Spirit
JULY 30 • 2020 | 37
Jews and Aspen
Thoughts on Tisha B’
av.
M
y first Tisha B’
Av memory took
place at Camp Ramah, just out-
side Santa Barbara, California,
the summer after third grade. I was a
precocious seven-year-old in edah aleph
(group one, the youngest
class of campers). Our edah
worked together to fashion
a beautiful outdoor beit k’
nes-
set (synagogue) beneath a
sprawling oak tree with cus-
tom painted benches and
our artwork hanging from
the aron hakodesh (holy ark).
One fateful morning, we awoke to
find someone had upended our precious
prayer space. The aron was on its side,
benches strewn about, our works of art
scattered on the ground.
I was shocked to the core. Who could
do such a thing? Then our counselors
explained the destruction in Jerusalem
transpiring three millennia earlier on that
very day. This re-creation of the tragic
events of the past created an indelible
memory and allowed our bunk to bond
during the rebuilding process.
The Jewish people are connected more
profoundly than any of us realize. In
many ways we’
re like the aspen, one of
the largest organisms on earth, famous
for decorating mountain ranges with bril-
liant autumnal radiance. Aspen groves are
not collections of disparate entities. They
are typically distinct expressions of a sin-
gle subterranean root system, sometimes
stretching over a hundred feet from the
parent tree. Deciduous aspens occupy a
precarious niche in a coniferous forest,
swelling their collective sunshine-yellow
glory wherever the colony can obtain
enough light. Similarly, the Jewish people
are an interconnected family weathering
the storms of history, shining the light of
peace, love and innovation into the world
whenever given the chance. The fires of
the destruction of Jerusalem, European
pogroms or the Holocaust may rage, but
they cannot extinguish the spark ani-
mating the collective Jewish soul. We all
feel the pain of our fellow Jew because in
essence we are one entity.
Tisha B’
Av is hard on even the har-
diest individuals. In the waning hours
of the holiday, everyone is disheveled
and drained. Jewish law stipulates we
can’
t don tallis and tefillin until the sun
is about to set, having been denied the
glory of these crowns earlier in the day.
We lumber into a Mincha minyan where
we are comforted by the words of divine
forgiveness in the Torah reading, which
depicts the aftermath of the sin of the
Golden Calf. Then in the Haftorah, the
prophet Isaiah proclaims: “For you shall
go out with joy, and be led forth with
peace; the mountains and the hills shall
break forth before you into singing, and
all the trees of the field shall clap their
hands.”
Even when all seems lost, God is with
us, guiding us and giving us hope. Even
on this most mournful day, we must
serve God with joy. We then utter the
Amidah and special insertions with an
intensity only possible when ravenous
and parched, poignantly aware of one’
s
mortality.
Tisha B’
Av is the saddest day of the
year for those steeped in the joy of
Judaism. Our collective primal scream
echoes throughout history like rolling
thunder from the original lightning bolt
of destruction, the obliteration of our
faith by the spies in the desert. Even at
the nadir of our joy continuum, there is a
kernel of hope. By the end of the fast we
teeter on shaky legs, ashen faced and cot-
ton-mouthed. Finally, at the conclusion of
Ma’
ariv services we drink delicious gulps
of water and step outside the synagogue
to celebrate the end of the three-week
mourning period with Kiddush Levana
(Blessing the New Moon), dancing
together in the darkness.
May we continue to dance together like
aspen trees shimmering in a gentle alpine
breeze. May our unity be as self-evident
as the aspen’
s subterranean inter-con-
nectedness. May our miraculous survival
mimic that of the age-old grove of this
hearty species, with roots so deeply inter-
twined it can withstand the heat of any
conflagration. May we bring life, love,
peace and the awareness of the Creator to
all nations.
Sam Glaser is a performer, composer, producer and
author in Los Angeles. He has released 25 CDs
of his music and his book “The Joy of Judaism” is
an Amazon bestseller. He produces albums and
scores for media in his Glaser Musicworks record-
ing studio. Visit him online at www.samglaser.com.
Tisha B’
Av runs from
sundown July 29 to sundown
July 30.
PIXABAY
Sam Glaser