My Take on Tisha B’Av

July 25, 2010 · Filed Under Baum's Blog 

This past week, some Jews observed the holiday of Tisha B’Av.  I didn’t.  On Tisha B’Av some Jews fast as they commemorate the destructions of the Temple in Jerusalem (it was actually destroyed twice, 586 BCE and 70 CE).  Over the years, other events in Jewish history have become associated with Tisha B’Av as well; if you’re interested, Wikipedia seems like as good a source as any for this information.

I recognize the destructions of the Temples in Jerusalem were terrible blows to the Jewish community.  I recognize that the Jewish community has suffered many times.  But, the destruction of the Temples, I have to admit, is a bit hard for me to relate to since it was so long ago and a reflection of such a different period.  And while I do not want to minimize the tragedy of the events, I will also say that I tend to see the destruction of the Temple as an opportunity.  I’m pretty thrilled that Judaism is not still a religion that practices sacrifice!  The destruction allowed the Jewish people to evolve, they moved from having a central base to being a more portable people, and they were able to create a new Judaism that was meaningful to them, through prayer rather than sacrifice.

The only other way that I personally connect to Tisha B’Av is to think about ways that our world is in need of repair today; for sad events are not only in the past but in the present as well.  While listening to a talk on leadership this week (it happened to fall on Tisha B’Av), I heard the following poem.  It affirmed for me that there is something more I want to do than mourn an event from 2,000 years ago.  Instead, I want to do something to help the world today so that generations after will not mourn what we could have prevented.  There are many children in need.

And thus I share this poem by Ina Hughes (1995, William Morrow Publishers):

We pray for children
who sneak popsicles before supper,
who erase holes in math workbooks,
who throw tantrums in grocery stores and pick at their food,
who like ghost stories,
who can never find their shoes.

And we pray for those
who stare at photographers behind barbed wire,
who can’t bound down the street in a pair of new sneakers,
who are born in places we wouldn’t be caught dead,
who never go to the circus
who live in an X-rated world.

We pray for children
who sleep with the dog and bury the goldfish
who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,
who get visits from the tooth fairy,
who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money.

And we pray for those
who never get dessert,
who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,
who watch their parents watch them die,
who can’t find any bread to steal,
who don’t have any rooms to clean up,
whose pictures aren’t on anybody’s dresser,
whose monsters are real.

We pray for children
who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,
who shove dirty clothes under the bed,
and never rinse out the tub,
who don’t like to be kissed in front of the carpool,
who squirm in church or temple and scream in the phone,
whose tears we sometimes laugh at and
whose smiles can make us cry.

And we pray for those
whose nightmares come in the daytime,
who will eat anything,
who have never seen a dentist,
who aren’t spoiled by anybody,
who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,
who live and move, but have no being.

We pray for children who want to be carried
and for those who must,
for those we never give up on and
for those who don’t get a second chance.
for those we smother…

and for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it.

Tags:

Comments

Leave a Reply

Anti-Spam Protection by WP-SpamFree