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July 12, 2002/Av 3 5762, Vol. 54, No. 43
Up in smokeEditorialWhat more graphic representation of Tisha b'Av, which marks the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem and is observed this year July 18, than the Rodeo-Chediski wildfire that raged across eastern Arizona for nearly three weeks? It destroyed hundreds of homes, burned 467,000 forested acres, killed numerous animals and birds, and cost millions of dollars to contain.So, too, a fiery inferno engulfed the holy city of Jerusalem, first in 586 BCE and then again in 70 CE, destroying the sacred Temples and consigning the Jewish people to exile. Is it mere coincidence that the date coincides with the heart of summer, when, especially in places like Arizona, the earth feels like a simmering furnace? The rabbis teach that Tisha b'Av, the ninth of the Hebrew month of Av, is the anniversary of a number of other tragedies, including the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and the beginning of World War I. All signal external defeat, and perhaps inner failing. All ultimately were followed by renewal and rebirth. So perhaps the midsummer attack on corporate greed heating up in Washington is well-timed. It puts into blazing relief case after case of egregious human failing. It may spell the defeat of unbridled corporate power and influence. A slew of scandals have revealed blatantly dishonest accounting practices and unethical business practices - corporate executives paid excessive salaries, buoyed by valuable stock options they cashed in on when their companies' fortunes were riding high, then deteriorating. Everyday investors lost their life savings as the businesses plummeted. What's needed, said President Bush, is stricter law enforcement and a heightened ethical commitment to curb excesses and level the playing field between company executives and board members, and stockholders. Whether Congress and the White House have the will to effect change, or whether their efforts to push for corporate reform will crash and burn before summer's end remains to be seen. But the message of Tisha b'Av resonates as the corporate world disassembles. It is the classic Jewish response to catastrophe: Renew life - and do so in ways in keeping with divine purpose and meaning. It could mean that when the long hot summer draws to a close, some corporate execs will make a little less money, their companies will be subject to a little more government oversight, and individual investors will sleep a little easier at night. And if that happens, Amen. |
