This year, Tisha B’Av, the 9th day of the month of Av, was observed on Sunday, the 10th of Av, because public mourning and fasting are prohibited on Shabbat. It is a day of mourning for the destruction of both Temples in Jerusalem. Thus, we are encouraged to read the book of Lamentations (Eikha): “How does the city sit solitary, that was full of people! How is she become as a widow! She that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how has she become tributary!” The Second Temple period makes it even more depressing — not only because of what the Romans did to the Jews, but what the Jews did to themselves.

The Rabbis tell us that Jerusalem was destroyed exactly because of that baseless hatred between Jews and Jews, and between Jews and other people who were living in the land at the time. During the latter part of the war against the Romans, the Jews in Jerusalem were divided mainly into three factions. Each faction suspected the other of a lack of loyalty to the national cause. They set fire to each other’s storehouses of grain. They killed each other. As Abraham Lincoln expressed it, could a nation divided against itself fight the mighty Roman legions?

The new Israel Nationality Bill moved forward in a stormy Knesset session. Now, even more than three factions exist, attesting to an expression of diversity. Although the new law contains only a few actual legal implications, and it does not impact the citizenship of a non-Jew in Israel, still, Jerusalem comes under fire for its new Basic Law, which is similar, in fact, to many European constitutions. The law is mostly a modern version of the old nationalistic aspirations, and a long-awaited re-establishment of national identity and sovereignty.

In an article in the July 19 Wall Street Journal, Eugene Kontorovich wrote: “Get Over It—Israel Is the Jewish State.” The article begins with the following statement: “Let the handwringing and denunciations begin. On Thursday, Israel finally expressed in constitutional law the basic achievement of Zionism: Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people. In the seven years since the new provision was first proposed, it has attracted a barrage of criticism from the U.S. and Europe. Foreign politicians have demanded Israel not pass the law, and they have not been mollified by the removal of most of its disputed provisions.”

Perhaps Kontorovich was referring to the proposal that communities could be established based on “religion or ethnicity,” which was replaced with a statement of support for Jewish settlement. This law is declarative, not operative; it articulates “values.” It gives status to the Law of Return and to symbols — flag, anthem, etc. — and fixes Israel as “the Jewish State,” homeland of the Jewish people, and Hebrew as the official language.

The Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, established in 1998 by former Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson, was designed to fight anti-Semitism by uniting governments and experts to strengthen, advance and promote Holocaust education. According to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, modern anti-Semitism is in several ways relative to the Nationality Bill. Among other provisions that relate directly to the Holocaust, the bill calls it anti-Semitic to deny the Jewish people their right to self-determination, to consider the existence of the State of Israel as a racist endeavor, and to require of Israel behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.

This week, July 27-28 is Shabbat Nachamu, which takes its name from the Book of Isaiah (40:1-26) and speaks of “comforting” the Jewish people for their suffering. May Shabbat Nachamu bring us true consolation.

—Rabbi Gadi Capela