On Tisha B’Av night in shul I was sitting on the floor and listening to Eicha. There was a small group of individuals in shul that night that were clearly disabled who had come to hear Eicha as well. About half way through, they had to leave which they did relatively quietly. A couple of minutes later one of the fellows cam back in and asked a couple of people if they had seen his hat, he came in wearing it, but didn’t remember where he put it. Immediately, no less than 5 people got up to try to assist this gentleman find his hat, he was very worried. There was no “shushing” form anyone, just a very quick reaction to help a fellow Jew. I know this isn’t a grand scale thing, but it struck me that this is exactly what the previous three weeks was about, the introspection and how we treat one another. So at least at that quick moment, Tisha B’Av had it’s meaning play out.
The second thing that I want to share was also on Erev Tisha B’Av. As you may have read, we had a major tragedy hit our community on Monday when an unassuming member of our community was murdered by his tenant. If there is ever a time when you can see the Chesed of our people, unfortunately it is in times of tragedy. Anyway, behind the scenes of this harrowing experience there were members of Hatzolah that were at the home providing care to the family after hearing of their immense loss. Now you would think that after everyone was “stable”, they would have left, but no. After hearing that the niftar’s father was in another county an hour away, and wasn’t in the best of health, they went to go pick him up, this way if he had some “problem” on the way back to his now deceased son’s home, he could be tended to immediately. This all happened in the late hours of the day when most other people were sitting down to their meals. These guys each went into the fast with just a few mouthfuls prior, because they were caring for another person who simply needed them. The following day, some of these same guys were out at the levaya, in the hot sun, standing by just in case.
If someone can show me another community that can tell the same stories, I would be shocked!