Chevre:
This Saturday night and Sunday we commemorate Tish’ah B’Av the 9thday of the Hebrew month of Av. This fast day culminates the 3-week period of mourning commemorating the destruction of both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. Over the centuries, other catastrophes that befell the Jewish people have also become associated with this day of mourning.

Most congregations commemorate the day by conducting services in the mourning and reading Megillat Eychah (The Book of Lamentations) and kinot (dirges/sad poems) of mourning.

We are not going to do that this year. I am inviting you instead, to join me at the shul on Sunday morning, August 11th for a Power Point presentation and discussion based on some of the material I learned during my week at Yad Vashem. One video will be about Jewish life before the War. Another will be about spiritual and physical resistance and the last will be about returning to “life” – DP camps and onward. I will start and stop the videos to explain things, ask questions and/or point out particular aspects for us to ponder.

It will be a casual and crowded morning. I expect the whole program will last an hour and a half – no more than 2 hours. We will use the large TV screen in the downstairs conference room where we usually eat lunch on Shabbat morning. God willing and with your help, we will pack the space full. You may bring water, even though it is a fast day. NO FOOD though!

I need RSVPs to info@tbstemecula.org. Seriously! I want to have some idea of how many chairs to put out.