Today we fast.
We remember a day on which, more than once, something broke: Moses shattered the first tablets of the covenant. The walls of Jerusalem were breached. Our tradition connects this day with further catastrophes that struck wounds into the memory of our people.
Each of these ruptures speaks of loss. Of disappointment. Of a future that suddenly could no longer be taken for granted.
And yet this is not the end of the story.
The broken tablets were followed by new tablets. After the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jewish people endured. What was lost could not always be replaced — but the covenant remained. Hope remained. Life remained.
We mourn what has been broken. We do not close our eyes to the pain. But we fast in the trust that God can let a future grow even out of the deepest ruptures.
May this hope accompany us — today and on all days when our world begins to crack.