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BACKGROUND The destructions The fast commemorates two of the saddest events in Jewish history -- the destruction of the First Temple (originially built by King Solomon ), and the destruction of the Second Temple . Those two events occurred about 556 years apart, but both in the same month, Av, and, as tradition has it, both on the ninth day. In connection with the fall of Jerusalem three other fast-days were established at the same time as the Ninth Day of Av: these were the , the four fast-days have again been observed. After the Exodus On this day in the year 1312 BCE, the generation of Jews who came out of Egypt under Moses ' leadership 16 months earlier were condemned to die in the wilderness (''midbar'') and the entry into the Land Of Israel was delayed for 40 years until the old generation died out. The five calamities According to the Mishnah ('' Taanit '', 4:6), five specific events occurred on the ninth of Av that warrant fasting: # On this day, the Twelve Spies sent by Moses to observe the land of Canaan brought an "evil report" about the land that caused the Children Of Israel to cry, panic and despair of ever entering the " Promised Land " for which they were punished by G-d that they would not enter and that for all generations the day would become one of crying and misfortune for the descendants of the Children of Israel, the Jew ish people. ( Numbers ch 13-14) # Solomon's Temple (the First Temple) and the Kingdom Of Judah were destroyed by the Babylonia ns led by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC E and the Judeans were sent into the Babylonian Exile . # The Second Temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in 70 CE scattering the people of Judea and commnecing a two thousand year Jewish Exile . # The Bar Kokhba's Revolt against Rome failed, Bar Kokhba was killed, as was Rabbi Akiva and many other important Sages of the Mishnah , and Betar was destroyed. # Following the Siege Of Jerusalem , the subsequent razing of Jerusalem one year later. According to the Talmud (Tractate Taanit), the destruction of the Second Temple began on that date and was finally consumed by the flames on the next day -- the Tenth of Av. Later calamities on 9 Av A large number of calamities occurred on the ninth of Av:
The purpose of the day is not to institute annual commemorations of historical disasters. Rather, they are commemorated on Tisha B'Av. Examples are the destruction of many Jewish communities in the Rhineland during the Crusade s. The liturgy often makes mention of specific instances (see below). Holocaust (Shoah) Most Chareidi (ultra-Orthodox) Jews also see Tisha b'Av as a remembrance day for the six million Jews killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust . Modern-orthodox and non-orthodox Jews remember these on a special day instituted by the government of Israel, called Yom HaShoah . Chareidi rabbinical leaders view the institution of a new permanent day of mourning or celebration in our times as a heretical thought and condemn such actions, which is why chareidi Jews do not observe Yom Yerushalayim nor the Israeli Independence Day either, though the reason for refraining from celebrating the latter day is more complex, since chareidi Judaism does not consider the state of Israel to have any religious significance at all. OBSERVANCES Restrictions As on Yom Kippur , ''Tisha B'Av'' is observed as a full day fast that lasts 25 hours (sometimes longer, depending on where one is located), beginning with sunset and ending with nightfall the subsequent day. There are five main prohibitions: #No leather shoes are worn. #A day without eating or drinking of any kind (unless there is a life-threatening need to do so for ''pikuach nefesh'' -- "saving of life") #No bathing, showering, or washing of any kind. #No anointing oneself with creams or oils. Skin creams are prohibited. #Sexual relations, hugging, kissing, and all forms of physical affection, are prohibited. During services in synagogue, and when returning home, from nightfall until mid-day one is required to sit on the floor or on low chairs as during '' Shiv'ah '' (the week of mourning observed after the death of a first-degree relative). Some even have the custom of sleeping on the floor or other modification to the normal sleeping routine. People must refrain from greeting each other. Old prayerbooks and Torahs are often buried on this day. The laws of Tisha B'Av are recorded in the Shulkhan Arukh (the "Code of Jewish Law") '' Orach Chayim '' 552-557. Services The Scroll of ''Eichah'' ( Lamentations ) is read in Synagogue during the evening Services . In addition, most of the morning is spent reading ''kinoth'' (" Dirges "), most bewailing the loss of the Temples and the subsequent persecutions, but many others referring to post-exile disasters. These later ''kinnoth'' were composed by various poets (often prominent Rabbis) who had either suffered in the events mentioned or relate received reports. Important ''kinnoth'' were composed by Elazar Ha-Kalir and Rabbi Judah Ha-Levi . After The Holocaust , ''kinnoth'' were composed by the German-born Rabbi Shimon Schwab (in 1959, at the request of Rabbi Joseph Breuer ) and by Rabbi Solomon Halberstam , leader of the Bobov Hasidim (in 1984). HISTORY OF THE OBSERVANCE In the long period which is reflected in Talmud ic literature the observance of the Ninth Day of Av assumed a character of constantly growing sadness and asceticism. By the end of the second century or at the beginning of the third, the celebration of the day had lost much of its gloom. Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi was in favor of abolishing it altogether or, according to another version, of lessening its severity when the feast has been postponed from Saturday to Sunday (Talmud, Tractate Megillah 5b). The growing strictness in the observance of mourning customs in connection with the Ninth Day of Av became pronounced in post-Talmudic times, and particularly in the darkest period of Jewish life, from the fifteenth century to the eighteenth. (sixteenth century) says some are accustomed to abstain from meat and wine from the beginning of the week in which the Ninth Day of Av falls; and still others abstain throughout the three weeks from the Seventeenth of Tammuz ('' Shulkhan Arukh '', '' Orach Chayim '' 551). A gradual extension of prohibitions can be traced in the abstention from marrying at this season and in other signs of mourning. So Rabbi Moses of Coucy says that some do not use the Tefillin ("phylacteries") on the Ninth Day of Av, a custom which later was universally observed (it is now postponed until the afternoon). In this manner all customs originally designated as marks of unusual piety finally became the rule for all. IN LIGHT OF ISRAEL'S ESTABLISHMENT According to Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Judaism , while on the whole supporting the establishment of the State, has not seen it as a reason to abandon mourning over the destruction of the Temples and the other calamities, at least until the arrival of the Jewish Messiah , when it will be a day of celebration. Religious Zionism's ideas In the 20th century, with the re-establishment of a Jewish state in the Land Of Israel , some Religious Zionists opined that the commemoration of Tisha B'Av would have to be modified, and possibly overturned. Conservative and Masort ideas The law committee of the Masorti Movement (Conservative Judaism in the State of Israel) issued responsa on the question "In our time do we still have to fast for the whole of Tish'a b'Av, seeing that our sovereign independence has been regained? May we reduce the outward signs of mourning and permit eating after the Minchah Service?" Two responsa were given:
OTHER TRADITIONS Classical Jewish sources maintain that the Jewish Messiah will be born on Tisha B'Av. SEE ALSO REFERENCES |
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