For the source text click/tap here: Taanit 15
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The Mishna had stated that they would place ashes on the head of the Nasi and upon the head of the Rosh Beis Din (Head of the Court). Each person would place the ashes on his own head.
TheGemora questions why the Nasi and Rosh Beis Din do not place the ashes on their head by themselves. Rabbi Abba answers that being embarrassed by one’s own hand pales in comparison to being embarrassed by the hands of others and this will help make their prayers more successful.
The Gemora states that they would place the ashes on the place where the tefillin are worn on one’s head.
This opens us to explore the metaphor of ashes with Jastrow's paper on ancient funerary practices down to our work with grief and healing in the writings of Robert Bly (the path through ashes in Iron John) who died last week, and Martin Prechtel a shaman and his "Smell of Rain on Dust.”