by Rabbi Chaim Burman 

I have always found it intriguing that there are more minor scales than major. Whereas major scales beam cadences of positivity, the various shades of minor modes (Dorian, Aeolian, Locrian etc) are more numerous and these scales are more sombre. There are more options to express oneself with melancholy scales than ones that carry happier associations. 

In turn, it has been observed that the same can be said of human experiences of happiness. “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” Tolstoy begins his 1877 novel, Anna Karenina. There is a certain self-evident truth in this adage, which is probably why this sentence has been used to describe phenomena in various fields, from ecology and philosophy to statistics and psychology. Tolstoy is noting that although happiness is so desired ubiquitously, it remains more elusive than sadness is pervasive.  

This Saturday, Jews around the world will be confronted with a convergence of two irreconcilable calendrical occurrences: the Sabbath and the 9th of the month of Av. The Sabbath is a day filled with physical and spiritual pleasures. It is a day of rest, relaxation and spiritual elevation. According to Rabbi Yishmael in the Talmud, this weekly occurring convocation is holier even than Yom Kippur.  

The 9th day of Av is, by contrast, the saddest day of the year. It is when we mark various calamities of Jewish history. It was on this day that the Spies returned their evil tidings to Moses during the sojourn in the Wilderness. The destruction of the First and Second Temples happened on this day. Notable dates around the onset of the Spanish Inquisition, the First World War and even the Holocaust have been linked to the 9th of Av. For some, this day has become the carry-all day to express grief over all the sorrows of our People, whenever they may occur. It is, by all accounts, the saddest day of the year in our Calendar.  

For years, I have struggled with directing my emotional posture when the 9th of Av falls on the Sabbath. How can one reconcile two days which are so very different in essence? 

To exacerbate this difficulty, the Sages of the Talmud taught that whenever the 9th of Av falls on a Shabbat, not only may one not fast (instead the fast is deferred until Sunday) but one may rejoice with one’s family with a lavish meal “as Solomon would do in his time”. 

The resolution of this dilemma lies in understanding what the real intent of these days is all about. The Sabbath is not just a day of rest. It is not just a “digital detox”; it is designed as a moment of reorientation, a weekly opportunity to remind oneself that the true goal of the Children of Abraham is to express G-d’s Glory in the world. Abstinence from creative labour enable this reorientation because it frees us of the daily distractions that plague our free thought.  

The remorse mourning of the 9th of Av is designed to bring us to the same goal via a different route. We do not mourn merely the bricks and mortar of our Temples; neither is the focus the loss of autonomy in our national homeland and even the tears shed for the loss of life fits within a larger context. The essence of the 9th of Av is sorrow over the defiled Glory Of G-d which occurred as a result of the Sins of Israel. We were exiled due our sin and our ability to express G-d’s Majesty is therefore limited. All the sorrows that befell the Jewish people fit within this wider historical perspective. 

So now, when the 9th of Av falls on the Sabbath, I am no longer disturbed by the incongruity. Rejoicing may be more difficult but when it coincides with the duty to mourn, it is the rejoicing in G-d’s glory that “trumps” the requirement to express remorse over a world that isn’t the way it should be. Both days take different routes to reach one goal. 

Rabbi Chaim Burman

Rav of YAM

Yeshurun Federation Synagogue

Edgware, London