This is Where we Grieve

Tisha B’Av, commemorating the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE, has become the repository of our collective grief. In it we mourn the destruction of the Second Temple by Rome, massacres in medieval Ashkenaz at the hands of Crusaders, the expulsion from Spain, pogroms, and countless historical traumas endured across centuries. It is also a way of expressing not only the collective pain of Jews, but that of our country, our civilization, and the planet itself. 

We will gather quietly – without greeting each other. We will sit in silence, chant together, and listen to the melody of the Book of Lamentations. We will sit with all that is broken. For those who fast, we will hold in our bodies an awareness of the current starvation in Gaza.

A ceremony to conclude the holiday will take place Sunday at 7pm on Zoom.