My husband is in the kitchen, making pasta with homemade summer vegetable sauce. It smells…divine…
Recently someone asked me how many American Jews fast for Tisha B’Av, a full fast day in Judaism. It is the saddest day of the Jewish calendar with a lead up of “Three Weeks”, when the walls of Jerusalem were first breached. During the Three Weeks we mourn the destruction of both Temples, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, the fall of the Warsaw Ghetto and other things. If it was bad, and happened to the Jews, it happened on Tisha B’Av, including the death of my mother-in-law.
So we mourn. We fast. We refrain from wearing leather. Eating meat. Hair cuts. Musical concerts. Swimming. (Instructional swim at camp is OK, but not free swim.) In the heat of the summer. No fun.
Or, maybe not. My own practice is to forgo the meat during the 9 days of Av, but not on Shabbat. Mourning is suspended during Shabbat. Fasting? That is more complicated. This is after all Judaism and with two Jews you get three opinions. I promised I would write before Tisha B’Av to help others decide.
Rabbi Elyse Goldstein wrote this week that she will not be fasting. http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/why-im-not-fasting-on-tisha-bav/
Her explanation makes sense. Similarly to her, I learned about Tisha B’av as part of the Reform Movement youth program, the summer I was in Israel on a NFTY Summer Tour. It was one of the most meaningful services I had ever been to–and I still have my hand-outs from that very service. Sitting on the floor, with only candle light, soft, mournful music and the haunting strains of Lamentations. Just within walking distance of the walls of Jerusalem and the Kotel itself. The next morning we went to Yad V’shem, the Holocaust Museum. The connection was clear. At least to this 16 year old.
And because this is Judaism, here is the counter point: Rabbi Yoseif Bloch tells us exactly why he IS fasting: http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/why-im-fasting/
And because I have members who are staunchly Conservative Jews, I found this teshuva, responsa: http://www.schechter.edu/responsa.aspx?ID=53 which concludes we are obligated to fast on Tisha B’av and Yom Kippur but the minor fasts, not so much.
Except that only 57% of Israelis themselves fast on Tisha B’av. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3428868,00.html
So what will I be doing. Exactly what I learned about in Israel all those many years ago. It was suggested that since the founding of the State of Israel, maybe just maybe we should only fast until noon.
That is not quite enough for me. So here is my Tisha B’av plan. A study session/service at 8:30 Saturday evening where we will read the Book of Lamentations, sing those same mournful songs that I learned when I was 16 and we only sing on Tisha B’av, study the musaf service and its implications today as well as some of the most recent, troubling stories to come out of Israel today.
In the morning, I will continue studying, with a small group of people who are evaluating High Holiday prayer books. And at noon, I will break my fast.
Like Rabbi Goldstein, that does not mean I will sit down a feast. That would be inappropriate. Unseemly. Rather I will spend the afternoon engaging in activities of Tikkun Olam.
You see, the Talmud teaches that the Second Temple was destroyed because of sinat chinam, baseless or senseless hatred. (Yoma 9A) Instead, I will try to find ways as Rabbi Abraham Kook suggested of Ahavat Chinam, Baseless Love. http://ravkooktorah.org/TISHA-AV-70.htm
(And I just noticed that this is 586 words. The First Temple was destroyed in 586BCE)