This year Tisha b’Av, the ninth of the month of Av, begins on a Saturday evening, August 2. As such, we can utilize the Havdalah ritual that demarks the transition from sacred time (Shabbat) into daily life, to mark a separation turning from zealotry toward collective liberation. 

How to do this ritual: Gather a candle (traditionally a braided candle, but any candle works), matches, grape juice, and a spice bundle.  Gather with your friends, congregation, neighbors, community, local organizing group.  After sundown, when you see three stars in the sky, go outside and form a circle and welcome everyone. Go around and share your responses to one of these questions: 

What havdalah/separation do you wish to make between old belief systems and the new dream or vision you are hoping to help bring forth? 

What old mythologies about Israel, Zionism, Diaspora, or World Jewry may need to be decoupled from our faith so we can imagine a new future together?

What current realities and walls do imagine crumbling (such as starvation, siege, silencing of dissent)? 

What departures are you wanting to make within yourself so that you can be more engaged and proactive in the world? 

After the sharing, make the havdalah ritual. You may wish to introduce it with words like these:

Tonight as we leave Shabbat and journey into Tisha b’Av, we make a ritual of separation from hopelessness and despair into faith in the intelligence of creation pulsing within us. 

We descend into our grief and mourning at what has become of us, but do not get lost there. We will pivot midway to imagine together what the future may hold. We remember and welcome our ancestor and prophet Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai who courageously led his people out of Jerusalem toward a safer and more peaceful place from which to cultivate the Judaism we know and love today. 

(You may wish to share the story of Rav Yochanan in more detail either from the article [LINK] or this short version adapted from a post by Charles Lenchner.) 

Rav Yochanan ben Zakkai smuggled himself out of the city in a coffin during the siege of Jerusalem that led to the destruction of the Second Temple, and proceeded to make a deal with one of our greatest enemies (the Roman general, soon to be emperor, Vespasian), to establish a protected center for learning in Yavneh, knowing that Jerusalem would fall and be destroyed. 

The new Jewish community in Yavneh led to a watershed moment for everything we think of when we think of modern Judaism today. Everything we think of as 'Judaism' is his legacy; not that of Jerusalem's doomed zealots: Prayer instead of animal sacrifice. Rabbis instead of priests. Synagogues instead of a single Temple. Our salvation as a people goes back to one great man who had the wisdom to turn his back on zealotry in Jerusalem, to make a deal with one of our greatest enemies, and to preserve the essential core of our tradition against the wishes of those who had been our ruling elites. 

Today we are again in a time of great change. For there to be a Jewish future, we must break with our ruling elites. Let us choose a different path. Those who follow the path of Rav Yochanan are the future. 

We make this ritual by first saying the blessing over the grape juice, honoring the earth we are on and the fruits that grow in this place, and the farmworkers who tend the land where we are. (You may wish to name the Indigenous name of the land you are on here). 

We will then pass around a spice bundle and say the blessings for mixed fragrant plants. This is one way to awaken our bodies to a shift. You may wish to gather spices that honor the many diverse expressions of Judaism in diaspora around the world which add flavor and meaning to our faith and culture, such as cedar, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, garlic, rosemary, and thyme.  

When we say the blessing for fire, the flickering flame of the candle, you’re invited to hold up your hands to feel the warmth on our fingernails and palms, remembering the eternal spirit of compassion, love, care that flows through from our wise well ancestors and lives as a spark of divinity within us. 

Finally, we will say a blessing to mark the separation, and extinguish the flame. As we do, we invoke a paradigm shift in our faith and our practice, turning and re-turning to a world built with love.

We’ll sing the blessings one by one and close with a song. 

Note: There are many melodies in Sephardi, Mizrahi, and Ashkenazi traditions, here is a recording with the Debbie Friedman z”l melody that you can use to practice. You may wish to share the blessings as a call and response in short segments so all can say them if not familiar to the group.) Below we have provided the blessings addressing both the masculine and feminine divine.

🍇Blessing over the Grape Juice
Hold up cup of grape juice and sing or say the blessing. (We don’t sip yet.) 

בְּרוּכָה אַתְּ שְׁכִינָה אֱלֹתֵינוּ רוּחַ הָעוֹלָם בּוֹרֵאת פְּרִי הַגפֶּן

Berukha At Shechinah Eloheynu Ruach ha-Olam boreyt p'ri hagafen.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הַגָּֽפֶן 

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, borei p'ri hagafen.

Blessed are you, Eternal, our God, the sovereign of all worlds, who creates the fruit of the vine.

🌿Blessing over the Spices

Hold up the spice bundle, say or sing the blessing, and pass around for each person to smell. 

בְּרוּכָה אַתְּ שְׁכִינָה אֱלֹתֵינוּ רוּחַ הָעוֹלָם בּוֹרֵאת מִינֵי בְשָׂמִים 

Berukha At Shechinah Eloheynu Ruach ha-Olam boreyt minei v'samim.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵא מִינֵי בְשָׂמִים

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, borei minei v'samim.

Blessed are you, Eternal our God, the sovereign of all worlds, creator of spices.

🕯️Blessing the Fire
Hold up the havdalah candle, say or sing the blessing, and invite people to hold up their hands to feel the heat. 

בְּרוּכָה אַתְּ שְׁכִינָה אֱלֹתֵינוּ רוּחַ הָעוֹלָם בּוֹרֵאת מְאוֹרֵי הָאֵשׁ 

Berukha At Shechinah Eloheynu Ruach ha-Olam boreyt me-orey ha-esh.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵא מְאוֹרֵי הָאֵשׁ

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, borei m'orei ha-esh.

Blessed are you, Eternal, our God, the sovereign of all worlds, who creates the light of fire.

✨Blessing the Separation

Take a sip of the grape juice, then extinguish the flame into the remaining goblet of juice. 

בְּרוּכָה אַתְּ שְׁכִינָה אֱלֹתֵינוּ רוּחַ הָעוֹלָם, הַמַּבְדִּילָה בֵּין קֹדֶשׁ לְחוֹל, בֵּין אוֹר לְחֹשֶׁךְ, בֵּין יוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי לְשֵׁשֶׁת יְמֵי הַמַּעֲשֶׂה, בְּרוּכָה אַתְּ שְׁכִינָה, הַמַּבְדִּילָה בֵּין קֹדֶשׁ לְחוֹל

Berukha At Shechinah Eloheynu Ruach ha-Olam, hamavdilah beyn kodesh lechol, beyn or lechoshech, beyn yom hashevi’i lesheyshet yemay hama’aseh. Berukha At Shechinah, hamavdilah beyn kodesh lechol.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, הַמַּבְדִיל בֵּין קֹֽדֶשׁ לְחוֹל, בֵּין אוֹר לְחֹֽשֶׁךְ, בֵּין יוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי לְשֵֽׁשֶׁת יְמֵי הַמַּעֲשֶׂה. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, הַמַּבְדִיל בֵּין קֹֽדֶשׁ לְחוֹל

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, hamavdil bein kodesh l'chol, bein or l'choshech, bein yom hash'vi-i l'sheishet y'mei hamaaseh. Baruch atah Adonai, hamavdil bein kodesh l'chol.

Blessed are you, Shekhinah, our Divine One, the sovereign of all worlds, who separates between the holy and the ordinary; between the light and dark; between the seventh day and the six days of the week. Blessed are you, Shekhinah, who separates the holy from the ordinary.

After the flame has been extinguished, in the dark of night, orient people to the moon (whether overhead or not visible, it is there!) This moon is waxing toward Tu b’Av, six days from now, the holiday of love and joyous adoration that invites us to hope for the future, for the next generations. Invite people to whisper visions of a world built with love; a world beyond zealotry, greed, and oppression; a world of kindness and care. 

Close with a song of liberation such as one of these: 

און די װאָך זאָל

אונדז קומען

צו חסד

און צו מזל

Un di vokh zol
Undz kumen
Tsu khesed
Un tsu mazl

may this
cycle / creation / week
be a blessing