Tisha B’Av, commemorating times of destruction in our people’s history, offers us a vehicle for collective grief. In this Virtual Tisha B’Av box, we share insights that help us acknowledge the past and face the present and future. As we watch, listen and read, may we find comfort together, and dig deep for strength to pass through mourning, rise from the ruins, and walk together into the future. 

Tisha B’Av begins the evening of July 29, 2020. 

Further Tisha B’Av resources can be found here.

The Virtual Shabbat Box will return next week. 

Listen: Eicha/Lamentations Selections 

Rabbi Alan LaPayover chants selections from chapters 1, 3 and 5 of Megillat Eicha, the book of Lamentations, which is traditionally read on the evening and morning of Tisha B’Av.  

Listen: Trauma, Healing and Resilience 

The events of Tisha B’Av are understood as having caused historical trauma to our people. Loss and destruction in the past impact us today. Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg discusses with Rabbi Deborah Waxman her interest and expertise in the varieties of trauma, as well as how trauma has informed Jewish experience on the individual and collective levels. With this awareness, they explore ways to move beyond trauma and cultivate resilience. Sourced from Hashivenu: Jewish Teachings on Resilience 

Watch: Smashing the Law 

In Moses’s shattering of the tablets that were made by the hand of God, the ancient rabbis discover a story of human empowerment. Rabbi Helen Plotkin teaches how, in the Jewish story, what is built on the ashes is often more precious than what was lost. Sourced from Recon Connect Beit Midrash 

Read: Eicha for the Earth

Rabbis Tamara Cohen and Arthur Waskow build on mourning for the ancient Temples in Jerusalem, striving toward hope for a transformed future for the endangered Earth as our Temple. Sourced from Ritualwell

Read: Kinah on Tisha B’Av 5779 — A Call to Close the Camps and Welcome the Stranger

Rabbi Robin Podolsky’s lament provides the opportunity to mourn for the suffering of our people and suffering throughout the world. Sourced from Ritualwell

These resources were drawn from:

• Hashivenu: Jewish Teachings on Resilience
• Recon Connect Beit Midrash
• Ritualwell