This Shabbat is called "Shabbat Chazon," the "Shabbat of Vision" named so because of the first Hebrew word of the Haftarah (Additional) reading from the prophecy of Isaiah 1:1-27. This Shabbat always precedes Tisha B'Av, the ninth day of Av, which is the saddest day in Jewish history because on this day both Temples were destroyed and many other tragedies befell the Jewish people.

 

"The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz... Hear, o heavens, and give ear, o earth; for the Lord has spoken, "I have reared and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me... "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?" said the Lord; "I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats. When you come to appear before Me, who has required this at your hand, to trample My courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense of abomination they are to Me."

The Sages point out though that the prophet does not lament because the Bet HaMikdash was destroyed, but rather he laments over the underlying causes of that destruction. This annual lesson must serve to focus the national mourning of Tisha B'Av not to the past, but to the present. It is not enough to bemoan the great loss suffered by our people with the destruction of our Land, our Holy City, and our Holy Temple. We must use our mourning as a way of initiating an examination of our present-day feelings, thoughts and deeds. What have we done to eliminate the attitudes and practices that thousands of years ago sent our ancestors into exile? How have we improved our approach to the divine service as a way of life? Do we have a personal relationship with God? Are our verbal offerings, like the animal-offerings described by the prophet, merely mindlessly performed rituals, never internalized, never spoken from the heart, just from the lips? Something to ponder as we come to worship on Shabbat.