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Yesterday was Tisha B'Av. Hope you all had an easy fast. I went to the Orthodox Ashkenazic synagogue here on Saturday night (after Sueda at the Jeff Seidel Centre - I'm afraid I didn't eat any eggs or lentils or ashes) and Sunday morning. As Tisha B'Av was straight after Shabbat, and you have to start the fast from sundown but can't make havdalah for another 18 minutes, we made Havdalah only over the flame, and then made Havdalah over wine at the end of the fast (Sunday evening).
The evening service was really interesting, and very affecting - on Saturday night, the shul was lit by some candles, a few little electrical lamps and the ner tamid, but otherwise dark. Everyone ignored me when I went in, but I think that's supposed to happen, rather than me just being really unpopular. I also noticed that they didn't have the pretty curtain in front of the ark, the name of which escapes me right now (actually, google tells me it's called a parochet). I tried to follow in the book of Kinot (which took me forever to find on the women's bookshelf - they weren't put out, because as we know, women aren't important), but as everything was in Hebrew and I've never been to a Tisha B'Av service before, I found it a bit hard to follow. I listened instead - they were saying the prayers instead of leyning them, though they leyned Eicha (the cantillation of which made the hairs on your neck stand on end!). There weren't many women in the gallery (yes, we get a gallery, complete with a glass screen), but those who were there were sitting on the floor, except for an old lady and I - if I sat on the floor, I'd never be able to get back up again.
On Sunday morning, it was the first time I'd seen men at a morning service but not wearing tallitot, or tefillin. It's supposed to be a sign of mourning, like not wearing leather shoes (although my canvas shoes probably looked a bit too jaunty - it was that or sandals). The men read from the Torah and haftorah. There were no chumashim in the women's section though (why am I not surprised), so I just listened, and then read it when I got home to my own Tanakh. One thing I noticed and didn't really understand was that there were tons of men outside the synagogue, in the courtyard, some praying and others just milling around. I'm not sure why they weren't going in - there was a woman on the stairs too. If there is a custom that says you should hang around outside in the garden while the prayers are going on, I haven't heard of it. Does anyone know what they were doing? Or maybe they were just taking a break, the shul was a bit hot (though outside was too. It did have a lot of cats though). Reminded me how tenuous my grasp of what-the-heck-is-going-on-in-shul is most of the time.
At this point I flaked and went to lie down, and so I didn't make the Mincha service, which is a shame. I think that fasting is a good thing though - I was certainly reminded of my human frailty, and there is something a bit cathartic about it (can anything be a bit cathartic?). On the other hand, it doesn't really agree with my M.E. and I'm still feeling a bit woozy, brainfogged and sore, and I didn't even fast properly, and spent most of the afternoon in bed, though I did also finish my book on the Holocaust, which seemed appropriate for the day. I know that Reform congregations generally use the day to remember Jewish martyrs and tragedies, seeing as they don't want the restoration of the Temple, and I'm assuming that's what Liberals do too, if they haven't dispensed with it altogether (do we have any fasts left ,except Yom Kippur?).
I was also quite excited though as Tisha B'Av was the last Jewish holiday in which I hadn't participated yet - I began observing the holidays the Purim before last, but somehow I missed Tisha B'Av. So I've completed the Jewish year. Another hurdle jumped!