Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria, Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Akiva went up to Jerusalem. When they reached Mt. Scopus, they tore their garments. When they reached the Temple Mount, they saw a fox emerging from the place of the Holy of Holies. The others started weeping; Rabbi Akiva laughed.
Said they to him: “Why are you laughing?”
Said he to them: “Why are you weeping?”
Said they to him: “A place [so holy] that it is said of it, ‘the stranger that approaches it shall die,’ and now foxes traverse it, and we shouldn’t weep?”
Said he to them: “That is why I laugh. For it is written, ‘I shall have bear witness for Me faithful witnesses–Uriah the Priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.’ Now what is the connection between Uriah and Zechariah? Uriah was [in the time of] the First Temple, and Zechariah was [in the time of] the Second Temple! But the Torah makes Zachariah’s prophecy dependent upon Uriah’s prophecy.
With Uriah, it is written: ‘Therefore, because of you, Zion shall be plowed as a field; [Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the Temple Mount like the high places of a forest.]’ With Zachariah it is written, ‘Old men and women shall yet sit in the streets of Jerusalem.’
“As long as Uriah’s prophecy had not been fulfilled, I feared that Zechariah’s prophecy may not be fulfilled either. But now that Uriah’s prophecy has been fulfilled, it is certain that Zechariah’s prophecy will be fulfilled.”
With these words they replied to him: “Akiva, you have consoled us! Akiva, you have consoled us!”
The destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem was a tragedy of unimaginable proportions. The center of the Jewish experience and the space to interact with the divine openly… gone! Yet, Rabbi Akiva, finds hope even then. Rabbi Akiva died by torture at the hands of the Romans yet, he never lost faith and hope that he’s part of something much greater.
Let’s take the model of Rabbi Akiva, the pillar of Jewish continuity in the exile, and ask: how do you find direction and hope in the face of challenges, even tragedy? Can you identify how you are part of something much greater than yourself? Consider one challenge of yours and try to articulate how this “set-back” might be the engine pushing you forward. Shabbat Shalom!