From Lamentation to a New Jewish Vision

I have been meditating on the Jewish holiday of Tisha b’Av, which falls on Sunday, August 3, this year — a day to lament the destruction of both the First and Second Temples, as well as scores of other tragedies that occurred on this day throughout our history. But perhaps less well known is that this holiday is not only designated as a time of grieving. The rabbis also prescribed it as a day on which to turn from lamentation toward envisioning a new paradigm—one that is foreshadowed by an ancient rabbinic story.

I want to share this story with you, from the Babylonian Talmud (Gittin 56a–56b), which I feel begs to be retold this year. It is about our people’s nationalistic fervor—our zealotry—and the events leading up to the destruction of the Second Temple. The story tells of a courageous decision on the part of one leader to trade in his people’s fanatical tribalism—and forfeit an established world of Jewish sovereignty and ritual—for an untested new chapter of Jewish culture and religious expression.

Read the full story in my new article, “From Lamentation to a New Jewish Vision,” published with Ayin Press.

If you are inspired, please share this story with friends. You can also find two rituals for this Tisha b’Av that accompany the story crafted by my team member Rae and published on Ritual Well.

This Tisha B’Av, may we turn from an ideology of dominance and othering, and return to a Judaism that is life-giving—for the world, for our communities, and for the people with whom we share this precious space and time.