Rethinking Tisha B’Av: From Mourning to Spiritual Readiness. W/Prof. Ari Afilalo

Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av, stands as the most solemn day in the Jewish year, commemorating multiple catastrophes, which, according to tradition, happened on this date. It is also one of the most challenging dates on the Jewish calendar in terms of its relevance to our times with few practical teachings. Against this backdrop, we call for including the memory of the Holocaust in Tisha B’Av so that it becomes an annual opportunity for embedding practices of survival in extreme adversity.

Tisha B’Av as a Day of Mourning

Tisha B’Av primarily commemorates the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE and of the Second Temple in the year 70 CE. It is the culmination of a mourning process that symbolically begins seven months earlier, on the 10th of Tevet, when the siege on Jerusalem was laid, and escalates on the 17th of Tamuz, when the walls of Jerusalem were breached. The nine days in the month of Av, the week of Tisha B’Av and then the day of Tisha B’Av represent further milestones in the collapse, destruction and burning of Jerusalem, which are remembered through increasing self-affliction that includes, by different customs, avoidance of music, eating of meat and intimacy. The process of mourning then eases as of midday of Tisha B’Av and ends no later than the 16th of Av.

Tisha B’Av also commemorates other calamities that befell upon the Jewish People including the fall of Betar in the year 135; the Crusades in the 12th century; expulsions from England in 1290 and from Spain in 1492; and the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942. Noticeably, some of the disasters which are remembered on Tisha B’Av took place in the Land of Israel as Jewish sovereignty was collapsing, while others devastated prominent Diaspora communities.

As Tisha B’Av commemorates all these events together, it is supposed to be the saddest day in the Jewish year. Indeed, Jewish tradition calls for active manifestation of mourning in addition to reading the ghastly Megilat Eikha, which describes the destruction of Jerusalem and the personal tragedies that ensued.

But what about some forward-facing lessons? Sukkoth, Pesach, Shavuot, Chanukah and Purim also commemorate events that occurred in the distant past, yet they are imbued with contemporary relevance. Indeed, reimagining Tisha B’Av is particularly challenging in an era of remarkable power and prosperity in Israel and among world Jewry, when catastrophes seem less likely than ever before.

From Loss to Resilience

Against this backdrop, this article makes a dual claim: First, it is time to bring the remembrance of the Shoah into the framework of Tisha B’Av. This would “upgrade” Tisha B’Av by making it more urgent and relevant, as well as “consolidate” the remembrance of Shoah (zecher HaShoah) in the proper place in the annual cycle of the Jewish year.

In other words, Tisha B’Av can offer the prospect of unifying the remembrance of the Shoah for all Jews. For the time being and as long as Holocaust survivors are alive, the remembrance of the Shoah has been justifiably distinguished from other destructions and expulsions in Jewish history and “scattered” along the year: January 26 – the date of the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945 – served for international commemoration. Meanwhile, Israel commemorates the Shoah on the 27th of Nisan, which is between Pesach and Memorial and Independence Days, to acknowledge the Warsaw Ghetto rebellion and reinforce the Zionist narrative of Israel as the remedy to the plight of Jews. In addition, many non-Zionists and ultra-orthodox communities remembered the Shoah on the 10th of Tevet, when Jewish tradition mourns those without a marked grave.

Second, Tisha B’Av should be seen as an annual opportunity to “train the muscle” of collective and individual survival in extreme conditions of hardship, adversity and scarcity. Clearly, such an effect can only be achieved through learning. All distant catastrophes left little documentation regarding how the Jewish People survived. Meanwhile, the Shoah generated extensive documented societal knowledge about how Jewish communities, families and individuals transcended the abyss. In other words, the written legacy of the Shoah is the key to future resilience, and it should be studied annually, on Tisha B’Av.

In this context, the work of Rabbi Ephraim Oshry zt”l stands out. During the war, Rabbi Oshry recorded answers of rabbis to halachic questions from Jews, which were published after the war in a five-volume series titled Responsa from the Depths (She’elot u-Teshuvot MiMa’amakim). Oshry’s work documented hundreds of practical, spiritual and moral dilemmas of Jews, who were striving to survive. Many of the questions are Halachic regarding observance of Jewish religious laws. Examples include: can I say the Shema in a latrine? Can I wear the clothing of the dead to stay warm? Can I bless God for freedom while enslaved? Meanwhile, other Responsa are ethical and moral regarding how to divide scarce resources or make life-and-death decisions.

Together – the Halachic and moral questions and answers – have a third profound effect: they empower people to control their response within the terrible conditions of their existence. Oshry wrote: “I recorded my responsa to serve as … an eternal sign of wonderment at a people on whose neck a sharp sword lay permanently, and … continued to live its life in holiness and integrity.” The effect of controlling one’s response was highlighted as existentially important by Victor Frenkel’s Men’s Search for Meaning.

In Crisis and Covenant, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks zt”l argues that such an outlook of control of one’s response in dire conditions demonstrates the “covenantal resilience” of Judaism. Sacks too recommends that the remembrance of the Shoah be added to Tisha B’Av. He wrote: “Tisha B’Av, reimagined, becomes the day we affirm … theologically, but practically … [the view that] the covenant survives intact even in the valley of the shadow of death … That is the posture Tisha B’Av must now reclaim.”

Why discuss Tisha B’Av and the Shoah now? One contemporary reason is that the last Holocaust survivors are dying, which requires reimagining how to enshrine the memory of the Shoah. In a broader view of Jewish history, even as we live through incredible blessings of security and prosperity, we must prepare for their possible loss by teaching ourselves and our children not just about what was destroyed but also about how to endure.

Five years ago, we launched a project called Depths to Summits with the goal of reimagining Tisha B’Av not only as a day of mourning for what was lost, but also as an annual “firedrill” for Jewish survival. The threats that the Jewish People may face are different from those of the past, but the spiritual muscles we will need are the same. Let us make Tisha B’Av the day when every Jew learns how to survive and then rebuild, as much a handbook as it is a history book.

Gidi Grinstein is the author of the Flexigidity: The Podcast of the Hebrewman, and author of Flexigidity: The Secret of Jewish Adaptability. He is the founder and president of the Reut Institute and Tikkun Olam Makers.
Prof. Ari Afilalo is a professor of law at Rutgers University and President of the West Side Sephardic Synagogue.