Oy Mei Haya Lanu
Next time I visit Jerusalem, may it be soon, I look forward to seeing the above roadsign one kilometre from the centre of the Jewish world.
Tonight is Tisha B’Av. I am lamenting not over what should be (and will soon be), but over why we as the Jewish people are insufficiently motivated to hasten our redemption.
We live in an age of comfort and freedom. The sheer thought or concept of forgoing a small amount of personal comfort for the sake of conditioning ourselves to the tragic moments of Jewish history seems a little too foreign for many Jews today. However there is a paradox built into both the emotions of Tisha B’Av itself, and the contemporary disdain with which so many Jews shun any level of observance of the occasion.
I find it sad and ironic that I can return home from reading Eichah and Kinot, to find that all the while I have been reflecting on the historical injustices imposed on the Jewish people, some of my fellow community members have been sitting at home sending me emails about media bias against Israel. I fail to understand why so many Jewish people are passionate about their Zionist identity, about Holocaust education, and about fighting anti-Semitism, yet completely dispassionate about Jewish tradition, observance and the religious construct that sits behind their Jewish identity. I’m not sure what the point of fighting anti-Semitism and Israel bashers is, if there is no purpose to winning the battle. When Zionist identity and Holocaust identity becomes a surrogate for Jewish identity for so many Jewish people, then we have somehow lost our way.
I was recently having this very discussion with a non-observant friend. Not only can I well understand him when he says that he has no attraction to Shule based activities, but I can very easily agree with him. When exploring the issue further he made several claims. Firstly, that the atmosphere within any of the shules he has sampled seemed to be very judgemental. Secondly, that the environment seemed to be contrived. Thirdly, that the shule service itself was laborious and repetitive.
Whilst I do not entirely subscribe to these latter points, and particularly feel it is unjustified to make such a claim without putting in sufficient personal effort, there is still some validity to the above feedback. Jewish people tend to be easily judgemental, but religious people in particular can easily become “holier than thou” if they do not place their ego into check from time to time. This however is an individual matter of character trait as much as it is a communal one.
So too, a contrived environment is a fairly levelled criticism on many occasions. More and more Shules in Perth and around the world are trying to put out glossy marketing brochures, attract people by tacking social events (some alcohol laden) onto their religious services. For example, many of the services for Tisha B’Av tonight were not promoted by the service itself, but by inspriational videos and activities appended to Maariv. Then, as well as the activities are the people. If people try to be something they are not, or create an environment that is not genuine with conviction and true personal example, then prospective “clientele” will see right through it.
This is where our Synagogues are failing. There is nothing wrong with saying that tonight is Tisha B’Av, and Jewish people who care about Jewish continuity should be participating in the shule service. If you feel strongly enough to come to a Yom Hashoah commemoration, yet not strongly enough to to come to a reading of Eichah, then the magnetic force field surrounding your Jewish identity is imbalanced. Our Rabbi’s teach that those who don’t join in the mourning of the destruction of Jerusalem will not share in the joy of its rededication. So a sexy marketing campaign with posters and videos is not really needed to draw in a crowd. A sense of self-responsibility, obligation, and committment is required.
From the individual’s point of view, if they see a Shule competing with any other form of “entertainment” or perceive that desperate measures are being applied towards attracting them, it simply reinforces the negative perception. It sends a message that ”The Shule is trying something else, because their traditional product does not work”. It becomes the contrived environment that my friend easily detects.
In short, the Shule has nothing to be ashamed of by hosting a traditional and time honoured cycle of observance, for both commemorative events relating to Jewish tragedy, and celebratory events relating to Jewish conquest. The people that do not participate have everything to be ashamed of, by not honouring their traditions, their family heritage, or their birthright.
I will reserve my comment on the length of Shule services for a later time. However I do wish to return to the paradoxical nature of Tisha B’Av. The City of Jerusalem has fallen more than 30 times since it was initially created by King David. Whilst it has been notionally under Jewish soverigty for the past 43 years, a miracle that we don’t often stop to fully appreciate, the Jewish people have yet to restore its Temple, its Monarchy, and its Governance to observe the tenets of Jewish nationhood. A little faith and trust in the redemptive message of Tisha B’Av will lead to immeasurable movement towards that ultimate goal.
The construct of Tisha B’Av is one of mourning and sadness. Gradually we lessen the intensity of that mourning, and transform our grief and hope into joy. We know that one day Tisha B’Av will be a Yom Tov of simcha. We need to understand that Tisha B’Av is not just about torment and tragedy. It is about rising from the pain of our exile, and restoring our alter of avodat Hashem.
Those of us who choose to stay away from Shule and use that same time to combat anti-Semitism have the choice to do so. However I feel that somehow they will continue to identify strongly with the negative components of modern Jewish identity, and lack exposure and participation in the positive components of modern Jewish identity. More than anything else, they will remain spiritually bereft of sharing in the mission and purpose of the Jewish people, which ultimately is not to secure freedom and rights, but to be a light to the nations and carry the mantle of ethical monotheism.
May we all join to rebuild the road to Bayit Shlishi.
There were a few points you made here that really irritated me as you have failed to see a point made in your own comments… I know I’m avoiding your main point and I do understand your main point, nonetheless this needs to be said.
In reading this I see someone who has the opportunity and support behind him to be able to get to shule and spend the time to ponder and reflect on a spiritual and philosophical level. Not everyone has this opportunity, for many many reasons.
You come across as spiritually well fed, not understanding of the spiritually starving. They can’t just eat cake.
I see your lack of understanding of this as a lack of compassion to your fellow Jews, who don’t have the opportunity or simply aren’t at the same spiritual level.
You should feel for them and ask what you can do to help them get there….
As for the “glossy brochures” – these are the answer for some. For those who don’t feel welcome in a shule, don’t understand the processes, these glossy brochures and events are the shules doing the equivalent of “putting the kettle on” – it’s a warm invitation to come and share an experience. So for those not at the same level as you, for those who need a little coaxing, may they have been attracted by those brochures, still come along and have a spiritual moment. Maybe it will help them connect more to their Judaism and even increase their observance.
Please may there be more such “events” to feed the hungry, and eventually we will all be “well fed”.
July 19th, 2010 at 10:28 pmI was worried my remarks sounded condescending, and am acutely aware that the tone of Tisha B’av needs to be focussed on Jewish unity.
However, I am honestly unable to change my viewpoint on this. We have two full fasts a year. One is Yom Kippur and the other is Tisha B’av. The nature of Yom Kippur is personal, the nature of Tisha B’av is national. We carry a strong sense of collective responsibility.
I have always held a lot of respect for those who mark some level of observance. People who have not had the opportunity you mention, but still make an effort to be at a Seder table, light Chanukah or Shabbat candles, or come to Shule on Yom Kippur.
However a day such as Tisha B’av does not hit the radar of the secular. The content of much of the liturgy of Tisha B’av is an overview of Jewish history itself. It is important to connect and be aware of this.
The point is that, at the end of the day, it will be a personal judgement. However efforts to “attract” the unaffiliated to Shule through extra-curricular events, big marketing activities, and socially oriented “hooks”, are to my mind spiritually dishonest. People should be asked to come to shule to hear Eichah, to learn history, and to be part of the Jewish experience. An audio visual presentation is second in importance to the tefillah, and therefore it is the tefillah that should be advertised.
I realise that I’m being an old yekka, and an unimaginative litvak. However I think there is striking beauty in the way in which Judaism connects its adherents to the tragic side of its past. There is a historic reality that we have to confront. Even if we are aware of it, without the mechanism of Tisha B’av we are unable to connect to it, or search for spiritual solace.
By all means advertise a Shule activity, but I maintain that it is wrong to effectively send out the message that the Tefillah is something we just have to push through in order to get to the entertainment.
July 20th, 2010 at 7:32 amfrom an email from Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, today Tisha’ Be’Av, July 20, 2010:
Based on ancient Jewish Sages
1. Faith, Morality, Commemoration and Optimism Underlining National Jewish Fasts:
* Jewish fasts commemorate critical historical and value-driven junctions, highlighting moral clarity, which constitutes a prerequisite to operational and existential clarity. Memory is Deliverance; forgetfulness is oblivion.
* Fasts highlight the difference between Oblivion (exile) and Deliverance (ingathering of Jews to their Homeland) and the moral requirements for Deliverance.
* Lamentation of past catastrophes symbolizes a sustained process of learning from past errors, paving the road to deliverance. The custom of house-cleaning on the 9th day of Av aims at welcoming deliverance.
* Fasts represent the recognition of one’s limitations and fallibility and the constant pursuit of moral enhancement, bolstering humility.
* Fasts – and the inherent adherence to commemoration – play a key role in the perpetual battle against negative influence.
* Fasts constitute a cardinal element of national, communal and family cohesion, emphasizing value-driven common denominator of identity.
*Fasts are a reminder that personal and national life consists of Ups and Downs, cautioning against euphoric and fatalistic mood. For example, the commemoration of national calamities by the fast of the 9th day of Av is succeeded by the 15th day of Av – a holiday of love and rapprochement.
2. Napoleon was walking at night in the streets of Paris, hearing sad voices emanating from a synagogue. When told that the wailing/lamenting commemorated a 586 BCE catastrophe – the destruction of the First Temple – he stated: “Any People which solemnizes its ancient history is destined for a glorious future!”
3. The Ninth Day of Av is the most calamitous day in Jewish history. Fasting on Tisha’ Be’Av commemorates catastrophic national destructions and the moral causes for the destruction. It was first mentioned in the book of Zechariah 7:3.
4. Major national calamities in Jewish history occurred on the Ninth Day of Av (July 30, 2009):
*The failed “Ten Spies/tribal presidents” (VS. Joshua & Caleb) – who slandered the Land of Israel, preferring immediate convenience and conventional “wisdom” over faith and long term vision – which prolonged the wandering in the desert for 40 years.
*The destruction of the First Temple and Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (586BC) – 100,000 killed and a national exile.
*The destruction of the Second Temple and Jerusalem by Titus of Rome (70CE) – 1MN killed and a national exile.
*Bar Kochba (Great) Rebellion crashed (135CE) with the fall of Beitar (in Gush Etzion, Judea & Samaria) and the plowing of Jerusalem by Quintus Tinius Rofus, the Roman Governor – 580,000 killed.
*First Crusade Pogroms (1096) – scores of thousands slaughtered.
*Jewish expulsion from Britain (1290).
*Jewish expulsion from Spain (1492).
*WW1 erupted (1914).
*Warsaw Ghetto Uprising crashed by the Nazis (May 1943) – 50,000 slaughtered.
5. The Ninth Day of Av is the central of the Four Days of Fast, which commemorate the destruction of the First Temple: 10th Day of Tevet (the onset of the siege that Nebuchadnezzar laid to Jerusalem), 17th day of Tamuz (the walls of Jerusalem were breached), 9th day of Av (destruction of both Temples) and 3rd day of Tishrey (The murder of Governor Gedalyah, who maintained a level of post-destruction Jewish autonomy, which led to a murder rampage by the Babylonians and to the exile of the Jews).
6. The Ninth Day of Av culminates the Three Weeks of Predicament (”Yemey Beyn Hameitzareem” in Hebrew), starting on the 17th day of the month of Tamuz, when the walls of Jerusalem were breached by Nebuchadnezzar (1st Temple) and by Titus (2nd Temple).
7. The month of Av represents Faith in G-D (in spite of calamities) and a transformation from Curse to Blessing & Consolation, which is also represented by the two Hebrew letters of AV (”Aroor” = cursed and “Barookh”=blessed). The Hebrew letters of AV constitute the letters of Father (a synonym to G-D) and the first two letters of “EVEL” (mourning). The transformation from Curse to Blessing could forge one’s character, as suggested by the numerical value of AV (Aleph=1 and Bet=2), which is Three, the combination of the basic even and odd numbers (King Solomon: “A triangular string/knot cannot be broken”). The zodiac sign of Av is a lion, which represents the Lion of Judah, rising in the aftermath of destruction. Aharon – the embodiment of human kindness – died on the 1st day of Av.
8. The Ninth Day of Av concludes a series of three Torah readings (Haphtarah) of Jewish calamities (two by the Prophet Jeremiah and one by the Prophet Yeshaayahu), and launches a series of seven Torah readings of consolations (by Yeshaayahu).
9. The Book of (5) Lamentations (The Scroll of Eikhah which was composed by Jeremiah the Prophet, who prophesized destruction, exile and deliverance) is read on the Ninth Day of Av and since the first day of Av. The numerical value of Eikhah is 36, which is equal to the traditional number of righteous Jewish persons. The Hebrew meaning of Eikhah could be construed as “A reproaching How Come?!”, as well as “Where are you?” (Why have you strayed away?). The first three Hebrew letters of Eikhah mean “How” and the fourth/last letter stands [for Hashem].
July 20th, 2010 at 11:34 am