Jewish historian Salo W. Baron once observed that fellow
historian Heinrich Graetz (1817-1891) had a “lachrymose conception
of Jewish history.” Graetz’s monumental 11-volume History of the Jews recounts the flow of Jewish history as a series
of tragedies, calamities, exiles, and pogroms, with trauma the core of Jewish political
and social experience in history. I wonder how Graetz experienced Tisha B’Av,
the yearly day of mourning on the Jewish calendar that commemorates the destructions
of the First and Second Temples. Living 18 centuries later, what did the events
of 70 C.E. mean to him?
The Mishnah and the Gemara of the
Yerushalmi provide a window into the period after 70 C.E. when the trauma is
still fresh (perhaps surprisingly so for the Mishnah, which was compiled nearly
a century and a half later, and even more surprising for the Gemara, which was
written more than two centuries later). Practices for Tisha B’Av have not
solidified into a standard set of observances, giving us a glimpse of the
shaping of a national observance of an historical event. This is interesting in
its own right, but particularly so now as our country is working out how to
commemorate 9/11 each year.
Let’s listen in on the conversation. Mishnah
tells us:
When Av
comes, rejoicing diminishes. In the week during which the Ninth of Av occurs,
it is prohibited to get a haircut or wash one’s clothing except on Thursday of
that week due to the honor of shabbat. On the eve of the Ninth of Av, a person
should not eat two cooked dishes, nor eat meat nor drink wine. Rabban Shimon b.
Gamliel says: one should make a change. R. Yehudah [says] it is obligatory to
overturn one’s bed, but the Sages did not agree with him. (Ta’anit 4:6; in the
Bavli Ta’anit 4:7)
The Bavli (Babylonian Talmud) includes
the same mishnah but without the prelude: “When Av comes, rejoicing
diminishes.” This simple statement is ironic. It evokes a similar one
pertaining to Purim: “When Adar comes, joy increases.” It sets the tone but
beyond the accepted full fast, it apparently does not establish the practices
around Tisha B’Av.
The Mishnah addresses what restrictions
should be in place in the days leading up to Tisha B’Av. Several elements of
mourning practice are stipulated, though we are also told that Shabbat trumps
Tisha B’Av with regard to clean clothing. What about food, in particular the
pre-fast meal? How elaborate should it be? People are inclined to eat a little
more, or perhaps a little better, before a 25-hour fast; the Mishnah seeks to
limit that, perhaps because doing so could be construed as actual feasting in the
run-up to Tisha B’Av. Just how drastic are these observances? They seem
reasonably mild. Yet Rabban Shimon b. Gamliel suggests that we stipulate only
that a person should make some change. Is he speaking only to the issue of the
pre-fast meal? Or is he speaking more broadly and saying that rather than
carving practices in stone, we should leave people to make some meaningful
change in their lives during the days before Tisha B’Av? We rarely see in the
Mishnah the express suggestion that people be encouraged to observe as they see
fit. I’m inclined to see R. Shimon’s statement as a general approach,
purposefully contrasting with R. Yehudah’s opinion, which is recounted after that of R. Shimon b. Gamliel. Overturning
the bed is was a custom in the case of the death. R. Yehudah’s suggestion goes
too far. It is one thing to mourn, quite another to follow customs as if one
had himself died.
How does a nation commemorate the
yahrzeit of a tragedy? Do we set out rites and rituals, or do we encourage
people to observe the anniversary in a way that befits them? If we choose the
latter, is it likely that in time all commemoration will fade and disappear?
Standardizing practice has an upside and a downside. In the plus column, a consistent
set of observances helps assure that the communal memory remains alive and
vivid, and the community can cohere around the commemoration. In the minus
column, it mandates observances that presume emotions people may not feel; this
puts them in the position of pretending to sadness and mourning they may not
feel.
The Gemara makes it clear that the
amorphous nature of practice related to Tisha B’Av continued well into the
third century. Two examples will suffice.
The first example concerns the question
of how to handle the situation if Tisha B’Av coincides with shabbat. R. Ba bar
Kohen reports in the name of R. Abbahu that all restrictions (discussed in the
Mishnah) are lifted for the week before and the week after. R. Yochanan and his
student R. Shimon b. Lakish offer differing opinions: one says the week
afterward is subject to mourning practices; the other says it is not. We then
find this curious comment:
R.
Chiyya bar Ba instructed the people of Tzippori [that the week after Tisha B’Av
is not subject to restrictions, per
the opinion of Resh Lakish], but they refused to accept his ruling.
The people made their own decision in
Tziporri, against the instructions of R. Chiyya! Not only that but other
communities also made their own choices:
The
Southerners (Jerusalemites) applied the prohibitions from the new moon of Av
onward. The people of Tzippori applied them for the entire month of Av. The
Tiberians applied them for the week [in which Tisha B’Av occurs]. The rabbis of
Tiberias reverted and applied them as the rabbis of Tzippori did.
We see considerable variation in
practice here. It hasn’t yet gelled. But at least we know that we fast on Tisha
B’Av, right? After all, Tisha B’Av means “the ninth of Av.” Yes, but not
entirely. This brings us to my second example.
R. Yermiah
in the name of R. Chiyya bar Ba: According to strict law they should fast on
the tenth of the month [of Av], the day on which the Temple was burned. Why
then is the fast on the ninth? Because on that day the punishment began. And so
it has been taught: On the seventh of Av [the Romans] entered [the Temple]. On
the eighth they battered it down. On the ninth they set fire to it. On the
tenth it burned down.
And indeed, different sages advocated
fasting on different days:
R.
Yehoshua b. Levi fasted on the ninth and on the tenth.
R. Avun
fasted on the ninth and on the tenth.
R. Levi
fasted on the ninth and on the right prior to the tenth.
R. Ba
bar Zabeda said in the name of R. Chanina: Rabbi [Yehudah ha-Nas] sought to
uproot the ninth of Av but others did not permit him. R. Eleazar said to him: I
was with you and that is not what was said. Rather, Rabbi sought to uproot the
ninth of Av when it coincided with the Sabbath [i.e. not observe it at all] but
they did not permit it. He said: Since it has been postponed [due to shabbat]
let it be postponed [until next year]. They said to him: Let it be postponed
until the next day [i.e. Sunday].
The conversation between R. Ba bar
Zabeda and R. Eleazar is particularly fascinating. The date for fasting, it
appears, will ultimately hinge on the opinion of R. Yehudah ha-Nasi but we have
disparate reports of what he said. How much of our tradition has been
determined by the oral reports of rabbis concerning the opinions of other
rabbis, which they may not have remembered entirely or correctly? Here we have
an early game of Rabbinic Telephone.
What we see here is the progressive
evolution of observances assigned to Tisha B’Av. The rabbis have divergent
opinions and practices, even two centuries after the event it commemorates.
It’s one thing for an individual or family to establish customs for birthdays,
Thanksgiving, observing a yahrzeit, and other dates of personal or familial
importance, but quite another for a nation to do so, especially a nation
without a strong central authority structure and with no political power.
In the end, R. Shimon b. Gamliel’s
opinion that we should change something in our routine is interpreted narrowly
as applying only to the pre-fast meal (and yes, even when that meal should be
taken is under debate). Not surprising.
I began by asking whether Heinrich Graetz (of the “lachrymose
conception of Jewish history”) would have loved Tisha B’Av. For Graetz, every
turn of the road leads to tragedy. Of course I cannot answer that. Today, how
many people are truly mourning the loss of the Temple? As a friend noted to me
last year: “I observe Tisha B’Av but I don’t fast. I remember, but I don’t
mourn.” I can appreciate that perspective. It may be the case that I am not
directly affected by the events of 70 C.E. — or at least that I don’t recognize
any effect — but the events have dramatically affected the Jewish community
then and now. That makes them worthy of recognition. That is why Yom haShoah —
commemorated this coming Sunday, April 7, 2013 — is now a fixed date on our
calendars, and services of remembrance will take place in communities around
the globe.
There is one thing that lingers in my mind. Graetz could
have defended his “lachrymose” view of Jewish history by citing the proliferation
of fast days on our calendar. In addition to the two full fasts of Yom Kippur
and Tisha B’Av, there are the daytime fasts of Esther, Gedalia, the firstborn
(preceding Pesach), the 17th of Tammuz, the 7th of Adar,
the 10th of Tevet, and for the Kabbalists of Tzfat, Yom Kippur Katan
— the day preceding every Rosh Chodesh throughout the year. If I haven’t missed
any, that’s 20 fast days in a single year. Perhaps a good diet plan, but is
this proliferation of mourning good for us? Here again, I turn to Salo Baron,
who observed in 1975, "Suffering is part of the destiny [of the Jew
people], but so is repeated joy as well as ultimate redemption." Perhaps
it’s time to shift the balance and conflate these fasts into three days: Yom
Kippur (our personal spiritual fast), Tisha B’Av (a sea change in our national
history), and Yom haShoah (an unprecedented genocide in the history of
humankind, and one that still touches us two generations later). I am
fully aware that will not happen. Rather, what happens is that many Jews simply
do not observe the minor fast days because there are too many of them and the
events they commemorate no longer hold meaning for them. That, too, is part of
the evolution of national practice. We’re still working it out.
© Rabbi Amy Scheinerman
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