TIME TO MOURN page 20

Men study and pray at the Wei on Tisha B'Av.

4

Amowis::.

on Tisha B'Av and do not wear
leather shoes. Tefillin and tallit
are not worn during morning
prayer, writes Rabbi Greenberg,
because "these are glorious sym-
bols, and all glory has been
stripped from Jews on this day.
"With the loss of the land of
Israel, the whole tone of Ju-
daism became more somber and
sorrowful," he writes. "Before the
exile all the holidays were days
of rejoicing. There were no ex-
tended periods of sorrow in the
biblical calendar."
But with the rebirth of
the State of Israel, Green-
berg says "the concrete
tragedy that Tisha B'Av
commemorates is being
overcome. While exile is
not yet over (Israel re-
mains vulnerable and
Jews in Russia, Syria and
Ethiopia are still too
much at the mercy of op-
pressors), liberation has
grown."
That is similar to how
Reform Judaism views
this day, according to
Rabbi Dannel Schwartz,
spiritual leader of Tem-
ple Shir Shalom in West
Bloomfield.
"Many Reform Jews or
rabbis do not regard
Tisha B'Av as a major

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day of observance," he says.
The destruction of the Tem-
"They feel that when the Tem- ple came about because of a lack
ple was destroyed it was a ter- of unity among the Jews, says
rible thing and a terrible thing Chana Finman, a Chassidic reb-
happened to the Jewish people. betzin in Oak Park. Therefore,
But on that particular day Ju- Tisha B'Av is a day of unity.
daism became, instead of a state
It is the day on which the
religion, a universal faith. In- Moshiach (Messiah) is supposed
stead of being extinguished as a to be born, she says. In the lat-
people because we lived in one ter part of the day, the laws lean
place, each time the Temple was more toward a happy occasion
destroyed it brought new life in than a sad one, she says. When
a different way to Judaism.
Mrs. Finman studied in yeshiva
"So the question becomes, do in Israel, she recalls, the women
we want the Temple to be re- students would dance late on
stored? Do we want a sacrificial Tisha B'Av.
cult to be renewed? And to be
Conservative Jews largely
quite frank, I don't know of a Re- strike a balance between the
form rabbi who would say, 'Yes, I Tisha B'Av observance patterns
want to see that happen again," " of their Reform and Orthodox
Schwartz says.
brethren, according to Rabbi Ir-
For Reform Jews, Tisha B'Av win Groner, spiritual leader of
presents "a time for study, a Congregation Shaarey Zedek in
time for reflection, another way Southfield.
to memorialize — but again you
'We recite the Book of Lamen-
lament the fact that people were tations; in the morning we recite
killed during that day and a Kinot, poems of elegy, describ-
piece of our history is gone," Rab- ing the suffering of our ances-
bi Schwartz says.
tors," he says. "It is a fast day,
Shir Shalom worshipers do [but] it's a lesser observed day"
not observe the day of Tisha by Conservative Jews.
B'Av but include psalms from
However, "a significant num-
the Book of Lamentations on the ber of people sit on the floor and
Shabbat prior, Schwartz says.
take off shoes," while observing
"Other Reform congregations Tisha B'Av at Shaarey Zedek,
do observe Tisha B'Av, and still Rabbi Groner notes. "It's a col-
others don't at all, it's a non-holy lective day of mourning for the
occasion," he adds.
Jewish people." ❑

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"We have a custom during the
nine days ... if you're a partici-
pant at a seudat mitzvah (festi-
val meal), you're allowed to eat
meat," Finman says. One of
those happy occasions is when
someone finishes a tractate of
the Talmud. "The rebbe said to
finish one every day of the week"
until the 15th of Av, he says,
"just for the purpose of bringing
joy into the nine days."
Typically, observant Jews
read the Book of Lamentations

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From the beginning of the
month of Av, the period of sorrow
is intensified during "the nine
days," which lead to Tisha B'Av.
Orthodox Jews do not eat meat,
drink wine or swim during the
nine days.
Rabbi Herschel Finman, a
Lubavitch rabbi in Oak Park,
says Chassidim who followed
the teachings of the late Lubav-
itcher Rebbe Menachem
Schneerson do things just a tad
differently.

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