What am I supposed to do with the pain and loss of 2000 years ago? It's really old and abstract. It doesn't feel relatable or relevant. It feels like an empty, meaningless gesture. The best I can come up with is a feeling of guilt mixed with a little "what's wrong with me". And to make matters worse when I engage in empty, meaningless gestures I feel as though I dull my senses, waste my time and worse miss out on some unknown opportunity.
Historically, the period of three weeks that began Monday night, June 24th this year (17th of Tammuz) and culminates on July 16th (9th of Av) begins with the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem and its eventual destruction and the destruction of the First and Second Holy Temples (Beit Hamikdash) on the 9th of Av. These events are a couple thousand years old. That I feel "distant" from them is an understatement.
Our Sages of blessed memory teach that physical events are the symptoms, not the source. The spiritual backdrop to these events is marked by a 3 week period without the same protections we generally have for the rest of the year. We are journeying on a treacherous path. If we are not careful, calamity can befall us. But if we are present to the challenges and opportunities, great results can ensue.
When we see the pain of others we have an opportunity to get past our personal agenda and go beyond ourselves to help others. Whether its hunger or human trafficking, in our community or abroad, the death of firefighters in the western US, or a priest in the middle east, the empathetic efforts we make can lessen the pain of others. Our Sages of Blessed memory teach in the Talmud that the 2nd Temple was destroyed because of "sinat chinam", baseless hatred. Our work is to step beyond personal agenda and experience baseless love, love without expecting anything in return.
No matter the spiritual backdrop, the universe is always there to provide help and protection when we lovingly engage in enrichment, empathy and selfless work on behalf of the world around us, without personal agenda, just because.
So true! well said.
ReplyDeleteI was amazed when i studied cuneiform script and asked the foremost translator of Akkadian and Sumerian how to say "love" in those languages. Prof Ake Sjoberg was his name, a Professor who was writing the first dictionary of cuneiform, translated their literature, and curated artifacts at Penn -- among them, the original tablets of Gilgamesh with the flood story on them (which he let me hold!!). He told me, "there was no concept of love in Sumeria that we know of -- there was ownership, friendship, loyalty, but we dont find the word love." I was astonished at that thought because for a Jew, familiar with the Biblical account of creation, humanity must have had love breathed into it with the first creating breathe of god. And despite how ancient our patriarchs are, the first "love" appears in chumash, is when Isaac loves Rebecca. SO i guess it is a huge bracha that in the Jewish narrative and consciousness, even so far back, our prototypes felt love. The fact also that the Talmud uses kamtza bar kamtza as an illustration to decry the lack of love, means the hope for humanity is that we love. Obviously, the world is still broken, still plagued by lack of love and wholeness. During the 3 weeks, i try to set aside time to try to empathize with a wider circle of people who do suffer now, in our days, whose temples are broken, metaphorically speaking. because, as you said, it is hard to relate to an ancient tragedy sincerely, but easy to look around and see the world is not yet all love, and even inside of myself, i am not yet imitatio dei in the way i would hope to become more thoroughly.Actually, i find the imagery in Eicha also alienating -- so depressing. But if i look around the world, it seems ever true in new forms. The 9 days are a time when i try very hard to be more aware of that, to emulate unconditional love rather than judgement -- in hopes that somehow that energy of prayer and love sends out healing in some inexplicable way. May our fasts be intended for that focus of seeing, empathy and healing.
ReplyDeleteFascinating story and great contrast. Thanks for sharing! The Eicha narrative combined with the haunting notes is on one level sad and empty. But on another level, the alphabetized lines can be viewed as injecting order and hence a removal of chaos from our lives. And like the vaccine that includes the ailment which it is intended to protect against, our conscious connection to the imagery in Eicha can serve to strengthen our awareness and enhance our empathy thereby protecting us against a repeat of that history.
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