{"id":6643,"date":"2024-08-08T18:50:19","date_gmt":"2024-08-08T23:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/?p=6643"},"modified":"2024-08-08T18:51:42","modified_gmt":"2024-08-08T23:51:42","slug":"tishah-bav-turning-back-to-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/tishah-bav-turning-back-to-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Tishah B’Av: Turning back to God"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Book of Lamentations is an acrostic (i.e., alphabetical) poem that begins with the Hebrew letter Aleph (\u05d0) in the word “eichah” (\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b8\u05d4), which also marks the Hebrew name of the book (\u05de\u05d2\u05d9\u05dc\u05ea \u05d0\u05d9\u05db\u05d4). “How (eichah) lonely sits the city that once was full of people!” (Lam. 1:1). The sages note that this word “how” (i.e., eichah) could also be read as “where are you?” (i.e., ayeka: \u05d0\u05b7\u05d9\u05bc\u05b6\u05db\u05bc\u05b8\u05d4), God’s first word spoken to Adam after he broke covenant in the Garden (Gen. 3:9). Note that God’s question is often our own: “Where are you God? Are you here, in the midst of this tedious moment? Do you know my loneliness, my ache for love? Do you understand the troubles of my heart? Do you know my pain?”<\/p>\n

And yet how many people have faith that God\u2019s call is one of comfort and restoration? God uses our loneliness (“how lonely<\/em>…”) to search our hearts, asking each of us, ayeka<\/em> \u2013 “Where are you?” “Why have you turned away from me and chosen a state of exile?” Our haunting sense of God\u2019s absence impels us to seek for him… God awaits our only possible response, “Hashivenu!” — an imperative<\/em> (urgent appeal) for the grace to repent: “Turn us back to yourself, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old” (Lam. 5:21).<\/p>\n

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Hebrew Lesson<\/strong>
\nLamentations 5:21 reading:
\n\u00ad<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u00ad<\/p>\n