Tisha B’Av, 5768 / 2008 based on Zohar 3:158a Everyone knows that Tisha B’Av (the 9th of Av) is the lowest point of the Jewish calendar. HaShem’s protective aura thins, and we grow vulnerable to error and to harm. The downward tug of this time is ancient, and nearly impossible to resist. It started when Essav’s guardian angel attacked Yaakov on this day and dislocated his hip.[1] Since the hip area includes the generative triad (comprised of the three sefirot: netzach, hod, y

Tisha B’Av1, 5769/2009 “Jerusalem…her impurity is in her hems” (Lamentations 1:9). Anyone who has sat with the question, “Who am I?”, for more than a minute has surely realized that it is a complicated query. It’s not so simple (or even possible) to pin “me” down—in part because I am constantly changing, evolving, enlightening—my preferences vary, my values shift, my appearance alters, my emotions fluctuate in ways that can be drastic over the course of hours, days, years and

Tisha B’Av, 5770/2010 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Everyone knows that Tisha B’Av (the 9th of Av) is the lowest point of the Jewish calendar. HaShem’s protective aura thins, and we grow vulnerable to error and to harm. The downward tug of this time is ancient, and nearly impossible to resist. It started when Essav’s guardian angel attacked Yaakov on this day and dislocated his hip.1 Since the hip area includes the generative triad (comprised of the three sefirot: netzach, hod, yes

Sarah Yehudit Schneider We are about to observe our one-thousand-nine-hundred-and-forty-first (1,941st) Tisha b’Av fast. That amounts to a lot of hope…and a lot of disappointment. Although mashiach1 could come in any moment, the Talmud declares that Tisha B’Av is the day most suited to his birth.2 Each year our hopes rise, and each year they have been dashed. The natural tendency, with such a precedent of disappointment, is to grow cynical and stop hoping. Sadly, many have d

TISHA B’AV 5772 / 2012 Based on R. Tsadok HaKohen Pri Tsadik, Devarim 16 and Resisei Laila, 48 (וביום שני…) Sarah Yehudit Schneider Any person who acquires daat, it is as if he built the Temple in his days. (Brochot 33a) The world came into being when God took a certain [sapphire] stone, which is called the “Foundation Stone”, and cast it into the abyss, and upon that stone God founded the world. It is the center point of the universe and upon it stands the Holy of Holies…Thi

“Everything that the Merciful One does is good.”[1] That means everything, without exception. Our job is to find that good…and proclaim it. From this perspective complaints with providence expose the chinks in our faith. If we don’t get what we want, then we just need to reprogram ourselves to want what we get. It’s all good, be happy. But if that were the only truth, then what’s the point of our three long weeks of mourning and semi-depression between the 17th of Tammuz and

Tisha B’av 5777 / 2017 Sarah Yehudit Schneider [When you come into your Promised Land] HaShem will only uproot the nations before you gradually, little by little. You will not be able to defeat them quickly, so the wild animals do not overwhelm you. [Deut. 7:22] וְנָשַׁל יְי א-ֱלֹהֶיךָ אֶת-הַגּוֹיִם הָאֵל מִפָּנֶיךָ מְעַט מְעָט לֹא תוּכַל כַּלֹּתָם מַהֵר פֶּן-תִּרְבֶּה עָלֶיךָ חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה Moshe speaks these words before his death with Israel poised to enter their pr

A Tisha B’Av Talk and Suggestion for Elul Work Sarah Yehudit Schneider My question is: how can it be, that for two thousand years we’ve known that Baseless Hatred is what caused our exile, which means that that, corrected, is the key to our redemption. And yet, for two thousand years we haven’t managed to fix it, or even to make significant headway. We’ve made so many resolutions …launched so many campaigns. Whenever tragedy strikes and we try to make the best of it by upgra

Tisha B’Av, 5780/2020Sarah Yehudit Schneider Yehoshua ben Levi met Mashiach and asked him: “When will you come, Master? When will you announce yourself?” Mashiach answered: “Today!” But the day passed and Mashiach did not come. Yehoshua ben Levi met Elijah the Prophet and reported his encounter with Mashiach: Elijah inquired: What did he say to you….” “He spoke falsely,” complained R. Yehoshua. “He said that he would come today, but he did not.” Elijah explained that when Mas

This first video is Sarah Yehudit’s teaching, itself. The second video is the discussion that followed. Below that is an audio file (no video) of the talk.

This is a video of Sarah Yehudit’s teaching on Tisha B’Av evening after Chana Yaffe’s beautiful Eicha reading. Below that is an audio file (no video) of the talk.

On Tisha B’Av we mourn the loss of our House of Holy Presence (aka Bet HaMikdash), the heart of our people, that turns us from a throng into a higher order unity called Kenesset Yisrael, a synonymous term for Shekhina. Without our holy hub it is hard to contain the ricochet of our clashing extremes that produce the causeless hatred that prevents our inner peace. But what is it, really, that we are missing? It is probably not what most assume.

Tisha B’Av, 2022 Sarah Yehudit Schneider This year we have an awkward convergence. Tisha B’Av—the day for mourning the woes of our nation—falls on Shabbos—our day of spiritual delight when it is generally forbidden to mourn (at least publically, as we’ll see). There is a range of opinions about how to negotiate this tension. On one extreme is Rebbi who would recite the traditional Tisha B’Av kinot (dirges) even on Shabbat.[1] Then there’s the Mishna Brura who also emphasizes

Scientists assert that Dark Matter and Dark Energy permeate our universe though neither have been observed directly. Their presence is inferred by their impact on visible matter. The motion of galaxies and structure of our cosmos are best explained by positing that our entire visible world is embedded in a vast matrix of invisible (ie, dark) “stuff” that comprises (no less than) 95% of the total mass/energy of the universe.[i] This is astrophysics, not science fiction. As ab

An inspiring and practical teaching on Tisha B’Av by Sarah Yehudit Schneider

Tisha B’Av teachings over the years (2007-present).

An inspiring and practical teaching on Tisha B’Av by Sarah Yehudit Schneider

An inspiring and practical teaching on Tisha B’Av 2024 by Sarah Yehudit Schneider

TISHA B’AV–A POTENT MEDITATIONby Sarah Yehudit Schneider Everyone knows that Av is the month that includes the most fateful day in the Jewish calendar, Tisha B’Av (the 9 of Av), which is distinguished by its extremely fallen state and yet its extremely great potential. It is the month where our collective heart is wrenched from our midst, twice, for as everyone knows both of our Temples were destroyed on the ninth of Av. It’s the month where we hit bottom.And yet, as everyone