Tisha B'Av
As the book of Ecclesiastes explains - "There is a season for all things; a time for every purpose under heaven...A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance..." (Ecclesiastes ch.3)
In the cycle of the Jewish calendar, the month of Av is seen as the headquarters of weeping. As the sages say - "When Av enters we decrease in joy". This is our collective time for grief. Traditionally, Tisha B'Av (The 9th of Av) Is the pinnacle of grief for the month of Av and for the Jewish people.
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Many years we combine forces with Congregation Bonai Shalom to commemorate this day in both traditional and creative ways. A Little History | So what is Tisha B'Av and why do we commemorate it?
Tisha B'Av is often spoken in the same breath as The Three Weeks. From the 17th of the month of Tammuz until the 9th of Av is a time period known as the three weeks. On the 17th of the month of Tammuz in 69 CE the Romans broke the city walls of Jerusalem and laid siege to the city and its people. 3 weeks later the siege was complete, the holy temple was set ablaze, our most sacred objects were taken, and the Jews were sent into exile again. According to tradition, it was also on the 9th of Av in 586 BCE the First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians. This is when the Ark of the Covenant was taken, the line of Kings ended, and was also the beginning of the dispersion of the Jewish People.
Both the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av are days of fasting where no food or water is eaten or drunk. Tisha B'Av the book of lamentations is read, people refrain from greeting each other, dancing, wearing shoes, have sexual relations, and many other activities. We conduct ourselves as if in mourning. As the afternoon of the day goes on, the rules loosen for just as every breaking foretells a repair, it is said that the Messiah will be born on Tisha B'Av.
The Mystical Meanings | Some Psycho-Spiritual Meanings and Themes
Tisha B'Av, like all other Jewish Holidays, has a myriad of themes to connect to on a psycho-spiritual level. Each holiday has the ability for interpretation and reflection. Each year the holiday can mean something else because, as the years pass we change, and how we see the holiday changes with us. Here are some themes that you may want to work with this year or in years to come.
- Why is it important to make time for Grief? in what ways are you holding on to grief the still needs to let go? In what ways do you distract yourself from grief?
- What is so important in your life that nothing would ever be the same without it? What would it be like to lose that?
- How does fasting help you to feel and work with this holiday and with grief? what would it be like to fast for part or all of this day?
- Tradition holds that the first temple was destroyed because the Jewish people would not listen to God's profits and actually executed them, people practiced idolatry, the tribes rebelled against each other, and people were not able to change their ways. The second temple is said to have been destroyed because of factionalism and hatred among Jews towards eachother. What can we learn from the mistakes of our people's past?