Tishah B’Av - A Day of Reflection
Tishah B'Av means "ninth of Av" and refers to a traditional Jewish day of fasting and mourning. Av corresponds to July or August of the secular year.
On Tishah B’Av, Feeling the Loss from the Flames
On Yom Kippur, we ask “Who by fire?” Sadly, this year at Tishah B’Av we already know who - the 19 firefighters who perished in Arizona.
An Absence of Color and Light: A Poem for Tishah B'Av
We sat among the willows,
and we wept,
there by the river
that flowed
clear and cold and swift,
--branches dancing,
barely dancing--
as they swayed
and swept the ground.
We stood among the weeping trees,
Prayers mixed with
visions of ash.
Why I Don't Mourn the Temple
My son’s birthday is in July. Last year, we sent out invitations to his bunkmates for a typical kindergartener’s birthday bash - pizza and ice cream cake at a moon-bounce place.
Catastrophe in America: Racism, Violence, & Tishah B'Av
I had a friend in college named Ray. He was a good guy. He had a lot of the qualities I thought I lacked when I was in college. Ray was good looking, athletic and charismatic. He was a running back on the school's football team.
The Work That Awaits Us
Last night, for the first time ever, I attended a Tishah B’Av study session – a joint venture between my own Temple Shaaray Tefila and O
Beyond Bokser: 11 Ways to Go Green on Tu BiShvat and Year-Round
Years ago, on a cold and sparkly winter afternoon, I sat with my younger sister in the living room, both of us savoring the long, dark pods of chewy bokser we had saved from our Tu BiShvat celebration at Religious Scho
It’s Hard to be a Jew at Christmas, But Even Harder on Tu BiSh’vat
It is a truth universally acknowledged that it can be difficult to be Jewish at Christmas time. It has seeped into North American cultural consciousness so thoroughly that South Park even wrote a song about it, complete with trademark expletives.
We Must Battle Hatred on All Fronts
Throughout Jewish history, the three weeks before Tishah B’Av have been mournful, even dark. The Babylonian Talmud (Yoma 9b) explains that the Second Temple was destroyed because of “baseless hatred” (sinat chinam).
On Simchat Torah, We Turn and Turn Again
I like the symmetry of the concept of return.
I like the idea that, no matter how linear we think we are, or time is, or God is, we tend to find a way back. Even God recognizes this view: Why else create t’shuvah (repentance) before ever creating the heavens and the earth?