Comments on: 9 Av http://danyaruttenberg.net/2004/07/28/9-av/ Danya Ruttenberg's website Thu, 04 Dec 2008 05:35:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 By: Rachel http://danyaruttenberg.net/2004/07/28/9-av/#comment-28 Rachel Sat, 31 Jul 2004 09:07:00 +0000 http://danyaruttenberg.net/2004/07/28/9-av/#comment-28 Powerful post... I'm thinking a lot lately about the difference between the literal Jerusalem and the metaphorical Jerusalem. The metaphorical one is the idealized one, the Jerusalem of our imaginations, the Jerusalem we dream about. The literal one -- well, the literal one poses all of the challenges you describe. I'm not sure the metaphorical one has ever been real. I don't know that we can make it real. But when I pray "l'shanah ha-ba'ah b'Yerushalayim" at the end of my seder, I'm talking about the metaphorical one, the ideal one, the whole and healed one... Powerful post…

I’m thinking a lot lately about the difference between the literal Jerusalem and the metaphorical Jerusalem. The metaphorical one is the idealized one, the Jerusalem of our imaginations, the Jerusalem we dream about. The literal one — well, the literal one poses all of the challenges you describe.

I’m not sure the metaphorical one has ever been real. I don’t know that we can make it real. But when I pray “l’shanah ha-ba’ah b’Yerushalayim” at the end of my seder, I’m talking about the metaphorical one, the ideal one, the whole and healed one…

]]> By: Mobius http://danyaruttenberg.net/2004/07/28/9-av/#comment-27 Mobius Thu, 29 Jul 2004 10:40:00 +0000 http://danyaruttenberg.net/2004/07/28/9-av/#comment-27 i wish i went to the reading you went to i wish i went to the reading you went to

]]> By: B http://danyaruttenberg.net/2004/07/28/9-av/#comment-26 B Thu, 29 Jul 2004 00:51:00 +0000 http://danyaruttenberg.net/2004/07/28/9-av/#comment-26 I fasted for Tisha b'Av after studying the fast day in a little more depth just a few days in advance. I read "Lamentations" when I got home from work after dark on the day, and I was stunned by how universal the particulars of the book could be: famine, war, moral collapse, infighting, a breakdown of the social hierarchy. Reform Jews abandoned Tisha b'Av a long time ago because we don't pray for the restoration of the Temple, but there's a lot in "Lamentations" and the ideas of mourning the destruction of a city and the senseless killing of people that doesn't even lie beneath the surface! So, yesterday I did my paltry bit by fasting in memory of the millions killed and being killed all over the world. Sometimes, as the biblical author did, we try to make sense of misery and awfulness by seeing in it the punishment of God. Maybe sometimes that's a good idea, but, really, let's blame this shit on the REAL culprit: us. I fasted for Tisha b’Av after studying the fast day in a little more depth just a few days in advance. I read “Lamentations” when I got home from work after dark on the day, and I was stunned by how universal the particulars of the book could be: famine, war, moral collapse, infighting, a breakdown of the social hierarchy.

Reform Jews abandoned Tisha b’Av a long time ago because we don’t pray for the restoration of the Temple, but there’s a lot in “Lamentations” and the ideas of mourning the destruction of a city and the senseless killing of people that doesn’t even lie beneath the surface!

So, yesterday I did my paltry bit by fasting in memory of the millions killed and being killed all over the world.

Sometimes, as the biblical author did, we try to make sense of misery and awfulness by seeing in it the punishment of God. Maybe sometimes that’s a good idea, but, really, let’s blame this shit on the REAL culprit: us.

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