On the eve of Tisha B’Av, a rumination on how we experience our worst misfortunes as punishments, and how some move from that to self-punishment and then to punishing others
What the day of the Temple’s destruction can teach us about divinity and religious life in the shadow of COVID-19
On the first Tisha B’Av after the Pittsburgh massacre, understanding the horror of destruction—and the possibility of renewed joy
Jewish organizations turn the day of mourning into a day of protest
The Shabbat after Tisha B’Av is a time of comfort to the long-suffering Jewish people. Awhile back, in a strange bar in a strange land, I experienced it for myself.
On the perils of trying to divine God’s will
Why I spent Tisha B’Av service at the OccupyICE tent in Portland
Judaism gives us the physical and spiritual cleanse system we need
How Jews observe Tisha B’Av in Rome, where the Arch of Titus commemorates the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem
This Tisha B’Av, I’ll be mourning for a different site of spiritual importance in Jerusalem
Remembering the heilige yid of Manhattan’s West Side in the 1960s and ’70s
This Tisha B’Av, I tried a new tradition: buying strangers lunch
Rokhl’s Golden City: Get out while you still can. Hit the Yiddish hills, escape into ’80s TV (when Russians were Russians and women wrestled), or just flee to Canada.
There’ll never be a Moo Goo Gai Pan quite like Schmulka Bernstein’s
The holiday frequently brings sermons about Jewish unity, but the story of the destruction of the Temple offers a very different message
My mother’s terrifying fear of losing me started with her fear of being lost herself
Sure, Tu B’Av is a time for romance. But in today’s divisive climate, the holiday also provides us with an opportunity to feel hopeful, and to sing together.
According to Jewish tradition, all the calamities of our 2,000-year exile can be traced to a fatal flaw that is still with us