Sunday, August 11, 4pm
Scioto Greenway just below the Broad Street Bridge (near the corner of Broad and Civic Center Drive)
Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the month of Av on the Jewish calendar, is a day of communal mourning. This year it begins at sundown on Saturday, Aug. 10 and ends at sundown on Sunday, Aug. 11. A day of mourning on the Jewish calendar, Tisha B’Av commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples of Jerusalem and the generations of forced migration of the ancient Israelite people. The day is traditionally observed by fasting and reading from the Book of Lamentations in Hebrew scripture.

Jews around the United States are holding #CloseTheCamps vigils on Tisha B’Av to draw attention to the striking similarity between the plight of our refugee ancestors and the contemporary cries of those whose tragedy is right before our eyes in America - the myriad immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees who are being treated inhumanely by the Trump administration.

We are compelled to demonstrate publicly that the Jewish community will not turn its back on refugees arriving in our country and our immigrant neighbors already here. Many of these vigils are being held outside Immigration Customs Enforcement offices and facilities because the immigrant-led organization United We Dream is asking allies to hold vigils and protests outside ICE offices nationwide.
Five Jewish organizations - T’ruah, Bend the Arc, J Street, the Religious Action Center and the National Council of Jewish Women - are responding to this request by partnering to coordinate Jewish-led vigils and protests demanding an end to this unfolding modern-day catastrophe.

Participants are invited to meet at 3:45 p.m. on the green space along the Scioto just below the Broad Street Bridge at the corner of Broad and Civic Center Drive. A Mincha/Afternoon Offering and Public Witness led by Rabbi Jessica Shimberg of Kehilat Sukkat Shalom will begin at 4 p.m. and we will conclude by walking up to Civic Center Drive and across the street to the terrace of the building that houses Senator Rob Portman's Office and across the street from the local I.C.E. office (in the LaVeque Tower). Signs in support of Immigrants, Assylum-seekers, Refugees are welcome and encouraged. This will be a peaceful and soulful public witness with opportunities for prayer, poetry, silence and song.

Questions should be directed to Rabbi Shimberg through FB or at rabbi@sukkatshalomcolumbus.org.