Tisha b'Av, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av, is a day of mourning that commemorates the destruction of the first and second Temples and other calamities in Jewish history. Tisha b'Av is one of the fast days in the Jewish calendar and the nine days that precede it are days of mourning and preparation. There are restrictions about activities of pleasure, laundering your clothes, and it is traditional to not eat meat nor drink wine. This year for the nine days leading up to Tisha b'Av I decided to go on a strictly vegan diet.
Part of preparation this year was shopping for the 9 days on Rosh Chodesh Av.
The nine days are all about preparation and mine is to do research, read text and then meditate. Whatever day I am observing may be the same each year but I am not. I have changed and so each time I observe I need to see how it fits in with where I am now. One phrase that struck me this year in my reading was that Tisha b'Av is not known about nor observed by many Jews. I wondered if, for those who are aware and yet not observing, is it the mourning part that is not meaningful or interesting? Tisha b'Av comes in the summer after all and who wants to focus on sadness and destruction when for many it is their time for vacation, go to the beach or just relax. Or maybe it is the destruction of the Temples that is hard to relate to either because it is seems so long ago and too far away?
During the 9 days I learned how to make no vinegar lacto-fermented pickles.
I let all my info and thoughts just sit and mentally ferment. Tick, tock, I was awaiting a revelation or insight on another way to see the Temple. "Turn it, and turn it, for everything is in it. Reflect on it and grow old and gray with it" Rabbi Ben Bag Bag is quoted in Pirke Avot 5:22. That is just what I did here and then came the light. Of course I could balance the Temples built in Jerusalem of stone with my own personal temple of blood, muscle and bone. I would mourn the destruction of the Temple that has happened in the past with the destruction of my own personal temple happening in the present. Plus instead of just mourning my own temple's neglect I would use the nine days to cleanse it as in the Hanukkah story. Now where would I take my inspiration or direction for cleansing?
Once during the nine days I was served a delicious vegan Indian style tofu at Kayam Farms.
I continued to channel Rabbi Ben Bag-Bag. What about if I used the very first chapter of the first book of the Torah where in B'reishet (Genesis) it says:
29 God said, "See, I give you every seed-bearing plant that is upon all the earth, and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit; they shall be yours for food. 30 And to all the animals on land, to all the birds of the sky, and to everything that creeps on earth, in which there is the breath of life, [I give] all the green plants for food." And it was so.
This text would be my kavanah, my intention or direction of the heart. For the nine days I would cleanse my body temple by not only eliminating meat and wine per tradition from my meals but also any animal products or food containing animal products. Yes for the nine days I would observe a strictly vegan diet as it seems to be what was originally intended at least according to the Torah. As I observed this diet and dealt with changes in meal planning, shopping and eating out I would use it as sparks to reflect on how I could better treat this body temple.
I baked these vegan challah rolls using flax meal instead of eggs as a binder.
At the end of each day I reflected and wrote about the experience posting those thoughts on Facebook. I am not going to reproduce everything but here are a few observations. The experience seemed to be one of those where you think "why haven't I done this before. It seems so obvious?!" My usual diet is a lacto-ovo pesco vegetarian diet of dairy, eggs, fish etc. with some "happy" or free-range kosher meat thrown in here and there. Now it is clear how much I depend on dairy and eggs for the large part of my meals. I need to work on making each meal more about the vegetables. Those nine days were the hardest when I wasn't making my own meals. When I have traveled to Asian countries vegetables really take center stage even in the morning but that isn't true here. As with my own meals meatless meals may have veggies but most also have cheese, eggs or both as well. I am going to try and be more diligent about providing vegetables for myself when I eat and getting veggies into the main ring for others too.
The land of milk and honey? Here are some of the milk replacements I tried.
Eating vegan for the nine days didn't make me a vegan for life however it certainly gave me something to thing about. Who knows but that I may incorporate eating vegan if not totally then perhaps now and then. We shall see.
