LEARN YOUR LESSON

Regarding “For the sake of Heaven?” (Nechama Goldman Barash, June 15): We are nearing Tisha Be’av, the day which commemorates the destruction of the Temple. The Talmud tells us the chain of events leading up to this tragedy.

A Jew by the name of Bar Kamtza, it is not recorded whether or not he was a member of “The Jewish Voice for Peace,” went to the Roman emperor and told him that the Jews were planning a revolt against him. The emperor asked for proof. Bar Kamtza told him to send an animal to the Temple to be sacrificed. He gave an animal to Bar Kamtza to be sacrificed in the Temple. On his way to the Temple, Bar Kamtza made a cut on the lip of the animal, making it unfit for sacrifice.

There was a difference of opinion among the rabbis. One school of thought said that they emperor’s animal should be sacrificed, based of the principle that “there is a time to transgress the laws of the Torah in order to preserve the Torah.” The opposing school of thought said that the emperor’s animal should not be sacrificed, based on the principle “yikov hadin et hahar,” loosely translated as “Come Hell or high water, the law must be adhered to in its strictest form.”

The second school of thought won out. The animal was not sacrificed.

This convinced the emperor that the Jews were indeed planning to revolt and gave the order to destroy the Temple.

It seems that the Chief Rabbinate has not learned the lesson from this event. D. STEINHART Petah Tikva