OUDepartment of Public Relations

June 29, 2004

OU Tisha B’Av Programming Once Again to Feature Video and Kinot Webcast by Rabbi Weinreb

Once again this year, the Orthodox Union will present a multi-part program in observance of the Three Weeks and Tisha B’Av, featuring a video as well as a webcast presentation on Tisha B’Av by OU Executive Vice President Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb in which he will provide commentary on the Kinot, the elegies of the day.

This year’s video is titled Good for Nothing, which according to Rabbi Moshe D. Krupka, OU Executive Director of Programming, challenges its viewers to perform acts of kindness toward their fellow man, expecting “nothing” in return. On Tisha B’Av itself, Rabbi Weinreb will go to the Young Israel of Woodmere in Long Island, NY, to provide his commentary, which will be available on the OU website, www.ou.org.

Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the month of Av, which commemorates the destruction on that date of the two Temples in Jerusalem 656 years apart, as well as other Jewish tragedies that occurred that day, falls this year on Tuesday, July 27. Besides the recitation of the Kinot and the Book of Lamentations, Tisha B’Av is observed by a sundown to sundown fast beginning on the evening of July 26, and other aspects of mourning. The three-week period of sadness that culminates in Tisha B’Av begins with the Fast of the 17th of Tammuz, July 6. The intensity of the sadness increases after the first day of the month of Av for the following nine days. This year, the Nine Days begins on Sunday evening, July 18.

The OU will make Good for Nothing available to its synagogues across the United States and Canada during this period of mourning. According to Rabbi Krupka, “After the success of last year’s Tisha B’Av Video, Jerusalem Connections, the OU decided to continue the tradition of using a video to draw attention to some of the major themes surrounding Tisha B’Av.”

According to Rabbi Krupka, the theme Good for Nothing was inspired by the Talmud which states that the second Temple was destroyed due to acts of baseless hatred. To counter “baseless hatred,” he explained, man must focus on pursuing “baseless kindness.” It is for this reason that the OU decided that Tisha B’Av presented the perfect opportunity to encourage chesed, or interpersonal kindness. “We had been talking about doing a video on chesed for quite some time,” said Rabbi Krupka. “Then we thought about it in the context of Tisha B’Av and felt that it would be extremely moving.”

Rabbi Krupka added, “Even if we do chesed - and many Jews tend to be involved in some form of chesed - we tend to compartmentalize it. The goal of this video is to inspire people to think about why they do it and to internalize the message of why chesed is so important.”

The video will feature prominent rabbis as well as human-interest vignettes, all focused on improving interpersonal attitudes and behaviors.

The video, produced and directed by the OU’s video director, Ricky Magder, will include appearances by:

  • Rabbi Weinreb;
  • Rabbi Herschel Schachter, Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshiva University;
  • Rabbi Meir Goldvicht, Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshiva University;
  • Rabbi David Fohrman, Director, Hoffberger Foundation for Torah Studies, Baltimore;
  • Rabbi Mordechai Becher, Senior Lecturer for the Gateways Organization, Passaic, NJ;
  • Daniel Rosenfeld, the father of a three-year old who recently passed away from cancer; he and his wife are initiating a worldwide Shabbat of chesed on July 3;
  • Ken Hirsch, creator of Shop and Stop cards;
  • Dudi Zilbershlag, founder of the Meir Panim Soup Kitchens in Israel;
  • Rabbi Harvey Silverstein, Project Ezra, Teaneck, NJ;
  • Dr. Jeffrey Lichtman, National Director of the OU’s National Jewish Council for Disabilities/YACHAD;
  • Clara Hammer, known as the “Chicken Lady,” Jerusalem;
  • Manhattan Day School pre-schoolers, New York;
  • Rabbi Allen Schwartz, Congregation Ohab Zedek, New York;

Shannon Shabata, International Representative of the One Family Fund.

Once Tisha B’Av comes, Rabbi Weinreb’s four-hour Kinot broadcast will enable Jews who cannot be present in the synagogue due to work or family responsibilities – or who only remain for a short while – to continue to experience Tisha B’Av through the internet and to maintain the full significance of the day while attending to their other activities.

This is the third year of what is becoming an OU tradition of website broadcasts of Rabbi Weinreb’s Tisha B’Av commentary. Last year, Rabbi Weinreb returned to Congregation Shomrei Emunah in Baltimore, which he served for 13 years before assuming his OU position, to lead the broadcast.

For his presentation, as he did in past years, Rabbi Weinreb will draw from a wide range of sources -- ancient to modern, halachic and aggadic, religious and secular. Last year the result was profound insights into the elegies, which educated and deeply moved his worldwide audience.

Some comments follow:

“As I listen to the last few minutes of Rabbi Weinreb’s lecture, after being with it since 9:15 this morning, I simply must commend you and the OU for a magnificent act of service to the community. You have utilized modern technology in a way that is mezakeh harabim, and you have helped infuse this holy day with true neshama, even for those of us who must spend much of our day in the office.”

“I have tremendous hakarat hatov for the OU and Rabbi Weinreb for today’s Kinot on your website. It was very inspiring, especially for a mother who cannot attend shul.”

“What a tremendous service to the Jewish community. Rabbi Weinreb was masterful and inspiring. I stayed on-line the entire time and have never felt so enriched by a Tisha B’Av before. The live Kinot webcast was very inspiring and has made my fasting a more meaningful experience.”

* * *

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