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August 12, 2005
Temple Mount blogburst: Tisha B'Av
Tisha B'Av Temple Mount blogburst main page.
Tisha B'Av is the 9th day of Av, the 11th month. This is the original 9-11 of the Jewish people.
. . . 1.1 million Jews were murdered by the Romans during the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, and another 97,000 were taken captive, many of whom were either sold into slavery or fed to the lions. It was the ancient equivalent of a Holocaust, one that devastated world Jewry both demographically and spiritually, shattering the Jewish commonwealth and sending its sons and daughters into an exile from which they have yet to fully return.
Practically overnight, Judaism's established order was dealt an enormous blow, as the daily sacrificial rites, the priestly service and the thrice-annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem were no longer possible.Orthoprax focuses on the human tragedy:Osama Bin-Laden attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon because they symbolized America's financial and military might. Titus and Vespasian targeted the Temple because it embodied the Jewish people's spiritual strength and power. Despite the passage of nearly two millennia, it is a wound that has yet to heal.
And that is hardly surprising. For, the destruction of the Temple and the loss of Jewish sovereignty was a near-death experience for the nation of Israel, a blow that came perilously close to being fatal. Just as a person is unlikely to forget a harrowing brush with death, so a nation forever recalls the most traumatic moment in its history.
Thus, we continue to mourn. Not only for what happened back then, but also for what it still does to us today.
We don't need to mourn the loss of a building or the supposed metaphysical disfavor the Jewish people have fallen under. There were real awful tragedies that occurred. Besides for the Holocaust, these events were the worst calamities ever to afflict the Jewish people. . . . I mourn, not for the Temple, but for my ancestors' loss of life, liberty, and property. I commemorate what happened because they need to be and ought to be.
Rishon Rishon posts the passage from the Gemara that tells the story of Kamtsa and Bar-Kamtsa, who supposedly precipitated the Roman destruction through their petty quarrel.
Apikorsus has four dissatisfactions about the observance of Tisha B'Av, and some thoughts on the purpose of the three weeks.
The Velveteen Rabbi on the promise within the desolation, and a series of prints that illustrate that theme, on view at her synagogue in Massachusetts.
A lesson from Tisha B'Av, from Mike Sanders.
Some information about the calamities observed this day, from True Grit.
The historical meaning of Tisha B'Av, by Rabbi Yuter
Jewish Current Events commemorates the fallen through the ages.
Dov Bear notes a date discrepency.
Mirty (who I think I met back when I lived in Austin; she really looks familiar and I knew a lot of the Jewish community there) says: "I don’t know how to mourn a city, a temple, a civilization. That’s too large for my imagination. So today, I mourn my former marriage." Mirty also posts an engraving of the Wailing Wall in 1842.
Shiloh Musings mourns for the Jerusalem of her youth.
A panoramic view of the Kotel at night.
This is why I love the Conservative movement: a new book of kinot, incorporating contemporary and well as traditional sources.
UPDATE: A visual representation of the loss of the Temple and absence of God.
UPDATE: The Wandering Jew posts some artwork depicting the destruction of Jerusalem.
A poetic meditation on Jerusalem from Benjamin Kerstein.
Judith | 08/12/05 at 04:00 PM | Categories: - Temple Mount blogburst
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Blogs which link to Temple Mount blogburst: Tisha B'Av:
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Comments
Wonderful job and very suited to today.
muse | August 14, 2005 01:41 PM
Three phrases should be among the most common in our daily usage. They are: Thank you, I am grateful and I appreciate.
size genetics | December 28, 2005 04:14 AM
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