Marta bat Boethius was one of the richest women in Jerusalem. She sent her man-servant out saying, Go and bring me some fine flour (best for cakes). By the time he went it was sold out. He came and told her, There is no fine flour but there is white [flour], She then said ,Go and bring me some. By the time he went he found the white flour sold out. He came and told her there is no white flour but there is dark flour. She said to him, Go and bring me some. By the time he went it was sold out. He returned and said to her, There us no dark flour but there is barley flour. She said Go and bring me some. By the time he went this was also sold out.
The city is under siege, the storehouses have been burnt down, the whole city is running out of food.
What do you make of Marta's attitude? Why all this back and forth just for flour?
What else could the flour represent?
She was barefoot, but said, I will go out and see if I can find anything to eat. She stepped outside and some dung stuck to her foot and she died
קָרֵי עֲלַהּ רַבָּן יוֹחָנָן בֶּן זַכַּאי הָרַכָּה בְךָ וְהָעֲנוּגָּה אֲשֶׁר לֹא נִסְּתָה כַף רַגְלָהּ
Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai applied this verse to her “The tender and delicate woman among you who would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground” (Deuteronomy 28:56).
When Marta was about to die, she took out all of her gold and silver and threw it in the street, saying: Why do I need this? What good is this to me? And this is as it is written: “They shall cast their silver in the streets and their gold shall be as an impure thing; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord; they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels” (Ezekiel 7:19).
There is a stark contrast between Marta's moment of death and casting her gold and silver out in the streets.
They seem to cast a different picture of who Marta was in these moments of crisis.
Which feels more authentic and resonating for you?
These nine days of minimizing joy are to reflect upon the darkness even in the heat and most lit times of the year.
How can we focus
The Jewish response to tragedy is certainly to mourn but also to move on and find the light contained within the darkness. There is a debate as to whether kiddush levana (blessing the moon) should be done on the night after Tisha B’Av or if we should wait (...) We announce to the world that the moon will be renewed in recognition of this fact. The idea is that in our darkest hour, the seeds of our greatest redemption are born... The message is for us to find the message of hope for a brighter future even within the most challenging and troubling of times.
Not the First- Rabbi Rachel Barenblaut
This year, it feels like we live in Tisha b'Av -- in the brokenness -- all the time. Between ongoing pandemic, the climate crisis, and the stripping-away of rights, there's no escaping what hurts.
This year, we wanted our Tisha b'Av offering to acknowledge the broken places, but beyond that, to offer some meaning and hope despite all of our shattered places... or maybe in them and through them.
And this year, the holiday falls on Shabbat, so it will be observed the following day, which is actually the tenth of Av -- and the first day of the reverse Omer count, the 49-day journey toward Rosh Hashanah.
That's the hook on which our offering hangs. The lowest point of our year is also the beginning of uplift: from rock bottom, where else is there to go? We respond to what's broken with building back better.
The theme for Bayit's Tisha b'Av collaboration this year is Descent for the Sake of Ascent. This is a Hasidic idea that I deeply love. In a word, our falling down is precisely the first step of our rising up.
Not the First- Rabbi Rachel Barenblaut
This year, it feels like we live in Tisha b'Av -- in the brokenness -- all the time. Between ongoing pandemic, the climate crisis, and the stripping-away of rights, there's no escaping what hurts.
This year, we wanted our Tisha b'Av offering to acknowledge the broken places, but beyond that, to offer some meaning and hope despite all of our shattered places... or maybe in them and through them.
And this year, the holiday falls on Shabbat, so it will be observed the following day, which is actually the tenth of Av -- and the first day of the reverse Omer count, the 49-day journey toward Rosh Hashanah.
That's the hook on which our offering hangs. The lowest point of our year is also the beginning of uplift: from rock bottom, where else is there to go? We respond to what's broken with building back better... In a word, our falling down is precisely the first step of our rising up.