We are well and truly in the 3 weeks of mourning, this odd period in our yearly cycle ending this Sunday with Tisha B’Av (9 Av). Originally intended to mourn the destruction of the temples, it became a day of grief for all Jewish suffering. This year, it will feel especially poignant. We have a joint Progressive (online only) service this Saturday night to read the Book of Lamentations, the saddest, most graphic of descriptions of trauma and loss. I hear Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s words, “Morally speaking, there is no limit to the concern one must feel for the suffering of human beings. Indifference to evil is worse than evil itself, [and] in a free society, some are guilty, but all are responsible.” It will be a broader sense of loss this year as our despair and anguish for those in Gaza grows.
After Tisha B’Av, I will host young people, our Bogrim who have grown up in LJY, to gather and talk and grieve. If you know someone who would like to join please send them my way.
Shabbat Shalom
Rebecca
