Collective Memory and the 9th of Av.
I thought I’d share what some of your neighbors in Israel are going through today; here’s what I posted from my blog, better than misery:
Today, I’m – along with much of the Jewish community – observing the day of Jewish mourning, called Tisha Be’Av, which means the 9th day of the month of Av (on the Hebrew calendar).
It involves a hefty list of ritualistic abstention:
1. No eating or drinking
2. No application of creams, lotions, etc.
3. No wearing leather
4. No washing or bathing
5. No sexual relations
The point is to mourn in memory of a host of tragedies occurring on this date throughout Jewish history, most noted (and the first) of which are the destructions of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem.
The day is taken seriously in modern-day Jerusalem, where there are laws keeping shops and commercial establishments closed (in the Jewish part, anyway).
To me, this day is the perfect example of all collective memory efforts I can think of. The Jewish people has been remembering this day and observing its rituals for thousands of years. We read accounts of what happened throughout the day. We act as mourners act.
I strongly feel that collective memory is what has kept the Jewish people alive all these years, homeless as we have been.
It’s possible that the study of collective memory in conflict will be where my thesis begins…
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“collective memory in conflict”? Sounds pretty interesting. Thanks for the article, Eliesheva.
I’ll keep us posted on how it goes, worry not.
Hi.
I think that it has been more than collective memory keeping Israel a nation.
For instance, there’s the adage that “More than Jews have kept the Shabbos, the Shabbos has kept the Jews,” Shabbos being one of the cornerstones of Judaism. Also, there have been countless Jews throughout our history who have died martyrs’ deaths rather than be forcibly converted; it’s hard to imagine that a they would have given their lives for the sake of memories, however powerful.
It seems to me that adherence to the Jewish way of life (according to G-d’s commandments) and the realization that the commandments speak to the soul of the Jew would have been stronger forces than the force of collective memory. The fact would that we are losing Jews to intermarriage, thus becoming a smaller number every day seems to testify to the fact that No Mitzvahs = No Judaism.
Just one woman’s opinion.
Andrea Eller