The Kotel, Part 2: Tisha B'Av Style

Today is Tisha B'Av, which literally means the Ninth of Av (the current month in the Jewish calendar). Tisha B'Av is the day in which we commemorate the destruction of both the first and second Temples in addition to a variety of other catastrophes that have befallen the Jews, all supposedly on the 9th of Av. Tisha B'Av is a day of mourning and it is one of the two major fast days in the Jewish calendar (the other being Yom Kippur). It also marks the first major Jewish "holiday" that I am in Israel for. (Holiday is not really a great word here, as I think it indicates something celebratory, which Tisha B'Av is not, but "fast day," which is more accurate, does not include the full spectrum of events in the Jewish calendar.) Even if I don't stay here for a full twelve months by the American calendar, by the time my program ends in May, I will have been here for every holiday in the Jewish year. That's one of the things I am really excited about this year--and after my experience during Tisha B'Av even more so.

On Tisha B'Av you chant the Book of Lamentations, or Eicha, which talks about the destruction of the temple and is a sad but beautiful text. You are supposed to remove your shoes and sit on the floor for the Eicha service. I chose to go back to the Kotel HaMasorti for Ma'ariv, the evening service, to hear Eicha chanted. I walked over with a group of people from the Yeshiva and we arrived early and found that the area was locked (like I said, it's in a privately-owned space). Most of the group sat and discussed Tisha B'Av while waiting, but a few of us decided to walk over to the main Kotel. I don't want to talk too much about my experience there, except to say that it was very hectic at the Kotel and the Kotel plaza, but my first visit to the main Kotel since I arrived was not a negative one.

When I returned to the rest of the group, they were still waiting, so I joined the discussion. It was the continuation of at least three unique conversations that I had had with various members of that larger group over the previous 24 hours. It's those discussions, plus all of the shiurim (lessons) I've had about Tisha B'Av and fast days over the last three weeks that makes me so excited about being here for all the different Jewish holidays throughout the year; it's fantastic to be around people who really want to think about and discuss these things as much as I do, and who mostly know more about them then I do.

Anyway, about 15 minutes after I returned, the gates were unlocked for the Kotel HaMasorti. By that point, quite a large group of people had gathered, and when we sat down by the Wall, the space was pretty crowded--quite the juxtaposition to the small group of only Yeshiva students last time I was there. It was well after dark, about 9:30, and had finally cooled down. The area is fairly isolated and since we all prayed as one group (unlike at the main Kotel), all you heard was the one person among this large group who was chanting the service and then Eicha. And I sat there on the ground, with my shoes off, staring at the Temple wall and listening to someone chant about the Temple's destruction, trying to realize that this had happened immediately next to where I was sitting. It was incredibly moving experience, which made my frustration on walking back through the main Kotel plaza and seeing all the people who are supposedly more religious than I chatting on their cell phones, smoking cigarettes, and gabbing with their friends on the day of mourning even more acute.

After all this, I think I'm probably far more confused about what Tisha B'Av means and what it means to me than I was when I arrived, but I've learned a ton about it over the last few weeks and had a uniquely moving Tisha B'Av experience. I can't wait to get confused about all the other Jewish concepts and events I'll experience this year.