For TIsha B’Av, 2010…
Lamentations and the Blues
Last year, the case was made for the importance of Tisha B’Av: “yerida l’tzorech aliyah,” descent for the sake of ascent. (“Darkness Before Dawn” can still be read on the Kol HaLev website under “Rabbi’s Corner.”) We enter into our brokenness, our pain and sorrow, loss and disappointment, in order to begin anew our journey toward wholeness. In Jewish terms, we enter the experience of the destruction of ancient Jerusalem and the Temple – the very symbol of wholeness -- and hear the voice rising from that tragedy, the Book of Lamentations. But a day of mourning and loss is not only a historical remembrance; it is a psychological and spiritual necessity. By observing and honoring the suffering of our ancestors, we acknowledge our own. We give this side of life its due.
Over the centuries, Jews added mournful dirges and laments to the fasting and other observances of Tisha B’Av, music no doubt drawn from their own day and age. This year, let’s add voices and forms that arise from more current tragedies and threats. What might the voices of Jeremiah and God sound like today? What might they say? How might they sing?
A spiritual community is a kind of container. We gather not simply to remember, to live in the past, to keep the flame of our ancestors’ fire burning or to honor their pain…but so as not to face our sadness and pain alone. Such aspects of our human experience can be exposed, expressed and held…and we seek comfort, hope, restoration, wholeness and joy together. The lesson of Tisha B’Av is that calamities are inevitable – we are imperfect, vulnerable and mortal -- but true suffering is about isolation, alienation and disconnect. If the language of suffering is silence, then the “crying” of Tisha B’Av, the singing of Lamentations and the Blues, is the beginning of our healing and the healing season.
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