This year, Tisha B’Av falls on July 23. The observance mourns the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. While the Temples were destroyed some 2,000 years ago, Baltimore rabbis say Tisha B’Av is still just as relevant today, despite the passage of time.

Traditionally, Tisha B’Av includes fasting and reading the Book of Eichah, according to Rabbi Chai Posner, senior rabbi at Beth Tfiloh Congregation. “But it shouldn’t end there,” he said. “It’s a day to reflect on where we’ve been as a people and where we’re headed,” he said. “Sadly, Tisha B’Av doesn’t feel like ancient history anymore. Since Oct. 7 and with the rise in antisemitism, many Jews have a much deeper appreciation that Jewish history is still unfolding. The themes of Tisha B’Av — resilience, unity and Jewish identity — are as relevant today as they’ve ever been.”

Posner added, “As the saying goes, those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

For Rabbi Joshua Gruenberg, senior rabbi at Chizuk Amuno Congregation, the relevance of Tisha B’Av is not “do you feel sad about a Temple you never saw.”

“The relevance is: Tisha B’Av is the day the Jewish people have always used to say, together, we remember what was done to us, and we refuse to let that memory disappear into silence,” Gruenberg explained. “That is not an ancient concept. It is, unfortunately, an urgent and living one.”

According to Gruenberg, there are many ways to observe the holiday.

“I’d suggest a few paths and encourage people to find the one that speaks to them rather than treating observance as all-or-nothing,” he said.

One way Gruenberg suggested is communal storytelling. “Some communities now use Tisha B’Av to hear the testimony of Holocaust survivors, or the stories of Jews displaced from Arab lands, or — increasingly and painfully — the stories of Oct. 7 survivors and hostage families. This grounds an ancient day in living memory,” explained Gruenberg.

Sitting on the floor is a more traditional path of observing the holiday, according to Gruenberg.

“Fasting from sundown to sundown, refraining from bathing, leather shoes, and marital relations, sitting on low stools or the floor, and attending the reading of Eichah,” he said. “For those who observe this fully, the physical discomfort is not incidental — it is the point. The body’s hunger becomes a teacher, forcing us to slow down and feel something we usually manage to avoid.”

At Beth El Congregation in Baltimore, congregants are welcome to join in a communal storytelling path. Ritual Director Ben Kreshtool explained that every year the congregation hosts a service for the holiday where they read the Book of Eichah, the Book of Lamentations, and sitting on the floor. But this year, Beth El will also host a screening of the film “Legends of Destruction.”

“It’s an interesting film where the director had these two artists painting … I think it’s somewhere along the lines of 1,500 still paintings, oil paintings, and they filmed the movie using these paintings,” Kreshtool explained.

According to Kreshtool, the film is about the destruction of the Temples but also highlights political themes throughout that are comparable to today’s political climate.

“We thought it would be appropriate to show not only because of its connection to the destruction of the Temple itself, which is what the holiday is about, but also sort of to give people something to think about in terms of what’s going on in the world today,” added Kreshtool.

“I think that in every age, Judaism has had, or Jewish people have had, some tragic event,” said Rabbi Zevi Lowenberg, assistant rabbi at Beth El. “In the last three years now, Oct. 7, how do we relate these tragedies to our own lives and to finding … hope in the midst of grief.”

Lowenberg added Tisha B’Av is a way to connect Judaism to the present, not just in reading ancient texts.

“We understand that while we live in moments of grief, hope is ultimately what comes next,” he said. “Though weeping may come at night, joy cometh in the morning, as it says in the Book of Psalms.”

mresnicow@midatlanticmedia.com