Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation

Rabbi Gabrielle Pescador

Finding Connections In Times of Need

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By Rabbi Gabrielle Pescador

Beautiful Bog at Eddy Nature Center

In times of crisis, it is very important to find connections and sources for support.  Reach out to loved ones, attend to self-care, and be patient with yourselves.  It’s okay to not know what to say and to have mixed feelings.  It’s okay to be silent from the shock of it all.  And it’s okay to pray, not for answers, but to hear your own voice.  In the words of CS Lewis, “I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God. It changes me.”    

We have 2 opportunities to pray together in community this weekend, on Shabbat and on Sunday morning for our first Rosh Chodesh minyan.  And if praying alone is better for you right now, then do that.   Hitbodedut (self-isolation) is a style of prayer popularized by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.  It is a way to be in open, spontaneous, and direct communication with God that is accessible using our own words, not the words of the siddur in rabbinic Hebrew or Aramaic.   Hitbodedut can be done anywhere, but Nachman recommended that it is best done in nature, as “each and every grass blade has a song which it sings, and from the grass’s song, the shepherd’s melody is created”  ((Likutei Moharan 63:1:2).  The hope is that being in nature allows the nervous system to settle down so that we are better able to hear those songs and be nurtured by them.


There will be a time to be critical, to analyze and make assessments.  Some of us are ready and for others it is way too soon.  Wherever you find yourself, be gentle and be kind, and remember to care of yourself as well as the ones you hold dear.   

Service Details:

Saturday Morning Shabbat Service: Saturday October 14th, 10:30am-noon. Meditation, prayer, discussion, community. Everyone is welcome! Hybrid services will be in person at the JCC of Ann Arbor and online via zoom. Email aarcgillian@gmail.com or see your weekly mailers for the zoom link if you would like to attend online.

Rosh Chodesh Online Minyan: Please join Rav Gavrielle on Sunday, October 15 at 9 am for a morning service on zoom to celebrate Rosh Chodesh.   She will be weaving prayer, nigunim and teachings on Rosh Chodesh practice and the special qualities of the upcoming Hebrew month of Cheshvan. Email aarcgillian@gmail.com or see your weekly mailers for the zoom link if you would like to attend.

Join AARC for Tisha B’av with Rabbi Gabrielle Pescador!

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By Rabbi Gabrielle Pescador

Tisha B’av, Wednesday July 26th, 8pm-9:15pm, Hybrid at the JCC of Ann Arbor and Zoom.

Tisha B’av, the ninth day of the month of Av, marks a day of communal mourning in the Jewish calendar. The holiday is most noted for commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem (586 B.C.E. and 70 C.E. respectively). According to the chronology of the Talmudic rabbis, many catastrophic events during the biblical period occurred on the 9th of Av, including the shattering of the 10 commandments and the worshipping of the golden calf.  The rabbis in later periods made connections between Tisha B’av and the expulsions of the Jews from England and Spain, as well as other disasters.  

Tisha B’av observances include fasting and abstaining from activities of pleasure and comfort such as washing, sexual activity, using perfume and make up, and wearing leather.  On the Eve of Tisha B’av people gather in the synagogue to hear the chanting of Eicha (The Book of Lamentations) and kinot (mournful liturgical poems).  The lights of the synagogue are dimmed and many people sit on the floor or on low stools as expressions of mourning.   People also have a second opportunity to hear the chanting of Eicha during the morning service the next day.  

Eicha is one of the five megillot (scrolls), which is part of the section of the Tanach called Writings. Eicha laments the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem and the exile of the tribe of Judah.  Attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, Eicha is an intensely poetic exploration of the suffering of a personified Jerusalem and its former inhabitants. 

The Talmudic rabbis attribute the destruction of the Second Temple to “sinat chinam,” baseless hatred among Jews, highlighting the importance of following mitzvot concerning our interactions with and obligations toward others, “mitzvot beyn adam lachavero.”  Torah teaches us to love our neighbors and it also teaches us not to hate them, harbor resentment or hold a grudge (Leviticus 19:17-18). 

On Tisha B’av, AARC will gather to observe the holiday in a lamenting circle, to hold one another as we sit with our grief and share what is troubling us about the world today.  Tisha B’av is not a day to come up with solutions or be called to action.  It is a day to grieve collectively and lament; it is a day to listen from the heart and chant niggunim from Eicha, our ancient text of deep sorrow.   As a ritual of communal mourning, Tisha B’av reminds us that we do not need to grieve by ourselves.  We are not alone; we have one another.

Links:  

The Observance of Tisha B’Av
The Book of Eicha: Faith in a Whirlwind

Niggun from Eicha 3:22, https://youtu.be/7HD6WmUHIUo

Eli Tziyon, Ashkenazi Liturgical Poem for Tisha B’av, https://youtu.be/w1_8fMwQNIY 

Contemporary Kinah, “Kinah L’khurban Gan Eden,” by Richard Kaplan, an Eco-Lament (lyrics below), http://www.neohasid.org/audio/khurban.mp3