Feeling Grief, Finding Love: A Tisha B’Av Program

Part of the wisdom of the Jewish tradition is to provide outlets for collective grief.

On the 9th of Av, Jews fast in collective mourning over the destruction of the Temple and other disasters that have befallen the Jews.

Today, grief in the Jewish community is palpable. And none of us is alone in these feelings regardless of our politics. Joanna Macy teaches that we each hold a piece of the collective pain, writing, “When we reconnect with life by choosing to bear our pain for it, the mind retrieves its natural clarity.” We join together because this is not private pain.

All rituals help us to integrate what is already happening, in order connect more deeply with life. Together in this 9 Av session, in sacred outdoor space, we’ll hold one another as we honor the essence of our heart-grief, with gratitude and love as the foundation for new possibilities.