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Robert Alter writes in his Introduction: "Lamentations, like most good literature, is a strong response to the historical circumstances for which it was framed while at the same time speaking to analogous situations in other times and places."
"Its faith in the prospect of a restored order of justice is a sustaining belief that humankind may always need in the face of massive devastation and the traumatic displacement of exile."
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"That’s the thing about Israelis—when the going gets tough, we come home. ... Have we actually gotten used to thinking that it’s “normal” that a country has to gird for an attack from another sovereign state sworn on its destruction—a likely second attack in less than four months? ....As we approach Tisha B'Av [in 2024], it's worth noting: even after October 7th, we had no idea of the depth of the crisis that was just beginning to unfold."
- Daniel Gordis, Israel from the Inside podcast, August 6, 2024
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[MS: Why indeed do Jews 'COME HOME" to Jewish peoplehood? Why have Jews embraced living as Jews, that is, Jewish Peoplehood, over and over again? Those are the facts. Jews are still here. But why? That is my question for this 2024 Tisha B'Av.
Imagine that you live "in the immediate aftermath of the destruction of the Kingdom of Judea," when Jeremiah the Prophet lived. ( See Alter's Introduction to Lamentations.)
Imagine that you decided then - in 586 BC - to never be a part of a Tisha B'Av ever again. It's the "smart" choice: Don't we say at the Seder Table in front of our kids: In Every Generation They Arise to Destroy Us, and we recall Amalek, who awaits us always.
Indeed, why not escape the fate of the Jews when ongoing calamities were predicted by Tisha B'av? You could choose to leave and to live since 586 BC, as a Roman, a Greek, a Christian, a Moslem, or in modern times, like a communist or hedonist, an unbeliever, pick one. On Tisha B'Av we are warned, calamity will happen again - to the Jews. Many Jews left over the millenia. But: Enough chose to stay - and to Come Home.
Since at least 586 BC, the Jewish people have looked squarely, unflinchingly at the calamity of destruction described in a great act of Jewish literature, the Book of Lamentations. For about 100 generations since 586 BC, Jews have faced the stunning, incomprehensible reality of evil, even putting it into Tisha B'Av as an annual ritual, with a group reading of Lamentations, that has the power of great literature, to convey its horror.
Yet, by what strength or inspiration, are we still teaching our children and grandchildren, and future generations, to join in Jewish Peoplehood - and to be a Zion Lover, wherever you live?
And, this Tisha B'Av 2024 comes after the vicious assault on October 7, 2024, 310+ days of combat in the Hamas/Hezbollah/Iran/ Gaza war, and no end to the hostage suffering. The long war since 1948 intensifies.
To me, it remains the most important mystery: how do we Jews keep going? Alter can only frame the issue. There is no answer to this mystery in this Sefaria Sheet. Sefaria users are invited to comment.
We might use this Tisha B'Av to discuss all of the possible answers so that we all will get stronger to embrace renewed Jewish Peoplehood, renewed Zionism in our time.]
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Alter's Question re Belief and Survival
[MS: What are some ways to understand Alter's statement:
"Its faith in the prospect of a restored order of justice is a sustaining belief that humankind may always need in the face of massive devastation ...."
In other words: How shall we, as Jews and decent people, continue to believe - on Tisha B'Av, and after 310+ days of ongoing war and hostage kidnapping - that there will be a restoration of decency and order?
For Jews and for Jewish Peoplehood or Zionism: What could be ways to keep the 'Sustaining Belief' that decency will return?
To start a discussion, here are four points of view:
1. For the Pious: Faith that there will be a restored order of justice because it is God's Will. Similarly, faith that there is a World To Come where evil doers are punished and decency is rewarded.
2- For the non-pious: There will be a restored order of justice because in the past cycles, life went on with a return to decency and law and order. History is a sustaining value. Study history to find out how decency returns. Believe in its return.
In Israel, the Bearing Witness Project, at the Israeli National Archives is an extraordinary national project to capture the history of October 7th for future lessons learned. There will be a complete digital record from all around the world about the October 7th terror attack by Hamas and the follow on attacks by Hezbollah, Iran and by new global antisemitism and thterror attacks on Jews and synagogues. What went wrong - learn from history how do we protect decency now.
3 - Self- Defense and Military - Struggles for political power are possible in a democracy (ie voting power or organized election drives). Military self defense is a highly developed institution, and if used for decency, military might overcomes the horror or deters it effectively. (USA in World War II)
4 - Great Literature or the Arts - If taught well, they convey to readers the horrors of failed decency, without having to go through catastrophe, ie, it is humanizing. Great literature or plays or paintings (like Picasso's Guernica) arouse readers' dread and fears and can lead to actions to defend decency. (This applies in Alter's view because Lamentations has the powers of literary greatness and, in my view, by reading it as a group in an annual ritual. Also, Alter, the translator of Israel's great poet Yehuda Amichai, often writes about the power of Amichai's poetry to inspire Israelis to struggle on despite war and despair. Several MS Sefaria Sheets Collection review Alter's translations of Amichai. In particular see: "To the Full Severity of Compassion.")
I hope these suggestions help readers puzzle out why Jews continue to Come Home to Jewish Life and Peoplehood and to find the "Sustaining Belief" that somehow decency always returns and grows .]
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Background Resources for Reading Alters Lamentation:
From last years Tisha B'Av:
See this link for prior Sheets on Tisha B'Av and the threats to Israel and the Jewish People:
"URGENT - Updated July 31, 2023: The Ongoing Crisis in Israel Is Real - Tisha B'Av 2023 - On the 2013 Sheet there are links to Rabbi Saks, Daniel Gordis and other commentators discussing Sinat Chinam or Baseless Hatred and how to maintain Jewish Peoplehood in times of despair.
Robert Alter - Tisha B'Av - Book of Lamentations - Translation and Notes
[MS: Alter's entire The Hebrew Bible is available for purchase in the Kindle version for under $75. Formatting and the quotations' edits or additions are by MS, as indicated below. See also, Robert Alter, MS Sefaria Sheets Collection with over 65 Sheets.]
Alter's Introduction to Lamentations (pp. 644-45)
"Against this panorama of horror, the elegist, not limiting himself to keening over the destruction, repeatedly affirms his faith in a just God Who has punished Israel for its transgressions but Who in the end will redeem it and exact retribution from its enemies for their cruel excesses.
Lamentations, like most good literature, is a strong response to the historical circumstances for which it was framed while at the same time speaking to analogous situations in other times and places. Its catalogue of horrors is something that, alas, we continue to see reenacted in various guises across the globe. Its faith in the prospect of a restored order of justice is a sustaining belief that humankind may always need in the face of massive devastation and the traumatic displacement of exile. "
One readily understands why it is that Jewish tradition fixed the recitation of these five laments as an annual ritual, not merely in commemoration of the destruction of the First Temple or the Second but also as a way of fathoming the ghastly recurrent violence that has darkened two millennia of history."
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[MS: Alter points out how Lamentations does the work of great literature by conveying images of the disaster bluntly, in its full terror. Its meant to be unforgettable. This sets the stage for the ultimate drama: the mystery of why Jews remain Jews, or why decent people still believe decency will win, one day, somehow. Barbarity will happen again, but Jews and decency itself will survive.]
Chapter 4
1. How has gold turned dull. The first two verses of this lament are an interesting instance of literal statement that is then revealed to be a metaphor. Verse 1 appears to present a concrete image of precious materials debased—gold tarnished, gems spilled on the ground. Then, in verse 2, with the representation of Zion’s children “worth their weight in gold” (literally, “weighed in gold”), it becomes evident that they are the treasures now counted as worthless, their lives without value as they are slaughtered in the streets.
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12 The kings of the earth did not believe, nor all the world’s dwellers, that a foe and enemy would enter the gates of Jerusalem
12. The kings of the earth did not believe. This assertion is based on the fiction that Zion in her glory was universally regarded as secure and impregnable.
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9. Better the slain of the sword than the slain by famine. For those run through ooze blood more than the crop of the field.
Note on verse 9: more than the crop of the field. This phrase has puzzled interpreters. The understanding reflected in this translation is that “those” must refer to the slain by the sword. Run through by the sword, their bodies ooze blood more abundantly than the crop of field runs with sap (alternately, more than the crop of the field flourishes). The blood flooding from their bodies reflects the swiftness of their death, a fate preferable to the fate of those who die slowly from famine.
19. But You, O LORD, for all time are enthroned. The poet, having scanned the bleak landscape of destruction, comes to a turning point: God, after all, is still the eternal king of the world, and so there may be hope that He will restore the people’s fortunes.
Verses:
20 Why should You forget us forever, forsake us for endless years?
21 Bring us back to You, LORD, that we come back, renew our days as of old.
22 For indeed You have rejected us, You have been grievously furious with us.
Notes:
21. Bring us back to You, LORD. This entire verse was later adopted for the traditional Jewish liturgy.
22. For indeed You have rejected us, / You have been grievously furious with us. Logically, this verse is connected with the preceding one: we now desperately need You to bring us moment we are clearly the object of Your fury. Jewish tradition, however, reflects a sense that this is too grim a note on which to end the book, so when Lamentations is publicly chanted on the fast of the Ninth of Av, verse 21, “Bring us back to You . . .,” is repeated to conclude the reading."
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310+ Days for the Hostages and for the IDF
Sing song for their welfare and return Brothers: Acheinu - link here.
310+ Days Hostage Suffering - Song Acheinu here
[MS: Amen. Tisha B'Av August 12-13, 2024]
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