radical rabbis

I decided to go to this female rabbi's house next Monday evening for one of our major fast days - for the recital of the Lamentations book and a workshop.  I asked what the workshop was about and they said it would be an "intense" one.  It's a grieving workshop - about the loss of all we have lost in our lives, our loved ones, dreams, our relationships, our youth, opportunities, the brokenness of the world, maimed bodies, hate, revenge, ignorance.  It sounded interesting. I discussed it with Hubby who said - "they're going to cry over there for two hours?"  I told him it's not that you're only crying over something that happened two thousand years ago, but you're also crying because there's no peace in the land yet, and for other losses - personal and national.  He tried to think of something personal and awful and said  - well I can't leave the country because of the debt to debtor's court.  "Why don't you cry over that?  It's healthy to cry and on that day you're supposed to cry over stuff". 

Speaking of female leaders, they just found the grave of a legendary 19th century woman called Chana Rochel of Ludomir of Ukraine.  Now I'm quoting from the Shalem Center's e-mail to me.  She was the learned and chraismatic woman who taught and healed as a Hassidic rebbe.  She was single.  A group of male rabbis in her region forced her to marry against her will but instead she annulled her own marriage and escaped excommunication by moving to Jerusalem.  She carried on her work here - especially with Jewish and Arab women and died in the late 1880s.  The site of her grave was lost until last week.  People came in groups to visit her and recite psalms at the gravesite.