Ancient Temple, holy mountain, City of Peace,
Jerusalem: assaulted by Assyrians, Babylonians, Romans.
They didn’t destroy a building;
they shattered a covenantal promise:
that the world might reflect the Divine,
that humanity will live united
that peace and justice can someday kiss.
So long ago, the Holy Temple burned
and the values it envisioned
were trampled under Roman sandals
under the ensign of an Imperial eagle.
Roman might snuffing out Israel’s prophecy of lions and lambs.
What’s changed?
Today, Black churches burn.
ISIS murders men, women, children, Muslims and nonbelievers.
Glaciers melt, monsoons swirl, our earth seems to spew us out.
And we, we cling to our guns and proceed to murder one another,
“accidentally” regularly killing our loved ones and refusing to examine our ways,
like dogs returning to their vomit.
We imprison an entire generation of youth
where we teach them to be truly hard, to abandon hope.
Who destroyed the Temple of old?
Imperial Assyria. Ruthless Rome.
Who is destroying the Temple today?
Well, really,
Who isn’t?
Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson is the Abner & Roslyn Goldstine Dean’s Chair and professor of philosophy at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies.
