The fast day of Tisha B’Av falls this weekend, the saddest day in the saddest month of the Jewish calendar. It is a day that is set aside for grieving before we move into the Days of Awe. It is a day that commemorates so much historical destruction and today it is a day that people often take as an opportunity to turn towards and grieve present day destruction. And my how there is an overwhelming amount of destruction to grieve this year. This year, on Tisha B’Av, I am specifically thinking of the destruction caused in our names as Jews and as a American taxpayers that have aided and abetted the current genocide in Gaza for the past 664 days.
How do we grieve when we are so present in it? We are supposed to have spaciousness around our grief, time to mourn. And yet, we have had tens to hundreds of lives to grieve every single day for nearly the past two years. We haven’t had spaciousness with our grief.
I am a firm believer that we must feel in order to act. My invitation to you this weekend, as we move through the portal of Tisha B’Av, is to find ways to connect with your grief. Take this weekend to create spaciousness for your grief. Maybe you’ve long had a somatic connection to your grief, maybe this will feel like a challenge for you. Here are some suggestions for ways to explore your grief this Tisha B’Av: fast or sit low to the ground. Wail, scream, cry. How can you invite the grief into your body and sit with it? Where do you notice the grief in your body? Allow your grief to integrate into your body as well as in your mind. Explore what you’re able to access, then what you’re able to sit with, and then what you’re able to allow to pass through you.
This weekend is a time to be present in the portal of grief and see where it leads us. Let us take the time to turn towards and be with our grief. Then, notice how you feel. What are you ready to do? How are you ready to act? To transform? To move towards the Days of Awe and engage in teshuvah, repair?
May being in touch with our grief strengthen our witness and our commitment to action.
Towards liberation,
Rabbi May
How do we grieve when we are so present in it? We are supposed to have spaciousness around our grief, time to mourn. And yet, we have had tens to hundreds of lives to grieve every single day for nearly the past two years. We haven’t had spaciousness with our grief.
I am a firm believer that we must feel in order to act. My invitation to you this weekend, as we move through the portal of Tisha B’Av, is to find ways to connect with your grief. Take this weekend to create spaciousness for your grief. Maybe you’ve long had a somatic connection to your grief, maybe this will feel like a challenge for you. Here are some suggestions for ways to explore your grief this Tisha B’Av: fast or sit low to the ground. Wail, scream, cry. How can you invite the grief into your body and sit with it? Where do you notice the grief in your body? Allow your grief to integrate into your body as well as in your mind. Explore what you’re able to access, then what you’re able to sit with, and then what you’re able to allow to pass through you.
This weekend is a time to be present in the portal of grief and see where it leads us. Let us take the time to turn towards and be with our grief. Then, notice how you feel. What are you ready to do? How are you ready to act? To transform? To move towards the Days of Awe and engage in teshuvah, repair?
May being in touch with our grief strengthen our witness and our commitment to action.
Towards liberation,
Rabbi May
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