Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"[Tisha B'Av] is a time to weep and mourn, to stick your finger in the proverbial socket of suffering-the suffering that has been, the suffering that is now. The suffering we try so hard to avoid, to intellectualize, to compartmentalize, to scroll past.

"It is a time to wail, to mourn, to scream, 'why??!?' Even if on some intellectual level we are sure we know how to explain, in the place where pain is, there are no answers.

"We don't, in our culture now, make space for this. Not really.

"It's hard. Letting in the horrors, the suffering, the pain isn't fun. It doesn't feel good, or safe. It causes our walls, as Rabbi Alan Lew taught, to come crashing down.

"But refusing to feel costs us."

-- Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (TheRaDR), 2019-08-08 (I strongly suggest reading the whole thread)

[To my friends observing Tisha B'Av tonight/tomorrow, may you have a meaningful fast.]