Pour Out Your Woes
A prophetic ritual for Tisha B’Av
Join The Shalom Center and Rabbi Ilana Sumka for a unique, participatory hybrid ritual in observance of Tisha b’Av.
Register below.
Inspired by the prophet Ezekiel, who was given a scroll of woes that ultimately tasted sweet as honey (Ezekiel 2:10 - 3:3), we will gather in synchronous community with people across the world to hear Eichah/Lamentations, write our own lamentations that we will dissolve in water, and ultimately pour out our woes, so that the water of our laments might catalyze seeds of personal and collective redemption.
For this program, we are experimenting with the fusion of digital and tactile “hybrid” ritual. If you register by July 13th (for US based registrants), we will mail you a dissolvable strip of paper to use concurrently with others during the ceremony.
If you register after July 13th or you’re based outside of the US, you may supply your own dissolvable paper, or any paper will do.
Tisha b’Av is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. From our personal heartaches to our collective anguish for all we have lost and are losing, we will lament in an authentic and shared practice of naming our sorrows - in writing and in spoken word. But Tisha b’Av is also the day, we’re told, when Moshiach / the messianic era is born. What forms of Moshiachkeit, liberation, and redemption are being born right now and how might our grief serve as a catalyst for their and our redemption? We hope to see you on this auspicious day, as we lean into embodied practice and communal ceremony.
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This program will be recorded and all registrants will receive a link to the recording. While we are offering this program for free, we are always grateful for any financial contribution you choose to make. To receive the Zoom link, we do ask that you register below. By registering for this program, you agree to receive email communication from The Shalom Center.