On Tisha B’av, we mourn the loss of the first and second Temples that once stood in Jerusalem and pray for the rebuilding of the third. Over the centuries, however, the holiday also has evolved into a day of commemoration of tragedies affecting different Jewish communities at various points in history across the globe. On Tisha B’av, we remember tragedies both communal and individual, and are thus given the opportunity to come together and learn to rebuild one another’s mental health after the devastating effects of those tragedies, and more, exemplifying the mental health middah of kol Yisrael arevim zeh la zeh (all Jews are responsible for each other).
To that end, the Blue Dove Foundation is proud to present articles and resources to help practitioners explore the ways Tisha B’av helps us learn how to build up one another after experiencing great loss as well as about how to practice mourning that is nourishing for the soul and healthy for the mind.
“I will speak that I may find relief; for there is a redemptive quality for an agitated mind in the spoken word, and a tormented soul finds peace in confessing.” – Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik
