Tisha B'Av

I am here to report another transformation.  This should not be a surprise to you or me by now.  I am surprised, however, by the setting and subject of some of the transformations.  This time, it was the least likely of observances, Tishah B'Av.  Up until this point, I had never in my life observed Tisha B'Av.  I can say honestly, I still haven't fully observed it.  It is a full fast day and I didn't do that.  Maybe next year.  What I can say is that the past 24 hours have been a learning experience that opened my eyes to the possibility of what Tishah B'Av can or should mean in my life.

Tisha B'Av is a day of remembrance of the destruction of the First and Second Temples.  It also happens to be a day that coincides with many other disasters in Jewish History.  See http://urj.org/holidays/tishabav/?syspage=article&item_id=21945 for a little more about it.

Last night, my class went as a group to Emmaus Nicopolis www.emmaus-nicopolis.org for an egalitarian Erev Tishah B'Av observance with several other Reform organizations from across Israel.  Rabbi's Naaman Kelman and Israeli HUC Rabbinic Student Gila Caine gave some introductory remarks about the importance of this sight for Christians and how we can work together to further understanding and peace in our world.  This was followed by a mostly musical setting of modern and traditional Tishah B'Av liturgy.

The music was wonderful but I had been struggling with the concept of Tisha B'Av for a while.  My overarching questions was, why should I be mourning the loss of the Temples?  They are things.  Even if I believe that Israel, and more specifically, Jerusalem, are special and holy places for Jews, why should I lament the loss of a thing.  The place I had brought myself was that I needed to think of the destruction in human terms.  I didn't need to think about stones and alters.  But instead, what happened to the people in the city after the walls were breached in the 17th of Tamuz?  The descriptions by Biblical and extra Biblical sources are frightening and horrifying.  The scene must have been awful and unbelievable to the people of the time.  It is with a sense of their pain that I at least brought myself to openness of what observance could mean.  Probably the most meaningful discussion of the night was with my classmate Ester who told me that in Germany, the liturgy is centered in humanity, not locality.  The emphasis is the human loss not just in ancient times, but through many generations since then.

This morning I went to Ulpan and then to Pardes for two afternoon learning sessions.  The first was led by Marc Rosenberg and presented close study of the kina (dirge) “Going Out of Egypt, Going Out of  Jerusalem”.  Marc presented text that I otherwise might have found difficult and unconnected to my life, in such a way that I was able to draw some real connections.  This text juxtaposes in acrostic verse alternating descriptions of "leavings" with the alternating verses ending with בצאתי ממצרים and בצאתי מירושלים; "when I went forth from Egypt", and "when I went forth from Jerusalem".  It struck me that the same word, בצאתי bi'tze'ti, is used to reference two very different situations.  The leaving from Egypt was an instance of hopefulness, divine awe, deliverance, salvation, redemption, nothing less than a miracle.  The leaving from Jerusalem was an occasion of  bitterness, destruction, slaughter, and mourning.  The last verse substitutes בצאתי with בשובי bi'shu'vi, "in my return", expressing the hopefulness of an eventual return to Jerusalem.  The juxtaposition of the hopefulness of the Exodus and the bitterness of the destruction of Jerusalem is something of a commentary on choice.  God created us and delivered us . . . the rest is up to us.  It is by our choices as collective humanity to determine whether we reap the rewards of the deliverance or we doom ourselves to affliction.  The lesson for Tisha B'Av is not one of the destruction of The Temple but of the possibilities of building an messianic age.  None of us can do this by ourselves of course.  We all depend upon one another to get there but the vision can start to evolve with an understanding of Tisha B'av.

The second speaker was Rabbi Daniel Gordis.  I must say that I didn't know who he was prior to this lecture.  If I have read any of his articles, I certainly didn't draw and recognition with the author.  Rabbi Gordis is a very dynamic speaker.  His purpose this morning was to put Tisha B'Av into a modern context.  I can't do justice trying to repeat his words.  In short, his approach seems to be much like Ester's and mine, that this is a day about humanity, not Temples; looking for ways to rebuild a people, not a Temple; finding ways to recover from the ways we have been persecuted and are targeted for destruction; finding ways to come to terms with our own Jewish identity.  I did a horrible job paraphrasing him.  His eloquence inspired me to come home and google him and read some of his work.  I encourage you to do the same.  I think you will find his literary voice provocative, and perhaps inspiring http://danielgordis.org/.

All in all, I left the day enriched.  There is new meaning for me in Tisha B'Av.  It is not an ancient relic but a window for envisioning and designing our future.

L'shalom,
Marc