Pour Out Your Woes: A Tisha b'Av ritual for grief and redemption
by Rabbi Ilana Sumka
Dear Friends,
Rabbi Nate asked me to share a bit about why I feel called to convene a global day of mourning this Tisha b’Av, Tuesday July 23, with a hybrid, participatory ritual that I hope you’ll join.
Tisha b’Av, the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av, commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. In our time, we also commemorate the destruction of wetlands and the destruction of human life; the breaching of the walls of democracy and the kidnapping of our neighbors. The saddest day of mourning in the Jewish calendar, Tisha b’Av is a fast day and we are instructed to grieve.
Given the abundance of sadness in the world today, how do we observe Tisha b’Av, the saddest day of all?
Personally, something in me rebels when I’m told I must be sad on demand. Can sadness be manufactured?
Well, yes, and no. While we can’t force ourselves to feel a certain way, we can choose to engage in rituals designed to evoke emotional responses. When I light shabbat candles Friday night, I feel the tension of the week slipping away. When I hear “Siman tov u’mazal tov” sung at a wedding, joy naturally arises in my heart.
And so too, when I hear the haunting melody of Eicha (Lamentations) I feel the aching despair for all we have lost and are still losing. There is so much to mourn it can be overwhelming to know where to begin. But when we dip into the well of grief via communal ritual, we are not alone. And we will not wallow in our despair, because tradition also tells us that moshiach, the messiah, will be born on Tisha b’Av, bringing the era of liberation and redemption.
When we join together collectively for our Tisha b’Av ritual, we will hear the powerful voice of Student Rabbi Hazzan Eli Newell chant the opening lines of Eicha set to our tradition’s unique mournful trope. We will draw from Ezekiel and write our own lamentations on ‘scrolls’ (slips of dissolvable paper) for these times, giving voice to our grief. And then we will dissolve these lamentations in water, so that the water of our laments may catalyze seeds of personal and collective redemption.
If you register by July 13th, we will mail you a dissolvable strip of paper to use concurrently with others for this 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.
I hope you’ll join me and The Shalom Center on Tuesday July 23 for a powerful, participatory hybrid ritual in observance of Tisha b’Av by registering here.
Blessings,
Rabbi Ilana Sumka
Pour Out Your Woes
with Rabbi Ilana Sumka
Thursday, July 23rd
1:00-2:00pm ET /
10:00-11:00am PT
A unique, participatory ritual in observance of Tisha b’Av, 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 pour out our woes, so that the water of our laments might catalyze seeds of personal and collective redemption. For this program, we’re experimenting with a digital/tactile “hybrid” ritual. If you register by July 13th, we will mail you a dissolvable strip of paper to use concurrently with others for this 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.
Also upcoming from The Shalom Center
Post Humanism & Aleph Intelligence
with Graie Hagans
Wednesdays
July 22nd-August 5th
7:00-8:30pm ET /
4:00-5:30pm PT
A three-part class exploring the consequences - good, bad, and expansive - of AI in a post-humanist and applied Jewish frame. This series offers us an opportunity to reconsider our relationship not just to AI, but to the bigger questions of what it means to be human in a world destabilized by such promiscuous technology.
Sanctuary for the Apocalypse
With Gabriel Meyer
Tuesdays
August 4th-September 1st
12:00-1:00pm ET / 9:00-10:00am PT
A five-week sacred playshop co-creating sanctuary and spontaneous sacred community. Rooted in the prophetic ethical building blocks of justice, peace, love, and truth from the Hebrew tradition and other sacred nectars, this weekly drop-in space will utilize voice, movement, and guided meditations to serve as a sort of spirit medicine kit for these turbulent times.