Tisha B’Av (the midsummer day of Jewish mourning for the
ancient Temples in Jerusalem, and of hope for a transformed future) can be
focused on the endangered Earth as our Temple. As the ancient Temples were
burned by the Babylonian and Roman Empires, so Temple Earth is bring burnt,
boiled, broiled by imperious Fossil Fuel Corporations bent on increasing
already Hyper-Profits.
Ancient midrash asked, “When was the first chant of Eicha
(the first lamenting word of the Book of Lamentations)? And the answer came,
“Ayekka!” – a word that has the same root letters and means “Where are you?” It
was God’s own wailing outcry in the parable of Eden.
Rabbi
Arthur Waskow
______________________________
in these days of discontent and fear
in these days as the sun burns red, and the forest are
destroyed
as the springs run dry and the rivers die
in these days of resentment and intolerance
in these days as Supreme courts wallow in the fetid waste
of dominion and greed
in these days of injustice and inequity
in these days of denial and inaction
in these days we cry Eicha
Why?
in anguish, sorrow, and perhaps anger
we lament
Why?
Why is this happening
Why is there no answer
Why is God silent
Eicha!
we question, we struggle
we wonder
where is God?
this is our lament
that Love seems to have gone missing
it is a chronic condition
Eicha!
spoken by the Jewish people in exile
spoken at the destruction of the temple by Babylon
spoken at the destruction of the temple by Rome
spoken in the ghettos of Europe
spoken in the death camps of Nazi Germany
Eicha!
spoken too, in different tongues
by black people entombed on slavers
by the indigenous people assailed by colonial greed
Eicha!
spoken by all the oppressed
then and now
the forever cry
Why?
it is perhaps telling that in the traditions of the
Midrash
the first lament is attributed to God
ayekka
Where are you?
God’s anguish at children lost
children hiding
children denying
children seeking power, using power, abusing power
God’s anguish
where have you gone?
and in that lament the answer
to our lament
why?
where have you gone?
why?
because we are in hiding
because we are ashamed
because
God laments our departure
because that departure births other laments
why?
Because we are distant
we are cut off
we are in an exile of our own making
it is time to stop hiding
it is time to draw near
it is time to believe, to trust in Love
it is time to follow
it is time to connect
where are you?
Lord, we are here!
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