Tisha b'Av is both a specific date on the calendar each year, and a vessel for grief spanning past, present, and future. The haunting words of Eicha, Lamentations, are both clearly rooted in a specific tragedy and describe a suffering that cannot possibly be contained within the discreet events which Tisha b'Av commemorates. Together, we will explore early rabbinic, medieval, and modern responses to Tisha b'Av, its canonical text, and its application for our own processes of grief.

Alex Goldfarb (he/him) is a fourth-year rabbinical student at Hebrew College and a Learning Guide at Lehrhaus. He is the B'nai Mitzvah Coordinator for Temple Emanu-El in Providence, as well as the Rabbinic Fellow at Brandeis Hillel. Alex is a dedicated learner and teacher of rabbinic literature, soup recipes, and Greater Boston cycleways.