By Rabbi Leibel Agar, Beth Jacob Congregation

As Shavuot fades into the background of our minds, one cannot help but begin thinking of summer. For some of us, it means trips to the beach, amusement parks, and other fun-time destinations. For others, it means hot and sultry nights spent with neighbors at a backyard barbecue.

For me, summer always meant spending a few weeks away from home at Camp Mogen Avraham or NCSY Camp East. It was a great time of year, full of friendship and fun, a chance to just be a kid, without the hectic “school, homework, sleep, repeat” drudgery that settled into my soul from September until June.

However, it is another aspect of the summer that I wish to share with you — one which begins with difficulty, but ends with a head held just a bit higher and a back just a bit straighter.

During the summer, we Jews face one of the darkest periods of our liturgical year: that period of the Three Weeks, which marks the anniversary of the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of both Holy Temples.

We are taught about this sad period in our history from the time we are children, but it often does not really sink in.

After all, how can a child (or even many adults for that matter) feel the pain of a loss we know nothing about? We have never experienced life with the Holy Temple, so how can we truly understand what it means to lose it?

Imagine, if you will, you have a special house. You spent many weeks renovating the structure, getting it exactly the way you wanted it. You spared no expense to get exactly the right marble for the countertops and exactly the right shade of bricks for the fireplace.

Everything has to be perfect or it is simply no good. Finally, the house is ready and you are about to move in.

However, the night before, an earthquake rolls by and destroys the house. Imagine how sad you would be to see the once beautiful structure reduced to nothing but a pile of rubble.

Worse still, you have to wait for a Divine signal before you are allowed to rebuild. That, my friends, is small potatoes compared to the loss of the Temple.

However, not all is lost. One retaining wall still remains. We can gather at its base and allow it to remind us of the glory which was the Holy Temple.

We stand together, Jews of all colors, backgrounds, religiosity, and political leanings, praying as one. We are all united as “One People, One Heart” as we ask our Father in Heaven to redeem us and once again dwell in His house.

We mourn for what we have lost, but do not fall victim to despair; rather, we use it as a catalyst to push us closer to God.

It is this hidden strength which has carried us for nearly 2,000 years, and enables us to say with a full heart, “May we merit to see the redemption swiftly and soon.”

To read the complete July 2026 Dayton Jewish Observer, click here.