Celebration, continuity, and catastrophe

Shabbat yesterday consisted of a number of new experiences, ones I was not initially prepared for. I wanted to do T’fillot in a new place, so I decided to try out Shira Hadasha with Lori. I arrived around 9am (I was up till three the night before watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics-the first time I’ve seen the whole thing), and missed my favorite part of Shachrit, the beginning. However, the rest of the T’fillah was mostly familiar. The repetition of the Amida was different than what I am used to, meaning instead of being a different repetition it repeated the actual words of the Amidah. It makes no sense to me to repeat words that we have already done silently. I understand the concept of acknowledging the past use of sacrifices, but this was exactly the same thing as before.

            Also, every time someone spoke to the entire congregation (i.e. not doing prayers), they opened up the Mechitzah. Having it open was incredibly distracting, keeping me from listening to the person talking and therefore understanding what exactly was occurring. I did however understand when they invited people without a place to eat to join a woman and her family for lunch. As I am always up and open to new opportunities to meet people, I jumped at the opportunity, therefore forcing Lori to join me!

            The family was a transplant family, having made aliyah over 20 years previously. There were ten of us, as well as the 6 family members who were there. We ate on the ping pong table, because it was simply an overlay on their regular dining room table.

            Lori and I had started a discussion on the way over about Reform Judaism and what we thought about the service, the mechitzah, the way it was run, and paused the discussion when we walked into the house. However, one of the woman there, who made Aliyah 6 months ago, questioned me about what I had been saying and of what exactly is Reform Judaism is comprised (someone else asked me why I was a reformED Jew. That was an interesting question…to which I don’t have an answer). We got into a lengthy discussion of what Reform Judaism is all about and why I practice it, and the fact that so many Reform Jews practice simply because that is what their parents do, or that is what they think they are supposed to do, or out of convenience. Part of the reason I want to be a Rabbi is to change that, to help people understand why certain practices exist and why we do and don’t participate in certain rituals. Saying that one does a practice just because, STAAM, doesn’t seem like the purpose of Judaism or practice. I want to help inform practice and help people find more reason for why.

            Anyway, we left lunch and went back to Lori’s, where we both worked, sang musicals, and did laundry (on her part). As the evening started a fast day, for Tisha B’Av (commemorating the destruction of the 1^st and 2^nd temples, as well as a number of other sad occurrences in the Jewish timeline), Lori and I ate dinner early, before heading over to HUC for an introduction to Tisha B’Av and then t’fillot. The introduction would have been interesting, but it was way too hot in the chapel and I couldn’t concentrate. I basically learned that there are a number of different events that transpired during the same day in history**.

            Split into groups, we ventured off to places throughout the city. I was off to a Sephardic synagogue near Ben Yehudah Street. The service itself wasn’t that odd, minus the fact that we were all sitting on the ground and we read the entirety of Eicha (Lamentations) aloud, wailing away. However, as today is Tisha B’Av, that makes sense. We are lamenting the destruction of the Temples and therefore miserable. I left the raised Mechitza to join the other Sephardic woman on the ground level, in order to better hear what was going on. They were wonderful, laughing together (although we were supposed to be somber) at the children or our complete inability to follow along. We helped each other find the spot in Eicha, as the men’s voices were often either too quiet or too cacophonous. It was such a great moment, connecting. Plus, we were talking in Hebrew and I understood them. The hardest part was that I didn’t understand what was being read, meaning I feel I now need to read Eicha again.

The Kotel today, post-destruction of the 2nd Temple in 70 CE

            We left and discussed what we had experienced. I decided to head down to the Kotel with about 5 other people, to see what was happening down there. We booked it into the Old City, ending up at the Wall by around 10:30. People were sitting everywhere, in groups and isolated, wailing quietly. The term the Wailing Wall finally made sense to me. No one was seated on the normal chairs. Rather, they were on low set stools or sitting on the ground. Everyone seemed to have a prayer book in their hand. Although the Wall area was not packed, there were a good number of people there (the woman’s section WAS packed).

            Within 15 minutes, I was done and we left soon after. Eric and I went off to find Anas, a guy he met the last time he lived in Israel, but he was not at his family’s shwarma stand in the Arab quarter.  (Cool fact, the Muslim quarter is ornately decorated with lights for Ramadan). Therefore, we booked it out, all the time discussing the importance of the Temple and whether or not we want to see a third temple built (I am not in favor, but I understand some people’s strong desire to see it happen).

            My night didn’t end with our leaving the Old City. Eric and I walked up Agron, happening upon the beginning of a protest in Freedom Park. There were speeches going on and so many people standing there with flags. Many police vans were parked on the edge of the park, cordoning off the area. We asked people what was going on, to which they responded that they were preparing to walk into the old city, protesting Arab occupation. As Eric and I had just been discussing the Dome of the Rock and the fact that we wanted to see it, we were curious, but we decided it wasn’t necessary to join them. However, we were very curious.

**The Hebrew calendar does not follow the Gregorian calendar, meaning that Tisha B’Av happens between the middle of July and the end of August, depending on the year. Therefore, although the events were on the same Hebrew day, the Gregorian day differed.