Jewish communities in the United States have been working for a long time on a way to mark the year of war that the Jewish state is going through, a way that can reach all Jews around the world.
This lamentation, composed by Rabbi Moshe Hauer, Executive Vice President of the Orthodox Union, tells the story in a unique way and with language fitting for the genre of lamentations, including references to the historical connection between Tisha B’Av and the events of Simchat Torah and this year.
Everyone expresses the terrible events that took place on Simchat Torah differently. One person might describe the kidnapping of the boys and girls from their homes and what happened to them in their homes when they were slaughtered without mercy: “I ask others stunned and embittered to join in my wailing / for the beautiful young women and vibrant young men / kidnapped and led to slaughter.”
Another person might focus on the terrible massacre that happened in the towns and kibbutzim in the Gaza envelope. Another person might think about the hundreds of soldiers who fell on Simchat Torah and during the war, while another connects the historical hatred of our enemies to the present. “The enduring hatred for the eternal nation continues to grow / as our enemies plot to destroy and erase any trace of Israel.”
The goal is that this lamentation should be read for many years to come in synagogues to remember the cruelty of our enemies not just historically but also in the Land of Israel today, and to recognize the inner strength of the Jewish people.
The new lamentation will be distributed to hundreds of synagogues and Jewish communities in Israel and throughout the world so that it can be read during the Tisha B’Av recitations of lamentations.
“Tisha B’Av is a day when we mourn the series of tragedies and disasters that occurred to the Jewish people throughout Jewish history, starting with the destruction of the two Temples. The Tisha B'Av lamentations themselves include lamentations expressing the worst events of Jewish history. In many synagogues, a special lamentation is recited which describes the horrors of the Holocaust. Our lamentation was written based on this long-standing tradition, which allows everyone who is interested, both in Israel and abroad, to give expression to the pain that the entire Jewish people have experienced, within their Tisha B’Av observances,” Rabbi Moshe Hauer stated.