A Thought For Tisha B'Av

Yesterday a friend and I spoke about getting together with some other women on Tisha B'Av to sort of talk through any feelings we're having that day. (It's a day set-aside to commemorate loss and suffering in the Jewish world, a day of mourning as an entire community.) I'm excited about this. Usually I don't know how to make the day meaningful, but I think that once I'm done with Eicha and Kinnos I'd like to do this a little and then maybe U. and I will watch a movie about suffering. All this is while still entertaining ND of course and fasting, but Tisha B'Av often feels like the longest day of the year and I want it to be meaningful.

This friend and I talked about how she's having difficulty with it this year because she's been trying to be more positive in her life and now she's being asked to be more negative. (Well, that's a simplistic summary, but it serves the purpose of what I'm writing here.

I was thinking about how time, space and individuality all serve the purpose of protecting us in that all the things in the world cannot have at the same time, in the same space or to each person. Therefore, no one purpose gets all the goodness there is to be had in the world, nor does anyone suffer all of the pain in the world.

However, G-d transcends time, space and individuality and we are asked to transcend ourselves and to emulate G-d in our lives. This is true in meditation too... loving all beings and feeling the pain of others.

We are only capable of so much. This was how we are created. But it's helpful to me right now to consider that we have the safety net of what we CAN'T do as well as the example of what we CAN do to become one with all humanity at least for a moment.