We’re past, just barely, the lowest point in the Jewish calendar. The climb up from the bottom won’t be easy or swift. This post invites a pause at this point of transition between moments “of affliction” and those “of comfort.” (Calendar note below)
The first “haftarah of affliction” (prophetic reading of warning in lead-up to Tisha B’Av) is Jeremiah 1:1 – 2:3. In this passage, God’s conversation with Jeremiah begins with the prophet in the womb (1:5) and then protesting that he is still a youth and “doesn’t know how to speak” (1:6). It closes with a message of God’s nostalgia a long-past honeymoon period with Yisrael (Jer 2:2-3), more positive in divine recollection than in what the Torah tells us of those “wilderness years.”
The third haftarah of affliction, Isaiah 1:1-27, speaks of the People as rebellious children (1:2) and expresses frustration and despair. But it also offers instruction and hope. (See also “How?! A Roadmap for Transformation” post and PDF).) In one noteworthy expression, God proposes a kind of joint process: “Lekhu nah v’nivakh’cha [לְכוּ־נָא וְנִוָּכְחָה], Let us please walk/move together and let’s understand this.” There’s a lot to unpack here, in terms of power dynamics — see also Computing Failures and Babylon. But one key element seems to be that, even in the midst of disaster, there is a way out.
The middle haftarah of affliction, centering on Jer 2:4-28, includes a verse that seems to resonate with many of us this year in particular:
For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, That can hold no water.
…Some of these remarks were shared in a slightly different form with Tzedek Chicago for Tisha B’Av 5785 and build on learning within that community…
Stone well with wooden cover. Image by Bernd via Pixabay
Moving Toward Post-Upset Relationship
One way to view this series is as a relationship growing up: That is, it begins in reading 1 with an unrealistic view of relationship — as is common both at the start (when expectations may be great) and later on (in missing the good old days that never were) — of romantic sort as well as in collectives and communities. It closes in reading 3 with the instruction to “Learn to do good” (Isaiah 1:17), which refuses to let the relationship just whither, and the request (1:18) that we work this out together to move ahead… in what might seem like a more equitable and/or realistic relationship.
In the middle, we have God acknowledging brokenness — cisterns that are not functioning in nourishing ways — while simultaneously reminding us that we have access to the source, the Fount of Living Water. As if God were saying, through Jeremiah: “You’ve already got Torah, but human language and problems have realy messed up how you’re perceiving and acting on it: You’re trying to hold Torah in shapes that broke long ago.”
The point is, I think, is that we are not without resources and power. In fact, God seems to be furious that we cannot figure out how to use what we have in ways that nourish everyone.
As Rabbi Brant Rosen, at Tzedek Chicago, and Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg, who helped teach the “Facing Collapse Together” workshop, and many others have said recently: Some things we used to rely on are broken beyond repair, and maybe that’s good.
We’ve got a complex set of traditions that we have to sift through to find what still holds water, so to speak. We’re going to have to find some kind of new container for Torah. We have to do this together in community, even as so many structures and relationships are stretched to the brink, if not beyond. The world is putting so much stress on each of us individually, and ripping at our collectives, so we’re going to have to work harder to be sure that we’re building community that honors each of our participants and helps us figure out how to create cisterns that reflect and nourish all.
Shifting Power
Part of the struggle is in learning how to function in, with, and in opposition to power…. which reminds of this prayer-song, published more than four years ago —
— and somehow more poignant, now, as Jews continue to grapple with what influence we have or do not have in government wherever we are (DC doesn’t even have a Senator or voting representation in the House); what avenues are open to stopping US support for genocidal war and land-grab in Gaza AND the West Bank; and what collaborative efforts are possible, given our shifting communal boundaries.
Maybe we’ve got to approach the border, like that sea, anew and find a new song.
Calendar Note:
Here, for anyone interested, is a summary of the time periods known as “The Three Weeks,” “the Nine Days,” and “the Nine Days of Jerry” (or the “Days Between”):
Jeremiah 1:1-2:3 was read this year on Shabbat Pinchas, July 19, 2025.
Jeremiah 2:4-28 was read this year on Shabbat Mattot-Masei (July 26). Ashkenazi tradition ends with Jer 3:4; Sephardic tradition ends with Jer 4:1-2; some communities include additional verses for Rosh Chodesh Av.
Isaiah 1:1-27 was read this year on Shabbat Devarim (Shabbat Chazon), August 1.
Haftarot of Comfort begin with Isaiah 40:1-26, read in 5785 on August 9, on Shabbat Nachamu, and continue through Av and Elul toward the high holidays.
Calendar Notes for a Summer of Collapse — Part 3 (of 10) — songeveryday.org
The “Hows” of this season outline a difficult journey, built into the Jewish calendar. Following this annual journey can remind us that building community is hard work that can easily get off track.
— This piece originally appeared in Matir Asurim’s 5783 Tisha B’Av Mailer —
“How” is the sort of word that is used a lot without getting much attention. But this small, often overlooked word is important to a time of transformation in the Jewish calendar. The word creates a kind of roadmap for heading into, and climbing out of, Tisha B’Av, the lowest point of the Jewish calendar.
“How [Eikhah]” is the first word, and the Hebrew title, of the Book of Lamentations, read on Tisha B’av. It is also a key word in the Torah and prophetic readings for “Shabbat Chazon,” the sabbath of vision, right before. Together, the “how” readings cover a lot of emotional territory.
In English, “how” can be used to express different ideas:
Frustration: “How are we supposed to do this?!”
Disbelief: “How could this happen?
Despair: “How awful!”
Questioning: “How does this work?”
The Hebrew word “eikhah” has similar uses in the Bible, generally, and in readings of this season:
Frustration: Moses re-telling complaints about the People’s behavior in the wilderness:
“Eikhah/How can I, alone, bear the trouble of you!……the burden, and the bickering!” — Deuteronomy 1:12, Torah reading for Shabbat Chazon
Disbelief: God criticizing the People in Isaiah’s prophecy, set in 8th Century BCE:
Eikhah/How has the faithful city become perverse?…She was full of justice righteousness lived in her. But now murderers — “ — Isaiah 1:21, prophetic reading for Shabbat Chazon
Despair: mourning destruction of the First Temple and exile, 6th Century BCE:
“Eikhah/How lonely sits the city!…”
Once great with people! She was great among nations, now alone and vulnerable.
Once a powerhouse, now just one of the ruled.” — Lamentations/Eikhah 1:1,* reading for Tisha B’Av
Questioning: Jews trying to find meaning and move forward through disaster:
“How did we get here?” and “How do we go on?”
— centuries of Jewish teaching about destruction and tragedy
(Bible translations adapted from Jewish Publication Society 1985)
These “Hows” outline a difficult journey, built into the Jewish calendar. Following this annual journey can remind us that building community is hard work that can easily get off track.
How did we get here?
The Book of Deuteronomy opens with Moses and the People at the end of a forty-year journey. They stand on the river’s edge, imagining life on the other side. When they first escaped into thewilderness, a “promised land” seemed just around the corner. Decades later, the People have been through a lot. Mosesis listing their mistakes and his disappointments, crying:
“How can I manage this burden!” (Deut 1:12)
This is a community in trouble and out of balance. Maybe not all that different from our own?
The Book of Isaiah opens a long time later, on the other side of the river. But the vision of a “promised land” now seems like a nightmare. Isaiah tells the People they are focused on the wrong things and have become a burden, even to God:
“Your rituals are a burden to me…Your hands are full of blood.” (Isaiah 1:14-15).
The prophet’s harsh words point to a whole nation troubled, out of balance, and wondering: How could dreams of justice and righteousness go so deeply wrong?
In Lamentations, the Temple is in ruins, and the People face exile. Vision of a “promised land” seems in the past. Tisha B’Av mourns loss of dreams and hopes, as well as lives and homes. This won’t be the only time in history that Jews ask: “How?! How did our visions turn into this painful mess?!” We have always struggled to share burdens in our communities. We’ve always fallen short of our visions. That is one message of the “How” readings. But it’s not the only message.
How do we go on?
The “How” readings also tell us that we are expected to do better, as individuals and society:
Learn to do good. Devote yourselves to justice; Aid the wronged. Uphold the rights of the orphan; Defend the cause of the widow –Isaiah 1:17
Where did our ideas of community fail in the past? What visions must we mourn? Shabbat Chazon prompts us to envision something truly new, and imagine steps toward needed change. Tisha B’Av reminds us to expect failure and to mourn our losses. But the calendar nudges us forward.
There are seven weeks from Tisha B’Av to the new year. The “How” readings give us our homework, well in advance. We have work to do. And that work starts with “Learn.”
Image: Hebrew word Eikhah in Hebrew characters, plus English “How?! How? How!
Many teachings surrounding Tisha B’Av and destruction of the Temples focus on “baseless hatred” — sinat chinam [שנאת חנם] — as a cause. Some focus on rifts between Jews; others take a wider view of community harm. But many threads of such Jewish teachings ask us to use The Nine Days, the period between Rosh Chodesh Av and Tisha B’Av, to reflect on what needs repairing in our various communities.
We might consider these the Nine Days of Curiosity. And one place to pursue such curiosity is the career of Rabbi Akiva mentioned in part 1 (“Summer Breather, Toward Fall“). We can reflect on the “plague of disrespect” that affected 12,000 pairs of his students (B. Yebamot 62b) and consider what this legend teaches.
We might ask, for example: How could anyone miss such a widespread problem under their care? Were the students masking their true feelings? Was there a wider culture of disrespect at work? How were Akiva and the students affected by the difficult political climate in which they were trying to function?
We might also ask: Who among the students saw that there was a problem? Did they approach the teacher? Did they seek out other students? Whose responsibility is a communal problem, small or widespread?
These are just a few questions to spark curiosity for the month of Av.
Purim, Passover and the Omer Period, then Shavuot;
The months of Adar, Nisan, Iyar, and Sivan mark, on the one hand, winter’s overturning, the early (barley) and the later (wheat) harvests; on the other:
unveiling of hidden power, the beginnings of Liberation, the path to Sinai, and Revelation.
After all that, Tammuz holds one minor fast day.
The 17th of Tammuz starts the semi-mourning period of “The Three Weeks” (see below). And that period leads into preparations for the High Holidays and “THE festival” of Sukkot in the fall.
Tammuz itself offers a kind of breather. And For Times Such as These suggests it is a good month to ask:
What’s growing in your garden now? What is feeding you? What does the sun have to offer? Where do you see signs of what’s been destroyed in your communities?
What destruction needs attending to? How are the hurts of your communities/histories manifesting in the collective body?
What grief is unresolved and impacting your community? — Rabbi Ariana Katz & Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg. For Times Such as These: A Radical’s guide to the Jewish Year (Wayne State University Press, 2024), p.249
As Tammuz comes to a close — the month ends this year on July 25 — we can still ponder, carrying our answers or remaining questions into the next phase of the calendar.
The new month of Av begins on Shabbat, July 25-26 (2025) and For Times Such as These suggests that we ask:
NOTE: Av questions relating to love and sex seem better suited to the post-mourning days of the month; again, see calendar notes below, and check out For Times Such as These for more on the Jewish year.
God’s Questions and Ours
God has a lot of questions for us, according to the prophet Jeremiah*:
1) what? [מַה, mem-hey, mah] — Jeremiah 2:5
2-4) where? where? where? [אַיֵּה, alef-yud-hey, ayyeh] — Jer 2:6, 2:8, and 2:28
5) why? [מַדּוּעַ, mem-dalet-vav-ayin, madua‘] — Jer 2:14
6-7) whatsoever? or what-in-any-way? [מַה־לָּךְ, mah+lamed-kaf] — twice in Jer 2:18
8) how? [אֵיךְ, alef-yud-kaf, eikh] — Jer 2:23
Interrogatives are not unusual in biblical Hebrew. But eight in the space of 24 verses has an impact. Together, the piled up questions turn this passage into a kind of awareness demand.
Three of these interrogatives — what, where, and how — are part of questions we might already be asking ourselves, and each other, for the months of Tammuz and Av (see page 1).
In addition, the final question, Eikh [How?], hints at a theme in the next week’s readings, which are dominated by “Eikhah / How?!” as lament.
It’s important to ask specific, seasonal questions — and lean into the lament they raise. And it can be oddly comforting to know that the Jewish calendar is designed to stress this need. But it can also be helpful to imagine a less specific dialogue with the divine, one centered around questions as wake-up call: What? Where? Why? What-in-any-way? How?
———–
*Jeremiah 2:4-28 plus 3:4 is read as the second “haftarah of affliction” in preparation for Tisha B’Av. When, as in 5785/2025, the reading comes on Rosh Chodesh Av, two verses about new moons are added to close the haftarah: Isaiah 66:1, 66:23.
** For language geeks and trivia lovers: The form of “where” in Jeremiah 2 is lengthened from the simpler alef-yud, אַי. The Brown-Driver-Briggs biblical dictionary adds about this form:
used of both persons & things (but never with a verb [contrast אֵיפֹה (eifo, alef-yud-pei-hey)]; oft. in poet. or elevated style, where the answer nowhere is expected…
————————-
Broken Cisterns, Holding Water
Amid all the questions, this chapter of Jeremiah includes the following divine complaint:
For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, That can hold no water.
— Jer 2:13, (JPS 1917 translation — a little old-fashioned, but chosen for its rhythms)
Water is often linked with Torah and with healing. So God’s complaint might be understood as accusing the people of failing to value God’s teaching and healing, and of creating faulty containers, unsuitable for gathering and preserving God’s life-giving offerings.
A related passage in Proverbs is used for much commentary on Torah, water, and healing:
Proverbs 5:15) Drink water from your own cistern [borkha], Running water from your own well.
16) Your springs will gush forth In streams in the public squares. [Revised JPS 2023]
These teachings, attributed the Talmud’s Rabbi Akiva, focus on the idea of bor [pit/cistern]:
In this season of contemplating all that is broken, in and around us, the Jeremiah and Proverbs images and Rabbi Akiva’s teaching are worth reflection. Here are some questions for this particular season:
In what ways have our Torah-containers broken, over time and more recently?
Are all such breaks “bad”? How might cracks help us move forward differently?
Have we (individuals, communities, society) forsaken divine teaching? How? And, if so, how might we remedy that?
What kinds of containers do we need for communal Torah today?
What kind of work is required to build what is needed?
How does the imagery in Prov 5:15-16 differ from that found in Jeremiah?
— Is one vision more universal than the other?
— Is either more hopeful?
— Many translations, including RJPS, opt for “your own cistern” and “your own well” rather than just “your cistern” and “your well.” What is “ours” or “our own”?
— Does sticking to our (own) Torah caution us from “bad” teaching? limit us in some way? Or does it encourage us to bring out our (own) Torah?
How does Akiva’s imagery differ from that in the biblical passages?
— How does Torah/water get into the cistern in the two sets of images?
— A pit may contain no water to start with, but is all Torah poured in by scholars?
— Consider, too, this story about Akiva himself, water, and a bor:
Speaking of Broken Things
Akiva (c. 50 – 135 CE) is a huge figure in the Talmud and later lore. For this summer of collapse, it’s particularly worth noting that Akiva was a controversial figure in the politics of responding to Roman occupation and that two of the most quoted stories about him involve major tragedy: his 24,000 students who died in a plague of disrespect (B. Yebamot 62b), and “the four who entered Paradise” (B. Chagigah 14b: Wikipedia’s basic page on the legend of Pardes is pretty useful).
The latter story brings us back to stones and water — in a strange, mystical way:
[Akiva told his fellow travelers:] When you reach the stones of pure marble, don’t say, “Water! Water!” As it states, “One who speaks falsehood shall not endure before My eyes” [Psalms 101:7]— Babylonian Talmud, Chagigah 14b
Four men entered pardes [paradise]: Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Acher ([“Other”], Elisha ben Abuyah), and Akiva. We are told: “Ben Azzai looked and died; Ben Zoma looked and went mad; Acher destroyed the plants [became a heretic]; Akiva entered in peace [or wholeness, “shalom”] and departed in peace” (B. Chagigah 14b again). Many teachers assume that this means Akiva was of superior mind or spirit. But the story does raise the question: What does it mean to survive in wholeness amid such disaster, for near friends and so many others? Returning to the For Times Such as These questions for Tammuz:
Where do you see signs of what’s been destroyed in your communities?
What destruction needs attending to?
How are the hurts of your communities/histories manifesting in the collective body?
What grief is unresolved and impacting your community?
Toward Tisha B’Av, “Within the Straits,” and Then Beyond: Calendar Notes for Tammuz and Av and Elul — here as PDF (if anyone needs another format for accessibility, please advise) —
Presentation title page: “Matir Asurim: Introduction to the Jewish Care Network for Incarcerated People,” Yom Kippur 5785 — Virginia Avniel Spatz. + Tzedek Chicago logo
Some of us have been worshiping together for much of the day. Others may be joining from another context. Either way, I hope this hour will bring focus to one way we can engage in teshuvah/repair for the coming year. The basic concept for this session is that I was asked to share a little about my volunteer work with the organization, Matir Asurim: The Jewish Care Network for Incarcerated People, and bring some text to link that work with Yom Kippur.
Overview, Basics, and Contacts
[SLIDE 2]. The planned shape of the session is:
Basics and contact information for myself and the organization Matir Asurim
Text exploration: Genesis 44
Matir Asurim Guiding Principles
Back to Genesis 44
Thoughts for Yom Kippur and into 5785
So, let’s get started with some basics
[SLIDE 3] Matir Asurim — “One Who Frees Captives”
Who We Are: “We are a collection of Chaplains, Rabbis, Cantors, Kohanot/Hebrew Priestesses, advocates, activists, volunteers, loved ones of incarcerated people, and people with direct experience of incarceration. We are an all volunteer group who began meeting in 2021. We live and work across Turtle Island, in territories, cities, and rural settings of the US and Canada.”
I’ve been volunteering with Matir Asurim for close to two years,
producing the monthly e-newsletter,
serving as a penpal/chevruta partner with an incarcerated Jew,
helping to create resources for readers who are incarcerated,
helping craft materials for outside readers around incarceration,
producing some additional programming,
and working on organizational infrastructure.
We’ll get into some more specifics a bit later. Meanwhile, some contacts:
[Summary] Joseph is 12th of 13 siblings in the family of Jacob, Rachel, Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah. In his youth, he was the favorite of his father, Jacob, and an annoyance to the rest of the family. So, Joseph’s brothers attempt to get rid of him. Their scheming takes an odd turn, however, and, although his family does not know it, Joseph becomes a powerful government leader in Mitzrayim, second in command to Pharaoh.
When famine strikes in Canaan, Jacob sends the brothers down to Mitzrayim, where grain is plentiful, to beg food. Joseph, still unrecognized by his brothers, treats the brothers to a feast at the palace and grants the requested supplies.
Joseph also orchestrates a criminal charge against the youngest brother – thus creating a situation in which the older siblings can again harm a younger brother, or they can act to avoid such harm.
Genesis 44 starts as the brothers leave the palace with the supplies.
[SLIDE 5] Genesis 44 Revised (2023) Jewish Publication Society translation, via Sefaria
1) Then he [Joseph] instructed his house steward as follows, “Fill the men’s bags with food, as much as they can carry, and put each one’s money in the mouth of his bag.
2) Put my silver goblet in the mouth of the bag of the youngest one, together with his money for the rations.” And he did as Joseph told him.
3) With the first light of morning, the men were sent off with their pack animals.
4) They had just left the city and had not gone far, when Joseph said to his house steward, “Up, go after those men! And when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why did you repay good with evil?”…
[The house steward follows Joseph’s orders, going after the brothers and accusing them of stealing the goblet.]
12) He searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest; and the goblet turned up in Benjamin’s bag.
13) At this they rent their clothes. Each reloaded his pack animal, and they returned to the city.
[SLIDE 6] (Genesis 44 cont.)
14) When Judah and his brothers reentered the house of Joseph, who was still there, they threw themselves on the ground before him.
15) Joseph said to them, “What is this deed that you have done? Do you not know that a man like me practices divination?”
16) Judah replied, “What can we say to my lord? How can we plead, how can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered the crime of your servants. Here we are, then, slaves of my lord, the rest of us as much as the one in whose possession the goblet was found.”
17) But [Joseph] replied, “Far be it from me to act thus! Only the man in whose possession the goblet was found shall be my slave; the rest of you go back in peace to your father.”
18) Then Judah went up to him and said, “Please, my lord, let your servant appeal to my lord, and do not be impatient with your servant, you who are the equal of Pharaoh. [Link to bilingual English/Hebrew at Mechon-Mamre]
pray let your servant speak a word in the ears of my lord,
יְדַבֶּר־נָא עַבְדְּךָ דָבָר בְּאׇזְנֵי אֲדֹנִי
and do not let your anger flare up against your servant,
וְאַל־יִחַר אַפְּךָ בְּעַבְדֶּךָ
for you are like Pharaoh!
כִּי כָמוֹךָ כְּפַרְעֹה׃
va’yigash eilav…
This expression, va’yigash eilavis, is worth considering. It comes up in midrash about this Torah story and it appears in Maimonides vocabulary discussion.
Jewish Teachers Discuss “Approaching”
[SLIDE 8] This is a small portion from Maimonides Guide for the Perplexed. Part 1 has many chapters focusing on Hebrew vocabulary.
BTW, I highly recommend checking out Maimonides’ vocabulary chapters, if you can. Sefaria offers free bilingual text with live links to the Tanakh verses mentioned, and I find it a worthwhile exercise to spend some time with the words Maimonides discusses.
Part 1, Chapter 18 is about three similar words: Karov, Naga, and Nagash
קרוב – נגוע – נגוש
Maimonides writes:
“THE three words karab, “to come near,” naga‘, “to touch,” and nagash, “to approach,” sometimes signify “contact” or “nearness in space,” sometimes the approach of man’s knowledge to an object, as if it resembled the physical approach of one body to another.”
He gives examples of each usage, including Gen 44:18: “…And Judah drew near (va-yiggash) unto him”
While we pursue the exchange between Judah and Joseph, it’s worth keeping this expression and the Hebrew vocabulary in mind, more generally: What does it mean to be near to another person in terms of physical space and knowledge of another?
A number of teachers over the centuries have derived lessons from Genesis 44:18. Here are two…
[SLIDE 9] va’yigash eilav yehudah…
It is asked: Judah and Joseph are already in the same room. So, why does the text tell us that Judah vayigash, “drew near” or “came in contact”?
One answer: Jacob ben Asher says:
The last letters of these three words — vayigaSH eilaV yehudaH,shin-vav-hey — spell “shaveh, שָׁוֶה [equal].” Judah’s step forward changes the dynamic, allowing the brothers to speak directly, as equals.
Another answer: The 18th Century teacher, Or Hachayim, from Morocco, cites Prov 27:19: “As face answers to face in water, So does one person’s heart to another”
Building on his teaching, we can see Judah’s step forward as an attempt to create a face-to-face encounter. This was a struggle for Judah, to step across apparent cultural differences and the gap in their positions. The result, ultimately, was reconciliation between the brothers.
This principle of seeking face-to-face interaction can be useful for the season of teshuvah to consider when taking steps in interpersonal reconciliation.
It is also a guiding principle for Matir Asurim as an organization.
Matir Asurim Guiding Concepts
[SLIDE 10] Panim-el-Panim, seeking face-to-face approach, is a guiding principle of Matir Asurim: “Seeking ‘face-to-face’ interactions, despite difference, distance and bars; approaching one another as equals and striving to work in genuine relationship.”
This shapes our penpal relationships, our creation of resources for those who are behind bars, as well as any advocacy on legislation or change of practices, regulations, and conditions inside.
Matir Asurim seeks to provide resources that reflect realities in carceral facilities which often include circumstances that contradict assumptions in much Jewish teaching
reciting prayers or reading Torah right next to toilets;
reciting daily prayers upon waking, which might not align with shacharit, morning prayers, at all;
figuring out how to create community in isolation, when so much of Jewish life assumes access to community (not exclusively an incarceration issue, but a BIG challenge for Jew who are incarcerated)
There are enormous challenges to organizing across bars, and we know that people inside are counting on those of us on the outside to organize and advocate where they cannot.
Still, it’s crucial to take our lead from incarcerated people and those who have experienced incarceration.
All people are created in the image of the Divine.
We all carry a spark of divine goodness as well as the capacity for creative action and transformation.
Teshuva [repentance/return]:
We believe in human resilience and transformation, in our ability to make amends after experiencing and/or perpetrating harm.
We practice this relationally as conflict arises within our organizing, and also strive to create a world that uplifts restorative accountability processes rather than punishment.
Refua Shleima [Complete Healing]:
We work towards collective healing and wholeness, striving to restore balanced relationships within the broader interconnected web of creation and to heal the traumatic effects of white supremacy, colonization, and other systems of oppression that affect our minds and bodies.
Learning from every person:
Learning from every person requires honoring the contributions and voices of people who have been systemically silenced, including through incarceration. In our conversations, we strive to hold awareness around differences in identity and power dynamics.
Kol Yisrael Aravim Zeh Bazeh
[All Jews Are Responsible, One to the Other]/Communal Responsibility:
“All Yisrael is responsible, one for the other.” Jews have many universalist obligations, but we also have a special duty to other Jews.
A little more on this last principle —
[SLIDE 12] Kol Yisrael Aravim Zeh Bazeh
Matir Asurim works with non-Jewish individuals and organizations on issues, trying to address needs of folks who are incarcerated and returning from incarceration in both the US and Canada.
Many non-Jewish groups are larger and better equipped to cope with more general issues, such as solitary confinement and the death penalty. We are also trying to link up with other affected groups regarding what is often called “religious diet.”
But we also focus on specifically Jewish needs: Trying to ensure that incarcerated Jews and those exploring Judaism have access to penpals and spiritual resources. In some carceral facilities, Jews are still offered a Christian bible and told to “ignore the end.” Trying to supply more appropriate resources is one goal. We also seek to fill requests for obtaining a tallit or tefillin – often an issue for those who are not recognized by Aleph (the biggest Jewish organization working in prisons, which provides resources for some Jews but not all).
[SLIDE 13] At a more basic level, we seek to increase awareness in Jewish communities that Jews DO experience incarceration and that we cannot treat incarceration as something that happens to other people.
This awareness also leads, in turn, to more general concerns about incarceration and the toll it takes on individuals, families, and society….
And that takes us back to Maimonides’ idea that “coming near” can be a matter of knowledge as much as one of physical nearness.
Back to “Coming Near”
[SLIDE 14] Back to Genesis 44
[Summary] Judah approaches Joseph and relates the brothers’ previous visit to Mitzrayim for food rations, when Joseph insisted that they return with their youngest brother. Judah includes in his tale the fiction, from years earlier, of a brother killed by a beast and their father’s real grief over the loss. Judah says that incarcerating Benjamin would increase Jacob’s pain and so offers himself as captive instead. At this point, Joseph can no longer restrain himself, clears the room of everyone except his brothers, weeps loudly, and reveals himself.
Gen 45:4-5 – Fox (Schocken) translation:
Then Yosef said to his brothers: I am Yosef. Is my father still alive?
But his brothers were not able to answer him,
for they were terrified before him.
Yosef said to his brothers:
Pray come close to me! [geshu-na eilai גְּשׁוּ־נָא אֵלַי]
They came close. [va’yigashu וַיִּגָּשׁוּ]
He said: I am Yosef your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.
This time, the same verb, nagash, that we saw in Gen 44:18 is used by Joseph to invite approach, and the brother comply. Joseph invites the brothers to hear a truth they previously did not know even though they did know they had a part in causing harm.
In the Torah, Joseph will go on to explain that it’s all good, because even though the brothers meant ill, God meant to put Joseph where he ends up. Still we can consider this verse and what it means for the brothers to hear from Joseph about his direct experience. They come close and learn something they did not know but MUST if they are to understand Joseph’s life and their own roles in the wider world which also includes incarceration as a regular part of its function.
There are ways we all can learn more about the role incarceration plays in our history and our society now and how it impacts individuals and families.
We can opt to get closer to individuals who are or have been incarcerated.
We can also opt to approach through general learning.
[SLIDE 15] They came close: approaching as a matter of knowledge
Explore the complex, interrelated stories of racism, enslavement, and incarceration; of colonialism, displacement and destruction
Learn about the over-representation of Indigenous people in US and Canadian carceral systems
Learn about the Incentive System in the Canadian carceral system
Learn about the Exception Clause in the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution
Learn about the “Auburn system” of incarceration, which predates the US Civil War and the 13th Amendment. We have a video and transcript coming soon about Freeman’s Challenge — and I recommend the book….
One of the things that Robin Bernstein, author of Freeman’s Challenge, says she was trying to do with her book is to stop letting the North off the hook in terms of responsibility for our carceral state. Many of us associate exploiting prisoners for profit with the US South and Reconstruction. But her book describes a prison for profit system that pre-dates the Civil War and originates in the North….
For me, learning about the Auburn system, which originated in upstate New York, was a real shift in my thinking. So, coming on that verse, Gen 45:5 — where Joseph says, “I am the one you sold into imprisonment,” really rings new.
More details on some of the topics above, and some related Jewish texts, are available on Matir Asurim’s Resources page — originally prepared for Passover, but also more widely applicable. For more on Freman’s Challenge, visit this page.
by what can we show ourselves innocent? וּמַה־נִּצְטַדָּק
God has found out your servants’ crime! הָאֱלֹהִים מָצָא אֶת־עֲוֺן עֲבָדֶיךָ
Here we are, servants to my lord, הִנֶּנּוּ עֲבָדִים לַאדֹנִי
so we, גַּם־אֲנַחְנוּ
so the one in whose hand the goblet was found. גַּם אֲשֶׁר־נִמְצָא הַגָּבִיעַ בְּיָדוֹ
[SLIDE 17] When Joseph orchestrates the threatened punishment of Benjamin alone, Judah says “God has found out your servants’ crime!” – ha-elohim, matza et-avon avdeikha
He then repeats the same verb, to find [mem-tzadei-aleph], and offers this poetic statement of collective responsibility:
Many teachers note that Judah seems to be acknowledging the brothers’ long-ago crime. And that verb, mem-tzadei-aleph, finding, might point us to things we might find we are complicit in, like living in a carceral state that relies on ideas of “public safety” leading to people being locked up and tortured.
Judah’s statement — “so we, so the one in whose hand the goblet was found” or “the rest of us as much as he in whose possession the goblet was found” points to an understanding of collective responsibility not unlike what we recite throughout Yom Kippur — when one of us commits a crime, we, all of us, who permitted the conditions that lead to crime, are the ones who sinned.
I am intrigued by disagreement among sources, including origins for a piece of music. So, I am sharing here some things I recently discovered trying to find the right citation for “Return Again,” often sung during the Days of Awe.
The song seems to have begun, as many compositions of Shlomo Carlebach (1925 – 1994), z”l, apparently did, as a wordless niggun. (See brief note on Carlebach‘s controversial legacy with links to more information.)
Shlomo Carlebach put Hebrew lyrics (from festival musaf) to the tune:
V'hashev kohanim leavodatam velevi'im leshiram ulezimram ve'hashev yisrael linveihem [Restore the priests to their service, the Levites to their song and psalmody, and Israel to their habitations.]
English lyrics came later. Rafael Simcha (Ronnie) Kahn says he wrote them, and this short video shows Carlebach citing “our friend Ronnie Kahn” for the English.
In 2019, Kahn filed suit against Shlomo’s daughters, Nechama and Nedara, over ownership of the song. Kahn vs. Carlebach, claims there was a joint copyright filed in the 1970s, improperly amended later. In June 2023, a US District Court Judge upheld Kahn’s right to sue, while also dismissing some claims. (See also CaseText and Archive.org.)
Zemirot Database for the English notes permission from Nechama Carlebach and cites Shlomo as (sole) author.
Shaina Noll’s (1992) version credits S. Carlebach and The Carlebach Family.
A number of sources in the last five years or so list S. Carlebach for the tune and R. Kahn for the lyrics.
The Hanashir note includes different lyrics attributed to Rafael Simcha Kahn:
"Return again, Return again, Return to the home of your soul; You who have strayed, Be not afraid, You're safe in the house of the Lord"
The note on the 2002 Hanashir list does not discuss the purported lyric shift, from “You who have strayed…in the house of the Lord” to “Return to who you are…born and reborn again.”
…The substantial differences might explain why the video (also linked above), identified as from 1976 and posted by Kahn, is cut off so early in the tune. (There could, of course, be many other reasons for the video’s length.)…
Hanashir does discuss one word change, however:
At a certain point, Shlomo, who started singing his niggun with Ronnie's words as well as the original Hebrew ones, changed the first verse to "...Return to the land of your soul"-- making it more of a (religious, obviously) Zionist verse and less of a general "spiritual" one. I [Robert Cohen] personally thought it was a change for the worse, as it particularized and narrowed whom it might speak to. Ronnie's words, I thought, spoke to every Jew--as the verse in tefillah does.
Complex legacies
I [Virginia Spatz] personally find it fascinating that this (decades old) discussion focused on the shift from “home” to “land,” while assuming that liturgy about restoration of the Temple spoke to “every Jew.”
I find it fascinating that we have this archived discussion still — however informal it was at the time, and however fleeting it was assumed to be. I wonder, even as I participate in it, about the ethics of referencing a communication that was not written for long-term consumption.
I find it fascinating that the musical and Jewish worlds cannot easily answer the simple query: who wrote this song?
And I find it fascinating and important for us to consider how we honor and build on the work of those who came before us. What kinds of changes are appropriate, as we bring forward materials from the past, and what kinds of acknowledgements are needed?
Featured image is heading from legal filing: “United States District Court, Eastern District of New York. Ronnie Kahn, Plaintiff, -against- Neshama Carlebach and Nedara Carlebach, defendants.”
In response to social media showing “Barbie’s Dream Sukkah” (see below), I built this sukkah for DC Tefillin Barbie.
I built it the way doll dwellings were created in my youth, repurposing whatever was at hand and roughly the right scale: cardboard, empty spools of thread, scraps of fabric, an old greeting card with a pretty design…. No one I knew had any kind of “Dream” house or car, although Barbies drove or lived in store-bought items that seemed close to her size. And those “Dream” items are just as foreign today as they were back then. So DC Tefillin Barbie‘s sukkah reflects a different dream: a sheltering peace that covers us all.
DC Tefillin Barbie, Sukkah 5784
This Sukkah’s History
For quite a few years, the sukkah we set up outside our house also looked more like cardboard sukkah 5784 than “Barbie Dream Sukkah.”
2010 sukkah in front yard
A few years ago, we gave in and bought a Sukkah Project kit; it’s a marvel of ease in so many ways, but ours retains homemade touches. Two signs in our 5780 sukkah (photos here) were created for the local (DC) “Occupy Judaism” sukkah in 2011. (The wooden sukkah once in our yard was erected at McPherson Square; the materials were absorbed into Occupy K Street after the holiday.)
Inside of our Sukkah Project version 5780Outside wall of 5780 Sukkah Project
I copied those signs for DC Tefillin Barbie’s sukkah.
Corner view of Barbie’s sukkahDC Tefillin Barbie and her makeshift “dream” dwelling
Among the items at hand, as the cardboard sukkah was built, were a button from “Coalition of Concerned Mothers,” remembering individuals killed by police, and a sticker from Prison Radio, reading “In American Prisons Life Means Death.”
See related Meditation for Sitting in the Sukkah, 2019, treating those lost to police as ushpizin, mystical invited guests; Michael Zoosman, of Jews Against the Death Penalty, wrote an ushpizin-related meditation this year, focusing on those executed by the state. These items were added as decorations meant to remind DC Tefillin Barbie and visitors to reject “any sense that we are somehow entitled to dwell in safety…when others cannot.”
Barbie, Her Dreams, and Sukkot
This past Shabbat (9/30/23), Tzedek Chicago explored the concept of p’ri eitz hadar — the goodly fruit. So many interesting ideas and related study were raised. In addition, I found this note from some years back about Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik’s linking Sukkot to the Oral Law and my own prayer for living in the fallible structure of the sukkah and of our individual and collective understanding of Torah.
I wrote at the time (and had completely forgotten): “As we prepare to leave the sukkah, we may hope that next year’s construction will be of even stronger, more beautiful materials erected by even surer hands. But that hope for the future need not throw doubt on the value of this year’s construction or diminish our enjoyment in this year’s dwelling place.” This year, I have really struggled with “the enjoyment of this year’s dwelling place.”
I still haven’t seen the Barbie movie and don’t understand a lot about Barbie culture. But I am find myself hoping there are other Barbies out there enjoying their own “dream” sukkot. May we all dwell — if only for a few moments — in structures that honor life’s fragility and our responsibility to create stronger, more inclusive shelters. And may we find ways to work together to bring the dream closer in the coming year.
Barbie Dream Sukkah
In late September 2023, Hey Alma posted these images on Instagram, saying “this is the vibe we’re going for this year.” Comments varied hugely, from enthusiasm for the “vibe” and the opulence of the sukkah itself to wrath at the AI-generated images. A FB post (not Hey Alma) drew criticism because Barbie’s clothes are not tzniut (modest) and the sukkah is pasul (not kosher). I cannot find any credits for the images, which also appear on this site. I first saw these images, shared by Rabbi Brant Rosen, during Torah study with Tzedek Chicago.
Soferet Jan Taylor Friedman offers much information in relation to her amazing Tefillin Barbie project. Here’s info about my own changes to the Barbie who arrived in 2014. In addition, note: DC Tefillin Barbie holds by Rabbi Isserles who ruled that tefillin are worn on intermediate days of Sukkot — and she lives in her own personal time zone where it’s always eit ratzon, a good time, for prayershawl and tefillin.
Siddur Eit Ratzon
She, like me, is experimenting with locally sourced lulav and etrog as part of a wider exploration of Diaspora Judaism.
On this Shabbat of Vision, we stand at the river’s edge, imagining the world on the other side, the one our ancestors were, decades before, led to believe was just around the corner. And yet, as Deuteronomy opens, we are listening to Moses describe all the ways we’ve already disappointed and erred since taking those first tentative steps toward what we hoped would be better days. “How?! How can I bear the trouble/burden [torach] of you?” Moses moans (Deut 1:12; see PDF in previous post).
On this same Shabbat, we are treated to the prophet Isaiah’s speech from across the river, inside that imagined world. He, too, is explaining just how thoroughly we’ve failed, turning vision into a burden even God cannot bear: “[Your rituals] are become a burden [torach] to me…Your hands are full of blood.” (Isaiah 1:14-15). “How?! How did a dream of justice and righteousness become a city of murderers?” (1:21, paraphrased)
With Eikha, that imagined world has collapsed, and we are on the road out of the ruins. “How?! How did what once appeared so vibrant turn into this painful mess?!”
It seems that we’ve been crying, “How?! How did things get this bad?!” for so long that we might as well simply declare that nothing ever changes, that people are just as rotten to one another today as they were in Isaiah’s time or King Josiah’s or at the time of Exile, and our problems have been basically the same for 2700 years.
But we can also understand these three readings — offered to us at the lowest point in the Jewish calendar — as an age-old acknowledgement that there will always be failures, that the better days envisioned will always be ahead, that we are always facing an ending…with, we must hope, a new beginning beyond it.
“Where is the ‘so’?”
In the kinot for Tisha B’av, Chapter 13 offers a series of verses beginning “אֵי כֹּה” [ei ko], translated as “Where is the [ko-based] promise…?” (Sefaria offers the Hebrew for Chapter 13 but no translation.) Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik’s commentary, found in Koren Mesorat HaRav Kinot (Koren, 2010), explains:
In this kina, Rabbi Elazar HaKalir treats the word eikha as though it were a composite word consisting of two separate words, ei and ko, and therefore, the meaning of the word is not “how?!” but rather “where is the ko, the ‘so'”? Where are the promises that God made to the Jewish people using the word ko?
–p.318
The author of the kina is asking, R’ Soloveitchik says, why the promises were not fulfilled, and ultimately God responds: “Do not worry, the ko will be realized; sooner or later there will be no need to ask Eikha” (p. 327).
Maybe, however, we should read “where is the ‘so’?” from another angle: For nearly 3000 years, we’ve been warned that there is blood on our hands and work to be done. And so?
And so: 1) “Cease to do evil.” 2) “Learn to do good.” 3) “Devote yourself [to repair]” and, only then, 4) Atone/seek restoration of relationship.
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov taught: “If you believe that you can destroy, believe that you can repair.” (Meshivat Nefesh #38). We will always mess up, and always be called to keep going.
Three challenging Bible passages come together in the Jewish calendar in the next two days:
Devarim (Deut 1:1-3:12), the first portion in the Book of Deuteronomy (Deut 1:1-3:12);
Isaiah 1:1-27, the prophetic reading which gives this Shabbat it’s special name, “Shabbat of Vision,” or Shabbat Chazon; and
Eikha, the Book of Lamentations, read on Tisha B’av.
In some years, there are several days between Shabbat Chazon and Tisha B’av — offering a chance for us to take the admonitions to heart before entering into the deepest day of mourning the Jewish calendar and then beginning the slow climb toward the new year. Some years, like this one, leave no space between that last Shabbat of Affliction (or Admonition) and Tisha B’av. So we’re about to enter a complicated couple of days.
Historical and Literary Context
A bit of history is useful for viewing the confluence of readings for Shabbat Chazon and Tisha B’av:
Eikha/Lamentations is probably, current scholarship says, from the middle of the 6th Century BCE, although some parts may be older; the book as a whole is traditionally ascribed to the prophet Jeremiah (c. 650-570 BCE).
Jeremiah was active at the time of King Josiah (c.640-609 BCE), from the 13th year of the young king’s reign through Exile and the destruction of the First Temple. Substantial portions of the Book of Deuteronomy are also linked with King Josiah’s era.
The prophet Isaiah lived a century earlier, with the year 733 BCE a prominent date for his vision… which led him to criticize focus on ritual when what is required is tending to those in need:
Your new moons and your appointed seasons My soul hates…
Your hands are full of blood (stained with crime).
…Seek justice, relieve the oppressed….
How [Eikha] is the faithful city…once full of justice,
righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers!
–Isa 1:14-17, 1:21
How?!
That mournful cry, beginning with the word “Eikha” in Isaiah 1:21, is echoed in both Deuteronomy and the book of that name.
For the record, “eikha” appears only the once in Isaiah, four times in Eikha, and five times in Deuteronomy, plus twice in Jeremiah and once each in four other books of Tanakh. (See handout, “Eikha and Chazon,” below).
Isaiah’s vision prompts us to consider any number of collective crimes. The compressed time period of Shabbat followed immediately by the day of mourning makes it difficult to process or respond. But Isaiah doesn’t just leave us with blood on our hands; he suggests a way forward:
Learn to do good. Devote yourselves to justice; Aid the wronged. Uphold the rights of the orphan; Defend the cause of the widow.
Isaiah 1:17 (see “Isaiah page one” handout, also below)
We can read this message as a simple “do better.” And, of course, that is what we are being told to do. But we must also heed that first commandment: Learn.
For nearly 3000 years, Isaiah has railing at us that we have blood on our hands. And for just as long, the prophet has been telling us that the first step — before trying to undertake the work of justice, provide aid, uphold anyone’s rights, or defend the most vulnerable — is to learn.
We can inform ourselves about the problems and issues. We can listen to the voices of those most affected by crimes in which we have participated, however inadvertently. We can get to know what solutions others are already working to implement. We can learn more about Jewish history, practice, and philosophy to shore up our ability to respond Jewishly — and/or steep ourselves in other traditions that inspire us.
For nearly 3000 years, Jewish tradition has been calling us to do better by learning better.
TRANSLITERATION NOTE: The Hebrew word ” איכה ” is pretty commonly transliterated “eicha” (and this blog often used that spelling in the past); eikha is used here, though, in an effort to make clear the distinction between the chet of “[חזון] chazon” and the khaf of “eikha.”
Handout for Hill Havurah, six-page-PDF includes both “Eicha and Chazon” (5 pages) and “Isaiah page one” (1 page) in one document. Also below: separate pieces.
Seeking pieces of liturgy and other resources for uplift, as we try to move from the depths of Av to the new year, I’ve found myself returning again and again to “Eternal Light” — based on a line from the high holiday prayers — as composed by Norma Brooks and recorded by “Psalm Full of Soul” with guest artists The Blind Boys of Alabama (recording below).
Or Olam — Eternal Light
“Infinite light is preserved in life’s treasure-house; ‘Lights from darkness’ said God — it was so.” — from the piyyut “Or Olam“
“And the light of the moon shall become like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall become sevenfold, like the light of the seven days, when the LORD binds up His people’s wounds and heals the injuries it has suffered.” — Isaiah 30:26
These lines, from an ancient liturgical poem by Yose ben Yose (4th-5th Centuries CE) are added to the Yotzeir Or blessing on the High Holy Days. They refer to a Talmudic legend (Chagigah 12a) that the brilliant primordial light of Creation, too powerful for mortal eyes, was hidden away by God, and is preserved for the righteous in the world-to-come.
— liturgical verse and commentary from Mishkan Hanefesh for Rosh Hashanah (CCAR, 2015)
Each of us is a repository of life. We are where life is stored, and this eternal light rests inside each of us, waiting for us to manifest it with our actions. When we act justly, we bring this light into the world, answering God’s dictum, “Lights from the darkness!” When we help another, we bring the “it was so” into the present, an ongoing creation of light in darkness (R David Kominsky, b. 1971)
— commentary from Mishkan Hanefesh continued
The song, “Eternal Light,” is based on “Or Olam” and its commentary, as well as on Gen 1:3-5 and Isaiah 30:36 and 45:7. The same line appears in Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur liturgies (see p.178 in Mishkan Hanefesh for Yom Kippur, e.g.) Video here, with lyrics, is shared with kind permission of Norma Brooks, composer. Full credits below.
For more musical inspiration, including some pieces for the high holidays, check out Norma Brooks’ earlier album, Bountiful Light, created with the help of musicians and choir members from DC and beyond.
Image description: Video is basically one static pair of images overlaid throughout with the song lyrics. Image 1 is a photo of the eight performers at recording session: Blind Boys of Alabama with “Psalm Full of Soul,” that is, Vanessa R. Williams, Vince Evans, and Norma Brooks. Image 2 is the album cover showing Psalm Full of Soul logo and a picture of Vanessa, Vince, an Norma laughing together. Static text: “Psalm Full of Soul ‘Eternal Light.’ Composer: Norma Brooks. Vocal Soloist: Vanessa R. Williams. Featuring guest artists The Blind Boys of Alabama.” On top of the static graphic, lyrics appear in a text box as song progresses. (Lyrics can also be found below.)
“Eternal Light” lyrics (Norma Brooks)
Eternal, eternal light Source of life, source of life Light of creation, God’s living treasure O holy light, God’s holy light
Light from darkness Light from darkness God spoke, and it was so Light from darkness Light from darkness Creator of heaven and earth
Eternal, eternal light Source of life, source of life Light of creation, God’s living treasure O holy light, O holy light
O holy light, eternal light O holy light, eternal light
When the light of the moon Shall be as the light of the sun And the light of the sun Shall be sevenfold As the light of the seven days, Seven days of the week Oh, in the future There will be a more perfect light The light resides Within Each one of us, Just waiting for us Just waiting for us To act justly, to act with purity, Clarity and joy
The ongoing creation Of light from darkness O holy light, O holy light Eternal light, O holy light
Eternal, eternal light Source of life, source of life Light of creation, God’s living treasure O holy light, God’s holy light
Credits for “Eternal Light”
Guest Artists: The Blind Boys of Alabama (Jimmy Carter, Ben Moore, Joey Williams, Paul Beasley)
Vocal Soloist: Vanessa R. Williams
Keyboards: Vince Evans
Guitar: Alvin White
Bass: Bryan Fox
Drums: J.C. Jefferson
Choir: Rhonda Burnett Chapman, Byron Nichols, Michael White, Vanessa R. Williams
“Psalm Full of Soul” (c) 2008
"A Song Every Day" 