A delegation from Babylonia put forth a query to the prophet Zechariah, asking whether the fast of the Ninth of Av was still in effect, now that the Second Temple had been built. In response, Zechariah transmitted G‑d’s message that it was not fasting that was most important, but to uphold justice, truth, kindness and compassion.
Zechariah also foretold what will occur to the fast days in the Messianic era: “So says the L‑rd of Hosts: The fast of the fourth month [the seventeenth of Tammuz], the fast of the fifth month [the ninth of Av], the fast of the seventh month [the third of Tishrei], and the fast of the tenth month [the tenth of Teves] will be to the House of Judah for rejoicing, happiness, and festivals.” (Zechariah 7–8)
After a three-month-long unsuccessful battle and siege waged by Suleiman Pasha, governor of Damascus, against the sheikh of Tiberias, the governor finally left the city. To mark their salvation and the numerous miracles that had occurred throughout the siege, the Jews of Tiberias, led by the venerable R. Chaim Abulafia (1660–1744), established this date as a yearly festival of rejoicing and praise to G‑d. (Yalkut Me’am Lo’ez, Esther 9:28)
You are Jacob. You are on a journey from Beersheva, the wellspring of all souls, to Haran, this formidable world.
Your souls make a vow, Jacob’s vow:
“If G‑d will be with me and protect me on this journey and provide me bread to eat and clothing to wear, and if I return to my father's house in peace...
Meaning: G‑d will be always with you, shielding your soul.
Your bread will be the wisdom of Torah that you learn. Your clothing will be the mitzvahs. So that in both these ways, you will bring His light to shine in places where it has never shone before.
And you will journey back home as just another human being, immersed within the inner turmoil, the desires, the cravings, the pressures, the burdens, the passions, the anxieties, the fears, the utter noise and cacophony of a fragmented, confused universe—
—and you will pull yourself back toward inner peace.
How? By finding the Infinite G-d in all these ways of humankind, not abstaining from them, not running from them, but injecting them with your soul’s sense of divine purpose, rendering them, too, a way of knowing G‑d.
...then G-d will be my G-d and this stone that I have set as a monument will be the House of G‑d.” (Genesis 28:20)
Your soul will find peace within her most inner self, in the ultimate bond with the Infinite.
And the world you entered will also be redeemed, until even the stones beneath your feet and the granite of the building in which you work will cry out, “We, too, are a place for the Infinite Light to dwell!”
You are Jacob, bearer of light, warrior of peace.