Please note: Due to the remnants of Hurricane Debby in our area, services will be held
online only tonight.
There will be no in-person services tonight. If you need the link for services please email the office before 3:30 p.m.
littleshul@kehilathanahar.org Everyone please stay safe!
Dear Community,
Tisha B’Av, the central day of mourning in the Jewish calendar begins this year on Monday evening, August 12th. This Shabbat, the Shabbat immediately preceding Tisha B’Av, is known as Shabbat Chazon (vision). Shabbat Chazon takes its name from the first word of the haftarah, Isaiah 1, traditionally read this Shabbat morning.
While Shabbat is typically filled with joy, the mood of this Shabbat takes on a mournful quality as we anticipate the upcoming holiday. The history of Tisha B’Av is covered extensively by my teacher, Rabbi David Teutsch, in The Guide to Jewish Practice. Here is an excerpt on Tisha B’Av:
To understand Tisha B’Av, it is important to keep in mind the centrality of the Temple during the First and Second Temple periods. From the perspective of the people at that time, sacrifices and rituals in the Temple could achieve atonement, bring ritual purity and help secure God’s blessing for a good harvest. The Temple was the locus for the key observance of [major] holidays, [such as Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot, and Yom Kippur.] Yom Kippur without the scapegoat and the high priest entering the inner sanctum of the Temple was unimaginable at the time of the Temple’s destruction. The sense of loss when each Temple was destroyed must have been nearly unbearable.
Rabbi Teutsch continues:
Over time, Tisha B’Av became the central day of mourning on the Jewish calendar. Later generations layered their tragedies onto it. Associations grew to include not only the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, but also the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE, the final crushing of the Bar Kochba rebellion against Roman rule in the Land of Israel in 135 CE, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and the Chmielnicki pogroms of 1648 in the Ukraine. Each of these events was of historical importance, and each involved enormous suffering and death for Jews. The Mishna, seemingly without any historical basis, associates the ninth day of Av with a tragic event described in the Torah—the day when Moses declared that the people would not enter the Land of Israel for 40 years. (Ta’anit 4.6) When Yom Hashoah V’hag’vura, a day to remember the Holocaust, was instituted, the Knesset (Israeli parliament) debated whether to mark this tragedy, too, on Tisha B’Av, but ultimately decided to select a date in spring prior to Yom Ha’atzma’ut (Israeli Independence Day) instead.
You can read more from Rabbi Teutsch
here.
Following Tisha B’Av, there is however an upswing of hope. The first Shabbat after Tisha B’Av is known as Shabbat Nachamu (Console) after the first line of the haftarah reading, “
Nachamu, Nachamu ami, Console, console my people. This is the first of seven haftarot of consolation, all from the book of Isaiah, delivering a message of comfort leading us into Rosh Hashanah.
My dear friend and member of my graduating class in rabbinical school, Rabbi Lily Solochek wrote this article for Reconstructing Judaism on Tisha B’Av “From Communal Sorrow to Collective Healing.” In it, Rabbi Solochek offers a drash (teaching) on how Tisha B’Av can help us find strength in one another. Read more
here.
This year join me and other Bucks County congregations for a collective Tisha B’Av service on Monday beginning at 7:30 p.m. The service will take place this year at Ohev Shalom of Bucks County in Richboro, PA. There will be a focus this year on our mourning October 7th as well as the traditional chanting of Eicha (Lamentations). As is traditional, the chanting will be done in a dark room lit only by candles. Those who are able may choose to sit on the floor instead of using the comfort of a chair, like one does while sitting
shiva. I hope you will make the
schlep (trip) for this experience.
We continue to pray for the people in Israel and Gaza. We hold them in our hearts as we pray for the return of the hostages, a cease-fire, and for no escalation of a regional war.
I hope to see you online tonight for Shabbat services. Wishing you a meaningful and reflective Shabbat.
Zay gezunt, be well,
Rabbi Janine Jankovitz
She/Her
