We started the month of Av a few days ago, the new moon can already be seen. It's a tough month for the Jewish people; we pack our tragedies close together.
בְּתִשְׁעָה בְאָב נִגְזַר עַל אֲבוֹתֵינוּ שֶׁלֹּא יִכָּנְסוּ לָאָרֶץ, וְחָרַב הַבַּיִת בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה וּבַשְּׁנִיָּה, וְנִלְכְּדָה בֵיתָר, וְנֶחְרְשָׁה הָעִיר. מִשֶּׁנִּכְנַס אָב, מְמַעֲטִין בְּשִׂמְחָה:
"On the Ninth of Av it was decreed upon our ancestors that they would all die in the wilderness and not enter Eretz Yisrael; and the Temple was destroyed the first time, and the second time; and Beitar was captured; and the city of Jerusalem was ploughed. From when the month of Av begins, one decreases joy." (Mishna Taanit 4:6)
Before Purim we spoke about the phrase "In the month of Adar, one increases joy." Like all commanded emotions, they're fake, they are a mask, they are a game. Just as then, we pretended to be happy, now we're called upon to explore the mask of sadness. Let's take this game seriously, and remember that it's a game.
But there's more. The birthday of the Messiah will be in Av, we are told. And the decreased happiness seems to stop around the ninth of Av, because a week later, there's a festival!
אָמַר רַבָּן שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן גַּמְלִיאֵל, לֹא הָיוּ יָמִים טוֹבִים לְיִשְׂרָאֵל כַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בְּאָב וּכְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים, שֶׁבָּהֶן בְּנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלַיִם יוֹצְאוֹת בִּכְלֵי לָבָן שְׁאוּלִין, שֶׁלֹּא לְבַיֵּשׁ אֶת מִי שֶׁאֵין לוֹ. כָּל הַכֵּלִים טְעוּנִין טְבִילָה. וּבְנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלַיִם יוֹצְאוֹת וְחוֹלוֹת בַּכְּרָמִים.
"Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: There were no days as good for the Jewish people as the fifteenth of Av and as Yom Kippur, as on them the daughters of Jerusalem would go out in white clothes, which each woman borrowed from another, so as not to embarrass one who did not have her own white garments. And the daughters of Jerusalem would go out and dance in the vineyards." (Taanit 4:8)
There must be some connection between the decreased joy at the start of Av, and day 'that has never been so good' in the middle. A few sources deal with this. The story I find most compelling desribes the children of Israel who wandered through the desert digging their graves every year on the ninth of Av, lying in them all night, and waiting until the morning to see who survived. After forty years of this, they lay in the graves for six days, until they realised that the punishment was over, and that nobody was going to die in the desert again. This became the festival.
Stepping into graves and stepping out. Putting on happy masks and unhappy ones. We are strange creatures, humans. I've tried to use Jewish texts recently to explore the boundaries of humanity, but more than any conclusions, I've only re-connected to the weird wonderfulness of the human experience.
As usual, this week we explored prayer as an angle through which to explore humanity - by way of drunkenness and of Golems. You can read the sourcesheet here, and watch the recorded summary here:
You can also listen the audio summary here, or search for '58th Century Judaisms' in your favourite podcast directory.
Next week, I'll give the last live online shiur for a while, but I intend to keep producing sourcesheets, recorded material and all sorts of good things. Anyone who has given a one-time or a monthly donation is already on this list. If you know of someone who would be interested in receiving this material but can't pay with money, please let me know and I'll add them.
Be in touch if you have any thoughts on any of this. Wishing you a terrible and wonderful month of Av!
Josh