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
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Forests, Protest, and Other Things
Shabbat is over, my homework is done, so time to blog. First, I must tell you about the Jerusalem hills. Our wonderful summer intern, Amy, arranged a shabbat hike for us last weekend in the Jerusalem hills. "Hills" is the wrong word. Mountains is more like it. A little google told me that the area is really the Judean Mountains.
On Shabbat morning, our prayer leader, Rabbi Kelman moved our usual Shabbat morning Kiddush inside because it was so hot. A few bailed on the hiking because of the weather forecast but most of us were not deterred from our trip however, we all went home, packed donned our sun screen, hats, collected our water, and made our way back to the college to catch a bus out to the west of Jerusalem.
Amy prepared us well, telling us to bring plenty of water . . . we would need it.
Amy loves to hike and she chose a gorgeous route for us. We started out on a trail into Wadi Qetalav. A wadi, for those not into the desert lingo, is a usually dry creek bed. Most of the year, this is a rather dry place. But, for several months starting in November, we will get quite a bit of rain. During these months, many of these wadi's will carry some water. Jerusalem actually gets almost the same amount of annual precipitation as London, England. But, it all comes in a few months, November through March.
It was dry and hot but there was not complaining from anyone. It was too beautiful. We all knew what to expect from the heat. I didn't know what to expect from the forest. In this particular area, most of the vegetation is native species, not the non-native or near native conifers the JNF is famous for planting. The native species are hearty and flower and fruit despite the conditions.
I think Amy did not know all that the hike would be. We helped her out in her effort to challenge us by taking a wrong turn. This wasn't her fault, we were off up the trail before she could say much to stop us. Besides, getting lost is half the fun of getting anywhere. Instead of making a loop back to our starting point we ended up hiking through the Soreq Stream Nature Preserve and up to Ramat Raziel. This is a moshav established in 1948 and named after a commander, David Raziel, in the Irgun. Funny anything would be named after anybody in the Irgun, it generally isn't viewed very well here. (Elle? I think this should remind you of our conversation tonight). They were a very militant and militaristic Zionist group. Some of it was absorbed into the IDF after Independence. I suppose some parts of the Irgun must have been well intentioned. Ramat Raziel is a nice small town, very quiet on Shabbat . . . just the way I like it.
After our exhausting hike up the mountain, climbing about 2000 feet in only about a mile, we needed a place to rest. The park in Ramat Raziel was just the ticket. The Ramat Raziel welcoming committee was closed for Shabbat so we were greeted and entertained by a local cat and dog. For his efforts we fed the cat a little leftover cake. The poor dog got nothing . . . he looked a little crazy.
Protests . . .
Tonight I can hear protests outside of the Prime Minister's residence . . . or as close as the protesters can get to it. The issue at hand is the cost of living. The protesters have set up tent cities in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to protest housing prices. There is something of a free market here. I can't say that I know enough about the Israeli economy. However, I can tell you enough to know a few facts I have observed. What the protesters say is true. Rents have risen dramatically in the past few years, and have priced many young Israelis out of the market in the cities where they have to work. There are a lot of building projects going on but mostly they are for very high priced apartments. There are many apartment buildings in Jerusalem that are vacant and in disrepair, I assume, waiting for the right time to renovate or sell. In essence, I think the housing market is broken. It appears there is plenty of space for everyone but little motivation to build affordable housing. There are plenty of foreigners who are investing here and buying high priced property. I think the vacant buildings are probably owned by people waiting for the next foreigner with money to arrive to sell for a good price. I hate to disturb a free market situation but when foreigners are driving a local situation, I think it is well within the right and purpose of the government to step in somehow. I hope a solution can be achieved that respects the essence of a free market AND can help the Israelis who need it, because they do.
Other Things . . .
Enough already! I apologize for the grammatical or spelling mistakes. I don't have the patience right now to read everything I've just written.
Shavua Tov
Amy prepared us well, telling us to bring plenty of water . . . we would need it.
It was dry and hot but there was not complaining from anyone. It was too beautiful. We all knew what to expect from the heat. I didn't know what to expect from the forest. In this particular area, most of the vegetation is native species, not the non-native or near native conifers the JNF is famous for planting. The native species are hearty and flower and fruit despite the conditions.
I think Amy did not know all that the hike would be. We helped her out in her effort to challenge us by taking a wrong turn. This wasn't her fault, we were off up the trail before she could say much to stop us. Besides, getting lost is half the fun of getting anywhere. Instead of making a loop back to our starting point we ended up hiking through the Soreq Stream Nature Preserve and up to Ramat Raziel. This is a moshav established in 1948 and named after a commander, David Raziel, in the Irgun. Funny anything would be named after anybody in the Irgun, it generally isn't viewed very well here. (Elle? I think this should remind you of our conversation tonight). They were a very militant and militaristic Zionist group. Some of it was absorbed into the IDF after Independence. I suppose some parts of the Irgun must have been well intentioned. Ramat Raziel is a nice small town, very quiet on Shabbat . . . just the way I like it.
After our exhausting hike up the mountain, climbing about 2000 feet in only about a mile, we needed a place to rest. The park in Ramat Raziel was just the ticket. The Ramat Raziel welcoming committee was closed for Shabbat so we were greeted and entertained by a local cat and dog. For his efforts we fed the cat a little leftover cake. The poor dog got nothing . . . he looked a little crazy.
Protests . . .
Tonight I can hear protests outside of the Prime Minister's residence . . . or as close as the protesters can get to it. The issue at hand is the cost of living. The protesters have set up tent cities in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to protest housing prices. There is something of a free market here. I can't say that I know enough about the Israeli economy. However, I can tell you enough to know a few facts I have observed. What the protesters say is true. Rents have risen dramatically in the past few years, and have priced many young Israelis out of the market in the cities where they have to work. There are a lot of building projects going on but mostly they are for very high priced apartments. There are many apartment buildings in Jerusalem that are vacant and in disrepair, I assume, waiting for the right time to renovate or sell. In essence, I think the housing market is broken. It appears there is plenty of space for everyone but little motivation to build affordable housing. There are plenty of foreigners who are investing here and buying high priced property. I think the vacant buildings are probably owned by people waiting for the next foreigner with money to arrive to sell for a good price. I hate to disturb a free market situation but when foreigners are driving a local situation, I think it is well within the right and purpose of the government to step in somehow. I hope a solution can be achieved that respects the essence of a free market AND can help the Israelis who need it, because they do.
Other Things . . .
Enough already! I apologize for the grammatical or spelling mistakes. I don't have the patience right now to read everything I've just written.
Shavua Tov
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Favorite Recent Quote
Not too much time to post anything lengthy but just had to share something from a recent op-ed in an Israeli newspaper. There are protests going on around the country, mostly in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The issue is the cost of living, particularly for housing. The protests have taken the form of tent cities. The author of the op-ed took to the tent city to see what was going on and asked a few questions . . . in one of the responses he gleaned this gem of Jewish thought . . .
"Being a Jew isn’t just being a settler, you know; being a Jew also means having compassion. I swear. You don’t believe me? Go home and Google it.”
Here's the op-ed for those of you who might want a little Israeli enrichment . . .
http://www.tabletmag.com/life-and-religion/73800/in-the-middle/
"Being a Jew isn’t just being a settler, you know; being a Jew also means having compassion. I swear. You don’t believe me? Go home and Google it.”
Here's the op-ed for those of you who might want a little Israeli enrichment . . .
http://www.tabletmag.com/life-and-religion/73800/in-the-middle/
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