This Tisha B’Av, over 10,600 Israelis are displaced – evacuated from their homes due to Iranian missile strikes, in addition to the thousands still without permanent shelter since October 7. As we mark the day of mourning for national tragedies, modern scenes of dislocation awaken an ancient grief: the pain of homelessness. But in reflecting on the loss of our own homes, we turn our hearts to a deeper spiritual homelessness – of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, whose coveted Beit HaMikdash lies in ruins.
The Divine call of “I am with him in distress” (Tehillim 91:15) echoes through our displacement. Just as we were locked in our homes during COVID-19, and then again in bomb shelters during Operation “Rising Lion,” Hashem’s mikdashei me’at (synagogues and study halls) were closed as well. Perhaps we are meant now more than ever to hear Hashem’s cry every night (Berachot 3a) as He roars like a lion: “Woe to Me that I destroyed My house, burned My palace, and exiled My children.” The pain of Am Yisrael’s homelessness mirrors the Divine loneliness.
This symbiotic relationship emerged before building both Temples. David HaMelech, troubled by the dissonance between his cedar palace and the simple tent housing the aron ha-brit, declared: “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of Hashem dwells within curtains” (Shmuel II 7:2). Hashem’s response through Natan revealed that building the Divine home is not a personal project – it is a national destiny, a covenantal unfolding requiring the establishment and security of David’s house and dynasty.
Chaggai’s piercing rebuke echoes this message: “Is it a time for you to dwell in your paneled houses, while this House lies in ruins?” (Chaggai 1:4). The people’s spiritual apathy led to material frustration. They planted much and harvested little – because although their homes were secure, Hashem’s home was not a priority.
Response #1: Yearning and prayer
Tisha B’Av calls us to reflect on rebuilding Hashem’s home with hope – not only in mortar and stone but in our priorities and yearnings. The Sifrei teaches that David was praised for seeking the Mikdash’s location even before being commanded (Sifrei, Devarim 62).
David vowed: “I will not enter my house… until I find a place for Hashem” (Tehillim 132:3–5). Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai explains that thousands fell in David’s wars because they failed to demand the Beit HaMikdash’s construction (Midrash Tehillim 17). “If those who never saw the Temple destroyed were punished for not seeking its construction, how much more are we accountable who have witnessed its absence?”
Our sages instituted daily prayers requesting: “Please, in Your great mercy, return Your presence to Tzion and restore the Temple service to Jerusalem.” They established “Boneh Yerushalayim” as a separate blessing in Shemoneh Esrei and Birkat HaMazon, ensuring that yearning for Hashem’s home permeates our daily consciousness. The Kuzari concludes that the Shechina’s return depends on our wholehearted longing, until we cherish even the stones and dust of Yerushalayim (Tehillim 102:15).
Response #2: Unity
Rebuilding – whether our physical homes or Hashem’s spiritual dwelling – requires national cohesion and the end of destructive divisions. The Rambam (Moreh Nevuchim III:45) teaches why the Beit HaMikdash’s location was deliberately hidden in the Torah: to prevent tribal discord over its placement. Only after establishing unified leadership could the Temple be built, “so that the command would belong to one, and quarrels would cease.”
The Gemara (Ta’anit 30b) tells us that the fifteenth of Av became one of the most joyful days precisely because it marked reconciliations: tribes were permitted to intermarry, Shevet Binyamin was restored to the community, and barriers to pilgrimage were removed.
Response #3: Building new families
Building homes includes building families. Just as Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel declared, “There were no days as joyful for Israel as the fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur” (Ta’anit 30b), when young women would dance in vineyards seeking life partners, we have witnessed a profound awakening to the urgency of building Jewish homes post-October 7.
This wedding renaissance embodies rebuilding. Each chuppah becomes a mikdash me’at where the Divine Presence dwells. Each new home creates a foundation stone in reconstructing our physical and spiritual homeland, leading to the eternal binyan adei ad! The most powerful response to those seeking to eliminate Jewish homes is building more through marriage and family. The final sheva berachot blessing takes on new urgency: “Speedily, Hashem, may there be heard in the cities of Yehudah and streets of Yerushalayim the sound of joy and gladness, the voice of groom and bride.”
The path forward
As our hearts extend to all homeless brethren this Tisha B’Av, let us feel not only our displacement but Hashem’s cosmic homelessness. Building our physical homes and rebuilding the Beit HaMikdash are interconnected aspects of divine partnership.
Every home rebuilt, family reunited, marriage celebrated, and act of chesed becomes a small sanctuary preparing the world for the ultimate home. Every prayer for Jerusalem and every tear shed contributes to rebuilding.
Through our return to unity and purpose, we hasten the day when both divine and human dwellings will know peace, and we finally return home to our Father’s table.
Rabbanit Shani Taragin is Educational Director of Mizrachi-Lapidot and Matan Eshkolot Programs for Educators, and the Rosh Women’s Beit Midrash for Yeshiva University in Israel.