Tisha B'av: National homelessness and personal displacement

by: Rabbi Jill Jacobs

Fri Jul 31, 2009 at 12:32:31 PM EDT

National Homelessness and individual displacement: a Tisha B'av story

by: Rabbi Jill Jacobs

Thu Jul 30, 2009 at 10:13:26 AM EDT

Cross-posted from jbooks.com

Perhaps now is a good time to redefine the term "displaced person." Consider the remarks a former homeowner made in the New York Times, "It's amazing, when you have a home, you're thinking about vacations, or who you're going to have over for dinner, or when should you do spring cleaning,” said Jody Crispin, adding, "When you don't have a home, you don't think about any of that stuff. All you think about is when I'm going to have a home again?" To make matters worse, Crispin told the Times that she had already missed several days of work, out of embarrassment at the prospect of admitting her housing situation to her colleagues, and now risked losing her job.

Once upon a time in America, a person who worked full time and saved carefully could reasonably expect to buy a home for his or her family. This home might not be large or fancy, and might be in a remote area, but home ownership remained in the grasp of most families.

Today, of course, many who realized the American dream of owning a home now face foreclosure, high debt, and uncertainty about the future. This destabilization of the norm has effects far beyond the realm of housing: people living with relatives or friends, in temporary housing, or under the threat of foreclosure may find themselves ill-able to manage other areas of life.

Jews are no strangers to the feeling of displacement that Crispin identifies. Throughout history, Jewish communities have moved from place to place in search of a secure and permanent home. These wanderings began with the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE and the subsequent expulsion of most Jews from Jerusalem, and continued through the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE; expulsions from Spain, Portugal, England, France, and other countries in the Middle Ages; escape from Nazi Germany and occupied Europe; and flight from Iran, Algeria, Afghanistan, and other places where the political climate became hostile to Jews in the 20th century.

Jewish communities have experienced this intermittent homelessness not only as a material crisis, but also as an existential one. The liturgy, literature, and rituals that commemorate the numerous expulsions and escapes speak not only of a longing for physical safety, but also of a sense of loneliness and emotional displacement.

This commingling of emotional pain with concern for physical comfort and safety is most apparent in the literature and traditions of Tisha B’Av, the holiday that commemorates the destruction of the two Temples, and that has come to be understood as a day of mourning for dozens of tragedies throughout Jewish history.

Tazria-Metzora: Unsafe Housing and the Imperative to Build

by: Tamar Kamionkowski

Tue Apr 21, 2009 at 22:51:36 PM EDT

In this week’s parashah we come across the following case: if a homeowner notices some kind of mold on the interior walls of his house, he should immediately inform the priest (local authority).  The priest comes to the house and

If, when he examines the plague, the plague in the walls of the house is found to consist of greenish or reddish streaks that appear to go deep into the wall the priest shall come out of the house... and close up the house for seven days. On the seventh day the priest shall return. If he sees that the plague has spread on the walls of the house,  the priest shall order the stones with the plague in them to be pulled out and cast outside the city... The house shall be scraped inside all around, and the coating that is scraped off shall be dumped outside the city in an unclean place. They shall take other stones and replace those stones with them, and take other coating and plaster the house. (Lev 14: 37-42; JPS)

After the priest has confirmed the safety of the house, he leads a ritual through which expiation is made on behalf of the house for God and the home is deemed fit for habitation.

How is it that expiation could be made on behalf of a house when in every other case