Tisha B’Av, meaning literally “the 9th of the Hebrew month of Av,” is often thought about as the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. It is the day on which several disasters for our people occurred, most prominently the destruction of both the First and Second Temples. Our Jewish year cycle offers us, with Tisha B'Av, a container for this grief, mourning, heartbreak, and sadness -- and it is a communal container. We are together, as a people, in heartbreak. 

On Tisha B’Av, we do a public, communal reading of the Book of Lamentations, a collection of lyrical laments that describe the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE. The title, in Hebrew, for this book is just one word, and it is a desperate question: “Eicha (אֵיכָ֣ה)” - literally, “How?” or “How could this have happened?”

Sometimes, in grief, pain, and shock, this question is the truest thing we can say. On Tisha B’Av, we say it publicly, as a community, together.

We look forward to this intimate, heartfelt service, where we will sing, be in silence, chant from the book of Eicha, and most importantly, be together.