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Reform Judaism and Tishah B’Av

Written by Rabbi Tony Hammond Monday, 12 July 2010

Rabbi Tony Hammond, Chair of the Assembly of Reform Rabbis, UK reflects on the meaning of Tishah B'Av which marks the destruction of the Second Temple. For Jews who do not pray for the restoration of the Temple Sacrifices, he notes, the observance of the fast of Tishah B’Av will necessarily carry a different weight of meaning for them than it will for those who do pray for the restoration.

As Reform Jews we can contemplate with some equanimity the ending of the ancient sacrificial cult, since we may understand it as a religious expression which was superseded by the synagogue service, itself not only marking an advance in the evolution of religious worship, but also reflecting the strength of a prophetic tradition which had often taken issue with the sacrificial cult.

But the destruction was devastating in its time and long-lasting in its effect. With the loss of Temple went loss of life, loss of national autonomy, loss of home and a fear of spiritual abandonment. With the doubtfulness of the people’s survival came doubtfulness about the survival of Judaism itself.

No-one who reflects on that destruction should fail to be moved by pity and, even at this distance in time, sorrow at the suffering of our people. It is that movement of the heart towards the suffering of our people which Tishah B’Av can give ritual expression to, and little though we may mourn the Temple itself, we can mourn no less deeply the loss of home, security, spiritual assurance, and life itself in the succession of calamities which are also commemorated on the 9th of Av such as the medieval expulsion of our people from England and Spain.

Unlike the Shoah, which is close enough still to touch our present generations, those ancient calamities seem to belong more to our ancestors than to us. Similarly the theology attendant on Tishah B’Av in our rabbinic tradition, which came to offer some account of God’s permission of the suffering and tentatively some spiritual consolation and healing does not, for us, I would suggest, provide similar consolation concerning the Shoah.

Perhaps, though, our sincere search to find appropriate Reform ways to observe the Fast of Av will, but only in the course of time, allow us to bring the Shoah, too, into the remembering, reflection and prayer that Tishah B’Av calls us to.