The Sealey Challenge 2025

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Tisha B’Av 5785

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Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the month of Av (which month coincides with July and/or August), is the major day of communal mourning in the Jewish calendar. Although a large number of disasters are said to have befallen the Jews on this day, the major commemoration is of the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. and 70 C.E., respectively. Central to the observance of this day is fasting.

My Jewish Learning

As I virtually attend a Tisha B’Av service hosted by Rabbis for Ceasefire, this is some of what I am mourning:

The ongoing genocide in occupied Palestine
The ongoing genocide in occupied Turtle Island
Discrimination against diaspora Jews all over the world (pogroms, antisemitism, etc.)
The genocide that caused my ancestors to leave Éire during An Gorta Mór
Palestinians being denied the right to return

The Sealey Challenge 2025

The Sealey Challenge was started in 2017 by poet Nicole Sealey with a goal to read a book of poetry every day in August.

This year many poets, with Open Books: A Poem Emporium, are pledging this Sealey Challenge to raise funds for The Sameer Project.

The Sameer Project is a donations-based aid initiative for Gaza led by Palestinians.

If you’re unable to participate in The Sealey Challenge, please still check out their individual campaigns such as: The Refaat Alareer Camp; South Gaza: Tents, Food & Water; North Gaza: Food, Water & Other Distributions; Medical Campaign x Sameer Project.

My participation in The Sealey Challenge 2025 is going to be different for a couple of reasons.

The first reason is because I’ve had more difficulty reading through books for the past couple of years. My best guess is that this may be an after-effect of getting COVID-19 at least three times since 2020.

The second reason is because I was homeless a couple of years ago and had to place most of my books in storage. While I am thankfully housed, there is limited space, so a lot of my belongings are still in storage. This includes my collection of poetry books.

Part of disability culture is adapting - instead of reading a poetry book each day in August, I aim to re-read a poem each day.

Unfortunately, due to being unemployed and having no income, I cannot financially contribute to the fundraiser. My hope is that signal boosting this to prospective readers will bring forth those who can.