Lamenting the state of our city: Eicha and the value of poetry of destruction

A study session with Rabbi Deborah Blausten 

On Tisha B'av, the day we commemorate the destruction of the Temple and the fall of Jerusalem, as well as many other catastrophic moments in Jewish history, Jews read the text of Lamentations: Eicha. It's part of a genre of poetry that laments the state of a fallen world. Are these texts just wallowing in misery? Or do they serve another purpose? Come and learn about the book of Eicha itself, as well as contemporary city laments, and their paradoxically hopeful potential.

Please feel free to bring lunch to eat during the talk.