Tisha b'Av: Lamenting with Hope

Tisha b’Av 5784 (August 12–13), the Scroll of Lamentations

Russ Resnik, UMJC Rabbinic Counsel

We live in an era that’s impatient with the past. We often hear people ask why we should remember and revisit events that happened centuries ago. History is increasingly neglected in our schools and bulldozed out of our media to make way for whatever is the latest thing. A date like Tisha b’Av, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av—on which the ancient Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BCE and again in 70 CE—can seem especially remote. The drama that this date memorializes, however, is as current as today’s news stream. Recognizing and honoring that drama has been and remains a key to the vitality of the Jewish people.

After Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948, some Jewish voices advocated abandoning the observance of Tisha b’Av. This catastrophic date embodied all the loss and suffering of the exile that followed, and it also marks some of the lowest points of that exile, such as the expulsion from Spain in 1492, and the outbreak of World War I, which set in motion the events leading to the Holocaust. But with the return to the land of Israel it seemed as if the exile was coming to an end and its mourning could be replaced with rejoicing, as the Prophets had foretold.

Seventy-five years later, it’s clear that continuing to observe Tisha b’Av was the right direction to take. The Jewish return to the land of Israel is ongoing, but so are the conditions of exile and the forces of resistance to Jewish restoration. The first days of the month of Av this year are overshadowed by the threat of retribution by Hezbollah and Iran, its puppet-master. After the elimination of Hamas’ leader last week, the terrorist group chose the mastermind of the October 7 attack on Israel as its new leader, defiantly signaling its undying urge to destroy the Jewish state.

So, our commemoration of Tisha b’Av remains sadly relevant in the year 2024. And the special reading for Tisha b’Av, the scroll of Eicha or Lamentations, traditionally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, can guide us in our commemoration. It raises a voice of lamentation but also insists on hope, two impulses that have carried us as a people through our agelong exile.

The first Hebrew word in the scroll, which provides the name of the book, is Eicha, meaning literally, How? “How lonely sits the city, once so full of people!” as in the TLV and numerous other translations. One recent translation, however, might capture the sense of the original more compellingly:

 Eikhah! How can it be –
that she sat alone,
the city so great / so swelled with people?

Rabbi David Seidenberg, https://opensiddur.org/

If we hear the words of Lamentations well, and if we are paying attention to the swirling events around us right now, we might well ask, “How can it be?” Jeremiah wisely does not just provide explanations, as we often seek to do in the face of tragedy and loss. Rather, he goes beyond explaining how it can be to draw us into a response to how it is, a response with two components—lamentation and hope.

Lamenting is evident from the first verse, just cited, onward through the entire scroll. Toward the midpoint, after two and a half chapters of mourning the destruction of the Temple, and the sins that brought it on, Jeremiah calls out to Adonai:

Remember my affliction
my homelessness, bitterness and gall.

Whenever I remember,
    my soul is downcast within me. (Lam 3:19–20)

In this context, we might not expect verses of hope but they are coming. Before we look at them, it’s good to remember the familiar contrast between hope and optimism. Like some of you, I sometimes say I’m not optimistic, but I am hopeful. Optimism considers the circumstances, sees some promising elements, and believes, however cautiously, that things are going to work out. Hope considers the circumstances and then looks past them to the One behind all circumstances and hangs on to his promises. As Jeremiah declares,

This I recall to my heart—
    therefore I have hope:
Because of the mercies of Adonai
    we will not be consumed,
    for His compassions never fail. (3:21–22)

Toward the end of Lamentations, both themes, lamentation and hope, seem intertwined. We ask God, “Why do You always forget us and forsake us for so long?” (5:20), and then we voice the famous lines, Hashivenu Adonai elecha v’nashuva. Chadesh yameinu ki-kedem. “Turn us back, Hashem, to you and we shall return; renew our days as of old!” (5:21, my translation).

Tisha b’Av keeps alive the memory of the whole Jewish story through the centuries, a story reflecting both the lament of exile and the hope of return. Those who follow Messiah Yeshua see both exile and return, lament and hope, embodied in his death, burial, and resurrection.

In light of this truth, as I mentioned in last week’s Weekly Torah email, the UMJC Exec is calling for an emphasis on repentance, or teshuva, return, along with prayer for Israel, in addition to the traditional prayers, during our observance of Tisha b’Av next week (Monday evening, 8/12–Tuesday, 8/13). 

Here are seven points of prayer for Tisha b’Av and the days leading up to it:

  • For all plans of retaliation against Israel to fail. May the unprecedented events of recent days that threaten to tip the Middle East into all-out war, instead set the stage for lasting peace.

  • For all the hostages to be set free, speedily and soon. “He has sent me . . . to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound” (Isa 61:1).

  • For many within the ranks of Hamas and Hezbollah to see the futility and wickedness of their hatred of Israel and the Jewish people, turn away from it, and drop their arms.

  • For the children of Gaza and the Palestinian territories to be freed from the indoctrination toward hatred in their schools. For seeds of understanding and peace to be sown among both the Arab and Israeli populations.

  • For deep repentance within Israel over the growing divisions and discord there. Pray for wise and sacrificial leadership that can help bring the people of Israel together.

  • For mercy and minimal harm upon civilians on all sides, and for a growing awareness and turning toward the one true God among them all.

  • Against the rising tide of antisemitism around the world. Pray with authority against the demonic forces of hatred directed at the Jewish people. 

Arise, Adonai! May Your enemies be scattered! May those who hate You flee from before You! (Num 10:35)

 

Scripture references, unless otherwise noted, are from the Tree of Life Version.

According to Jewish tradition, the regulations for fasting on Tisha b’Av are similar to those for Yom Kippur, with abstinence from the same five activities: 1) eating and drinking; 2) washing one’s body; 3) anointing oneself (which includes perfume, cologne, etc.); 4) wearing leather shoes; 5) marital relations. On Erev Tisha B’Av it is customary to read the book of Lamentations, often seated on the floor or on low stools.

Russ Resnik