Moment for mourning

Congregation Kol Tikvah Erev Tisha B’Av service

An unfortunate case of laryngitis couldn’t prevent Cantor Malcolm Arnold from leading a powerful and meaningful Erev Tisha B’Av service at Congregation Kol Tikvah in Parkland.

Tisha B’Av is an annual holy day commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. It has been called “the saddest day in Jewish history” and it also one of general mourning for the numerous catastrophes that have coincidentally befallen Jews on the ninth of Av.

Arnold noted that about 50 people attended the Tisha B’Av service and he was pleased with the turnout.

Kol Tikvah is a Reform synagogue that began hosting this service eight years ago.

“Tisha B’Av is considered by so many Jews as an important holiday and the congregants were curious to why we weren’t doing this before we started it,” Arnold said.

Despite Arnold having laryngitis that caused him to “reinvent” the service, he was still able to move and enlighten the attendees at this solemn event that included music from pianist Marina Stolyar.

“People who know me said it [laryngitis] added to the prophetic nature of the holiday,” Arnold said. “There was a vulnerability that was caused beyond my power, the same way as I introduced the service that when the temple was destroyed, the next generation had to reinvent — and I had to reinvent the service.”

Attendees said the service was effective in encouraging remembrance. Bruce Jay of Coral Springs said, “I thought this type of service brings you from the history to the reality and then asks you to internalize it, and that’s what’s so important to our branch of Judaism, to be able to internalize things so that your actions reflect better.”

During the service, Arnold told the attendees to fast on Tisha B’Av if they find it meaningful — or don’t fast if they don’t find it meaningful — and that either way, sit down and figure out how much it cost for them to eat for a day, add it up and then whether they’ve eaten or not, write a check for that amount to help Israel. He added that writing a check to the Israel Emergency Fund or one of the local food pantries is a wonderful way to reinterpret the mandate to fast.

“We memorialize the fast to make us more aware and sensitive to the plight of too many in our present time and to realize that unlike us who chose to live in the diaspora, too many are living as exiles in an unwelcoming world, and like the mandate of this holy day, it is a reason to mourn,” Arnold told the attendees.

Call 954-346-7878 or visit koltikvah.net for more information on the synagogue.