Monday August 12
8:30 – 10:00pm
@Makom (map)
Bring Food or $$ to Donate + Flashlight
No registration required
Please join us for a powerful, contemplative evening marking historical Jewish loss and ongoing brokenness in the world as we usher in Tishah be-Av, the ninth day of the lunar month of Av. This date marks the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem and other tragedies in Jewish history. It is traditionally observed with fasting, refraining from wearing leather, and other mourning customs. (For more background, see here.)
We’ll pray the brief evening service and listen to the Biblical book of Eikhah/Lamentations, hauntingly chanted by community members. We’ll also sing somber songs; read kinnot (elegies) for ancient calamities, the Holocaust, and October 7; and chant niggunim (wordless melodies).
As signs of mourning, it’s customary to sit on the floor of the synagogue with the lights dimmed, so please bring a flashlight.
Please BRING FOOD or CASH for our neighbours at Fort York Food Bank, in keeping with the spirit of Isaiah 58:6-7, “This is the fast I desire… It is to share your bread with the hungry.” Fresh produce, grains, and canned or boxed foods are all welcome, as are cash donations.
Doors open at 8:30pm; services begin promptly at 8:45.
FYI, the fast begins Monday at sunset,8:24pm, and ends Tuesday at nightfall, 9:11pm.