This Tisha Be'Av, I was going to follow @EinatWilf's lead and watch Shttl, a movie from the amazing @MenemshaFilms, but after watching the trailer, I don't think I will physically be able to. It is the story of a Shtetl in Western Ukraine, riddled by infighting between various factions of the Jews living in the shtetl- the arguments, the division, and the luxury of fighting just 24 hours before the Nazis came and killed everyone. The story hit too close to home. My family came from the city of Velizh, where the communists, with the help of the Yevseksia, persecuted my family and sentenced my great-grandfather, Rabbi Eliezer Poupko, to prison and gulags on 4 separate occasions. If they could, they would have him killed. This persecution led to my family fleeing in 1932 and coming to the United States. On July 13, 1941, the Nazis came to Velizh, established a Judenrat, and forced Jews to register and wear identifying yellow patches, and began the persecution and the killing. On January 29 1942, the Germans forced all the Jews who remained into one building, locked the doors, and set the building on fire. Those who managed to flee the building were shot. This is a microcosm of what happened in Jerusalem in 70 CE when our infighting was raging while the Romans came to destroy us. Yes, we Jews have some very important internal debates among ourselves, yet we must never forget what the goals of our enemies are, nor should we ever lose sight of how much there is holding us together.