Something very unusual happened at the Western Wall on the day of Tisha B’Av, something which attracted the attention of many religious Jews. There is a prophecy in the Talmud that many in Israel believe. This prophecy is based on a story which occurred after the destruction of the Temple in 70 ad. This is when some rabbis came to the Western Wall and saw a fox emerge from the site of what they believed was the Holy of Holies. Then one of the rabbis, Rabbi Akiva, began to rejoice. So they asked him, “Why are you rejoicing?”
He explained that the appearance of the fox was considered as the end of the judgment of God on Jerusalem, as foxes were often seen in ruins. Thus, he explains the next event will be the appearance of the Messiah. And so, they all rejoiced with him.
And so, from this story, they concluded that if a fox would appear at the Western Wall on Tisha B’Av, the day of the destruction of the Temple, that means that the Messiah is to come that very year.
A fox was indeed sighted last Thursday and was even filmed. It went viral with social media users, saying that this is a sign of that the prophecy would come true. They concluded that the Messiah is coming soon, perhaps even this year. Should that come to pass, we say Amen! However, the same sighting of a fox on Tisha B’Av occurred in 2019 as well. But they should not be disappointed, for there are many other signs which show that the Messiah is coming soon. This story shows us how expectant the religious Jewish people are of Messiah’s soon coming.