank God. And I also have to thank my brother and sister-in-law who hosted us for the break fast meal. The meal where we break our fast. Um, now I'm about to enjoy a freezing cold bottle of Baromi. If you know, you know. Oh, that's great. By the way, regarding Baromi, I didn't always know, but my dear friend, the rest of Rabbi Kim Danzinger, introduced me to this, and uh it's hard to find, but when I find it, I buy it. Thank you, Kim. Anyhow, um it was a very meaningful experience to be here in the Holy Land in Israel before Tishba for the saddest day of the Jewish calendar. And to be honest, I you know, throughout the many years that I was here, 7 years that I pretty much lived here, I never ever ever went to the Western Wall to the on Tesh. Even though that's where the tragedy happened. It's literally the place where it took place. I never went. And I don't know why that was, but it's just the way it is. I never went. And this year, I felt like I should go. I should be there. There's something about seeing something firsthand. Obviously, I can't see the events unfolding firsthand cuz they happened almost 2,000 years ago. But just like I traveled to Ukraine during the war to see what's going on. And I traveled to the Gaza area when that war was happening, which is still happening. And I've been all over the world to see things with my own eyes. This year, I felt like I wanted to be here now on this day to experience it on my own to see it. And and honestly, I definitely did connect to it in a way um in a much deeper way than I ever have before. So I guess that's a a good thing. Getting connected to your heritage, to your traditions, to your religion is is definitely a good thing. So anyway, that is that. I'm going to uh end it for now and we'll see you guys in the next one. It's going to be very soon. God bless you all. Have a good night.