If the Book of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) teaches that there is a time to mourn and a time to dance, Tisha B’Av (the ninth of the Hebrew month “Av”), which begins Monday night at sundown, is a time that has been set aside for mourning. Traditionally it is observed as a day of fasting and prayer in commemoration of the destructions of both the first and second Temple in Jerusalem, and the expulsion of the Jews of Spain. The Book of Lamentations, known as Eikha, written by the prophet Jeremiah, is read morning and evening along with a compendium of extremely sad poems that are called Kinot. Conflated within the observance of the day is the remembrance of other destructions in our history that took place during this spiritually tender time.
Latest findings in archaeology have given us a graphic depiction of the violence and devastation that occurred to the Jewish people during Temple times. This matches the horrific descriptions of destruction and its ensuing horrors in Jeremiah’s mournful words. The Book of Eikha is organized into five chapters, three of which begin with the plaintive cry that gives its name to the title of the book, Eikha—How---How could this have happened?
In an effort to open the deep psychospiritual potential of this time, let us journey through a couple of textual landmarks. The prophet Jeremiah cries out, Eikh -- Eikh How – How, how could you have broken trust with Yud__ Heh___ Vav___ Heh___ (GOD)? His Eikh here anticipates his later Eikha which painfully expresses “Alas, How?”, or “ Oh, How?”, the prophet’s heart felt language of distress and lament.
From the 6th century B.C.E. Jeremiah, let us travel back in time to the beginning of beginnings inside the mythic Garden. Adam and Eve have just disobeyed G-d’s admonition and have eaten from The Forbidden Fruit. God’s spirit (wind) is moving through the garden. Adam and Eve are terrified and hide. God calls out “Adam, Adam, Ayekah (where are you)? The G-d that is omniscient, omnipotent, asking two quaking humans where they are? Didn’t God know? Clearly this is not a question about locus. What do you think the Torah is teaching us here? The answer is hinted in the words themselves. The word Ayekah, where are you, of Genesis, read without vowels, can read as Jeremiah’s Eikha, “Alas, How?”
We all have moments of delusion, illusion, and confusion where we act in ways that are contrary to our inner compass of knowing right from wrong. Thus, Tisha B’Av is a day to reflect on national destruction, but also a time to contemplate upon the devastation that our own habits bring upon ourselves. It is also the first step, the toe in the water, of the high-holiday period. From Tisha B’Av we continue on through the month of Elul preparing us for Rosh HaShannah leading to the Days of Awe that culminate with Yom Kippur.
This Tisha B’Av as we read the Book of Lamentations, perhaps we can spend time asking ourselves: Ayehka? Where am I? and Eikha: How did I get here? And most importantly, where do I want to go?
