Hey y’all. 
When we moved to Atlanta many years ago we had to go downtown to conclude some insurance dealings. 
It was before Waze and even GPS (like I said, a long time ago) and it didn’t take long till we were hopelessly lost. 
In an attempt to find our way, we pulled up next to a group of utility workers to ask for directions. 
The conversation started with
“Hey y’all”. 
It was our first taste of the famous Southern Hospitality. 
Unfortunately, the rest of the conversation remained a mystery as we were unable to understand another word. 
In Pirkei Avot, Ethics of Our Fathers, Chapter 4, Mishna 15 there is a teaching credited to Rabbi Matia Ben Harash who says “Be the first to greet every person”
This teaching instructs us to be quick and take the initiative to say “hello” first. By immediately acknowledging another, one celebrates the value of the person being encountered. 
Sometimes it’s not easy to say hello first. 
It may feel awkward or socially “off”. But our Sages teach us to put aside our own insecurities and focus on the other, it’s worth the discomfort to make someone else feel seen. 
We all know how powerful this maxim can prove to be. 
Imagine walking in to a party, all alone, not knowing a soul. 
Then one friendly person reaches out and says hello. 
It’s as if a life preserver was tossed to save someone who is drowning. 
There are many stories told of people who were in a state of despair, whose lives were turned around by a thoughtful and friendly hello. 
It’s such a small word yet it has a vast impact.  
The Talmud teaches us of the great Sage, Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai who is praised for always being the first to greet everyone he met, no matter who they were. 
This behavior points to something profound. 
By greeting one other, we treat the person with respect and honor, in fact we recognize their inherent greatness. 
That is why Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai was known for this trait.  You could never beat him in the race to say” Hey y’all”, he would always be first. He did so because despite his greatness as the leader of the community, he never lost sight of the greatness of everyone else, extending the hello which meant “you matter”. 

There is a well known story which is related in “Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust”, by Yaffa Eliach. She tells of a renowned rabbi in Poland who greeted everyone he met when he went on his daily promenade. There was a farmer he passed every day who would pointedly disregard the “Good morning Herr Mueller” extended by the rabbi, but after years of persistence, the farmer finally would respond with a “Good morning Herr Rabbiner”. 
This interaction would have continued on until time immemorial, but was halted due to the outbreak of WW2. One day, the rabbi was waiting in one of those infamous lines in a concentration camp, hoping to be selected to go to the right, to life. His health has been badly compromised due to the terrible conditions and as he approached the SS officer he prayed for a miracle. But as he approached the officer he was shocked to see his old acquaintance and he blurted out “Good morning Herr Mueller”. His former neighbor, the farmer, had exchanged his work clothes for the gleaming boots of an SS officer. Without missing a beat, the former farmer replied, “Goid morning Herr Rabbiner” and signaled the rabbi to join the line of life. 
That small hello, uttered with feeling and without ego, saved the Rabbi’s life. 
A week from today is Tisha B’Av, the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av. It is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. It is a day of mourning to mark the many tragedies that transpired on that day, primarily, the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians in 586 BCE and the Second Temple in 70 CE. 
There are five deprivations that are associated with the day in order to emphasize the mourning, of which the most well known is fasting. 
Another prohibition of the day which is less well known is the refraining of greeting others. 
It’s the one day we do not try to be the first to say hello. In fact we do not say it at all. 
It is interesting that this prohibition is only in place one day a year. 
Why on this day?
It is fitting that on the day we mourn the destruction of the Temple , we do the antithesis of what Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai taught. Because it was that Rabbi who ensured the physical and spiritual  survival of the Jewish people after the Temple was destroyed. He understood that the only way we can survive is by ensuring the unity of the Jewish people. And sometimes, it just takes a warm hello to make us see each other as people and help us overcome our differences. 
On Tisha BAv we are not allowed to exercise this privilege. Because we lost sight of one another and relegated the other by othering, we mourn our downfall into baseless hatred and are prohibited to use the gift which should have saved the day. 
This coming Thursday we will think a great deal about saying “hello”. Because when you can’t do something it throws the concept into sharp focus. All of a sudden you will have the urge to greet everyone. 
May we use the opportunity to remind ourselves of the power of Hey Y’all, as Rabbi Yochanan Zakkai understood that “national redemption begins with concern for the individual. Rabbi J. Kelman. 
And in true Jewish fashion, even the saddest day of the year has a prism of hope. The Talmud tells us that this day of sorrow will one day be transformed into a joyous time. So we pray that this will be the last sad Tisha BAv we ever experience. The Midrash teaches that the highest joy will come on the date when we experienced the worst sadness and destruction. 
We live in hope that this will come to pass on this upcoming Tisha BAv. 
And as people who live in that prism of hope we have a custom to leave the booklets of Kinnot, the sad poems we read that day, behind in the synagogue, hoping we will never need them again and thereby expressing the dream of better days ahead. 
So hello dear friends. 
I see you!
Shabbat Shalom and so much love. 
PS I look forward to “seeing” y’all in a few weeks. These musings will resume then.