With Tisha Ba’av approaching, and as we finish the Book of Numbers, we will look back at some text and related Midrash in Bamidbar relating to mourning. We’ll read about the very different ways in which the deaths of Aaron and Miriam were mourned in Chukat. Then we’ll review the tradition of national tragedy surrounding Tisha Ba’av, which the Rabbis say started with the sending of the scouts in Shelach.We will consider how mourning rituals serve to honor those past but also move us beyond grief to renewal. Along the way, we’ll detour to the concept of“emotional labor” and whether its disproportionate impact on women is reflected in Miriam’s story, and a poem about renewal after death, The Trees by Philip Larkin.

If you have time in advance of our session, please look at the following texts:

Numbers 14:26-33 (the decree of death in the wilderness following the episode of the spies)

Numbers 20:22-29 (the death of Aaron)

Numbers 20:1-11 (the death of Miriam; the episode of Moses hitting the rock)

Exodus 2:1-10 (the birth of Moses)

Exodus 15:1-21 (the Song of the Sea; you can skim 1-19)

Numbers 12:1-2 (Moses and the Cushite woman)

Here is the access information:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84422782655?pwd=ZFFQNGQvL2U0ck1xVFdUeFlkVkRUUT09

Meeting ID: 844 2278 2655

Passcode: 991792