Honoring Our Past by Looking Forward at Tisha B’Av

“For your benefit,” Simon Wiesenthal once said in an interview, “learn from tragedy.” “It is not a written law that the next victims must be Jews,” he goes on to say, “it can also be other people.” Our Jewish history is riddled with examples of tragedy that range from recent antisemitic attacks to the destruction of the First and Second Temples two millennia ago.

While we honor our past, including this weekend during Tisha B’Av, we must also apply lessons that can light a path too often worn by human rights violations, global strife and an increasingly painful reality for women worldwide.

Tisha B’Av commemorates much more than the destruction of our holiest sites, which occurred on or around the same time of year as the death of 10,000 Jews during the First Crusade (August 1096); the expulsion of Jews from England (July 1290), France (July 1306), Spain (July 1492); the start of World War I (August 1914); formal approval of the Nazis’ Final Solution (August 1941); and more.

Jews know tragedy, which is why it is imperative that we recognize this moment. Today, in states throughout this country and countries throughout the world, women are being stripped of their right to control their own bodies.

As you read this, abortion rights are being eviscerated in the United States. Meanwhile, girls as young as eight and women as old as 80 are being systematically raped and brutally assaulted in the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray. Much like the Jewish people in the early-20th century, the people of Tigray have been accused of the supposed crime of unwillingness to assimilate. Ethiopian leadership is using sexual violence and starvation to maintain authority.

Women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are systematically targeted by both rebel militia groups and government officials as groups vie for control over the resource-rich country. Often ominously labeled the “rape capital of the world,” women in the DRC rely heavily on heroes like Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Denis Mukewege and his team of doctors and nurses who repair women’s bodies and souls.

Whether it is the inquisitors, the Nazis or the Ethiopian army, the goal is the same: to shred the fabric of community.

Whether it is the inquisitors, the Nazis or the Ethiopian army, the goal is the same: to shred the fabric of community. “Women are the real architects of society,” said Harriet Beecher Stowe. Women create life, hold families together and lead communities with strength and resolve. While this is well-understood, it is historically and presently abused at large worldwide.

Tisha B’Av reminds us that we must learn from tragedy as we mourn and memorialize the atrocities—the baseless hatred that led to the genocides of the Jews, Darfuris, Armenians, Uyghurs and Rohingya, the othering and dehumanization of the people of the DRC, and the ongoing suffering of men, women and children in Tigray.

As we fast on what is often regarded as the saddest day of the year, let us recommit ourselves to the world. Let our reflections on the atrocities of the past compel us to work toward a higher standard of tolerance and acceptance for all.

To take action for women in Tigray, please visit jww.org/tigray

Serena Oberstein is the Executive Director of Jewish World Watch, an anti-genocide non-profit based in Los Angeles.