Today is a fast day in Judaism, where we refrain from eating, drinking, washing, bathing, applying creams or oils to our bodies, no wearing of leather shoes, no sex or other pleasurable activities & no Torah study (deemed to be a pleasure, except for certain specific texts). This fast is in order to remember the destruction of both Temples and the many catastrophes that have happened to the Jewish people, including the many expulsions of Jews from Europe, the first crusade,which decimated the German and French Jewish communities, & the Shoah. We read through the book of Lamentations, the book of Job and Kinnot (Jewish liturgical poems).
Here is one written by Sephardi Rabbi Judah Ha-Levi:
Tzion, halo tishali leshalom asira'ich,
dorshey shlomech vehem yeter idra'ich?
Miyam umuzrach umetzafon veteyman shalom
rachok vekarov se'i michol avraich.
Veshalom asir tikvah noten dim'av k'tal chermon
venichsaf leridatam al hararaich!
Livkot anotech ani tanim, ve'et echlom
shivat shvutech - ani kinor leshiraich.
Tzion, halo tishali leshalom asiraich,
dorshey shlomech vehem yeter idraich?
Ashrei mechakeh veyagi'a veyir'eh alut
oech veyivke'u alav shacharaich -
lir'ot betovat bechiraich
vela'aloz besimchatech
beshuvech elai kidmat neuraich!
Livkot anotech ani tanim, ve'et echlom
shivat shvutech - ani kinor leshiraich.
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