Sorrow and
Joy: Why pay attention to Tisha B’Av?
Rabbi
Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev was asked: What is the right spiritual path, that
of sorrow or that of joy?
He
replied: There are two kinds of sorrow and two kinds of joy. When a man broods over the misfortunes
that have come upon him, when he hides in a corner and despairs of help, that
is a bad kind of sorrow. But the
grief that comes when a man knows what he lacks or has lost is honest and good. The same is true of joy. One who chases after empty pleasures,
never sensing their lack of inner substance, is a fool. But one who is truly joyful is like a
man who is rebuilding his house after a fire. He feels his need deep in his soul, and with each stone that
is laid, his heart rejoices.
We
are about to enter a season of “High Holy Days,” or “Days of Awe.” That season begins with the destruction
of one home, and the building of another, from Tisha B’Av to Sukkot and Simchat Torah.
If
we are to experience genuine uplift and joy at the end, joy that is not a
shallow “going through the motions,” it helps if we are present from the
beginning and we let the season unfold.
Our tradition serves as a “wisdom map” for this trajectory…from brokenness
to wholeness, sorrow to joy, alienation and aloneness to reconciliation and
connection.
Tisha B’Av is not only about our
remembrance of past tragedy and suffering. It is about our experience of and honest reflection on the
paradox of the presence or absence of God/liness in our lives, which we all
sense in one way or another at one time or another. It is an opportunity/invitation to demonstrate
"the courage of vulnerability," to recognize our painful distance
from our ideals, our yearnings and longings...in short, to face our brokenness
and not to "duck" (avert our attention, ignore, avoid or deny)...in
order to begin the journey toward wholeness and connectedness.
I know… it’s still summer! The “major” holidays don’t start until
the end of September. And Tisha B’Av is considered a “minor”
holiday; it is a fast day, but not a yom
tov. But “minor” – and
oft-neglected – does not mean un-important. This is worth the brief pause; it seeps into the soul and
psyche and percolates in the coming weeks. When we arrive at the High Holy Days, after the experience
of Tisha B’Av and the stock-taking of
the month of Elul, we are prepared to
make progress toward that catharsis and new beginning.
If you have experienced a Tisha B’Av service before, you know that it serves as a “descent
for the sake of ascent,” and the height of the renewal at the end is that much
higher for having started with your lows.
If you have not been to one of our Tisha B’Av evenings, then I urge you to
explore what this piece of our tradition has to offer.
Please join us on Monday, August 8th,
8:00pm, at Kol HaLev, 6200 N. Charles St. (within Brown Memorial Woodbrook). ALL are welcome.
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