Tisha B’Av

Tisha B’Av

I searched for resonance,

I remembered my mother and my father of blessed memory,

and then I knew how it feels to be devastated.

All week long I’ve been thinking about Tisha B’Av, the saddest day on our calendar. I read and checked so many websites, discussed the commemoration of the multitude of disasters that have devastated us for thousands of years. I am not lecturing you or imploring you to drop everything as your vacations linger and our long summer days wane. I am reminding you of the miracles and blessings that God has rained upon us. We have survived destruction and baseless hate because God remembers us, even when we feel forgotten. Are you able to imagine the devastation of the Holocaust, the expulsion from England and Spain?

Can you remember the destruction of our holy temples in Jerusalem?

We mourn for our losses and we pray to arise and to rebuild for our children. We are mourning for our heritage, our dignity, the innocence of our children-the desire to live in peace.

We know how to grieve-communal grief can settle our souls.

I remember….