Walking with God: Sunday Morning Worship, Part 3

It's 10:11 AM Eastern on Sunday. I walked for exactly 60 minutes today, by coincidence or by Providence, returning to my front door at 9:33 AM, which made me think of the ICC and Israel in context. It was a fine summer morning to walk. I wore Merrell Vapor Gloves for my minimalist footwear recovery and listened to two worship pieces on YouTube: In Christ Alone | Celtic Worship ft. Steph Macleod and The Tragic Connection Between Tisha B'Av and Yeshua Jesus | Rabbi Jason Sobel.

Now, thanks to Rabbi Sobel, I am seeing the Cross in a whole new way: the love of God as the vertical (the first tablet of the Decalogue) and the love of neighbor as the horizontal (the second tablet of the Decalogue). Yeshua exemplified and united both in his total self-giving on Golgotha. 

It occurs to me that veganism, vegetarianism, and flexitarianism are ways of extending the love of neighbor to include more of the sentient beings with whom we share this Earth. Mass transition to these three dietary patterns is also essential if we want to preserve the security of the global food system for our golden years and for future generations.   

I haven't decided yet whether to continuing fasting this Tisha B'Av. I haven't eaten anything since yesterday at 6 PM, but I have been taking in water and herbal tea. Now it is 10:54 AM and I am torn. It's not that I am particularly hungry - at least not yet. It's a deeper question that I have about the Jewish calendar, and whether I should be keeping any of it, including this particular day of solemnity. Then, perhaps even more deeply than this, there is the tragic plight of hungry Gazans. What does it all mean?  

I surf the Web for input and discover several powerful articles:

• Tisha B'Av - In the Depths of Me
• What horror in Gaza means for observing Tisha B'av | The Forward
• Tisha B’Av recalls a Jewish nation under siege. The war in Gaza flips the script. | Jewish Telegraphic Agency
• Yuval Noah Harari warns of 'spiritual catastrophe' for Judaism - Jewish News
• In first, Ben Gvir openly leads prayers on Temple Mount, in violation of status quo | The Times of Israel
• In video, Hamas forces hostage Evyatar David to dig what he fears will be his own grave | The Times of Israel

Now I know that I need to fast in solidarity with Ram and Evyatar:

Still images of hostages Ram Braslavski (left) and Evyatar David from Hamas propaganda videos, cleared for publication by their families in August 2025. (Composite screenshot)

It is 11:56 AM as I close this entry. I am at a loss for words. Instead of eating lunch in the next half hour, as I usually do, I will turn to the Book of Lamentations.