Tisha B'Av (The Ninth of the Hebrew month of Av which commences this evening) is the day on which both of the Temples were destroyed. Below is a translation of an excerpt of an address given by the great Zionist leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky on that day in 5697 (the Gregorian year 1937) in Warsaw's Great Synagogue: Jabotinsky died in 1940 while on a visit to the United States.
"It is already THREE years that I am calling upon you, Polish Jewry,
who are the crown of World Jewry. I continue to warn you incessantly
that a catastrophe is coming closer. I became grey and old in these
years, my heart bleeds, that you, dear brother and sisters, do not see
the volcano which will soon begin to spit its all-consuming lava. I
see that you are not seeing this because you are immersed and sunk in
your daily worries. Today, however, I demand from you trust. You were
convinced already that my prognoses have already proven to be right.
If you think differently, then drive me out of your midst! However, if
you do believe me, then listen to me in this twelfth hour: In the name
of God! Let anyone of you save himself, as long as there is still
time, and time there is very little.
who are the crown of World Jewry. I continue to warn you incessantly
that a catastrophe is coming closer. I became grey and old in these
years, my heart bleeds, that you, dear brother and sisters, do not see
the volcano which will soon begin to spit its all-consuming lava. I
see that you are not seeing this because you are immersed and sunk in
your daily worries. Today, however, I demand from you trust. You were
convinced already that my prognoses have already proven to be right.
If you think differently, then drive me out of your midst! However, if
you do believe me, then listen to me in this twelfth hour: In the name
of God! Let anyone of you save himself, as long as there is still
time, and time there is very little.
What else I would like to say to you on this day of Tisha B’Av is
whoever of you will escape from the catastrophe, he or she will live
to see the exalted moment of a great Jewish wedding - the rebirth and
rise of a Jewish state. I don’t know if I will be privileged to see
it, but my son will! I believe in this, as I am sure that tomorrow
morning the sun will rise.
whoever of you will escape from the catastrophe, he or she will live
to see the exalted moment of a great Jewish wedding - the rebirth and
rise of a Jewish state. I don’t know if I will be privileged to see
it, but my son will! I believe in this, as I am sure that tomorrow
morning the sun will rise.
Eliminate the Diaspora or the Diaspora will surely eliminate you."
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