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Tisha b'Av
Tisha b'Av, the 9th of the Jewish month Av, is a day of fasting and mourning for the destruction of Yerushalayim and the Beit HaMikdash (Temple). According to tradition both the first and the second Beit HaMiskdash were destroyed on this date. The fisrst Beit HaMikdash was destroyed by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzer in 586 BCE, the second by Titus and his Roman soldiers in 70 CE.
Additionally, according to tradition, a lot of other disasters befell the Jewish people on this date in history.
- Our G-d punished our ancestors in the Wilderness and made a decree that they would not be allowed to enter the Promised Land because of the sin of the spies.
- In 135 CE, during the time of Rabbi Akiva, the Romans massacred Bar Kochba along with tens of thousands of other Jews with him.
- In 136 CE the Roman Emperor Hadrian had Turnus Rufus destroy all that was left of Yerushalayim and then built a pagan temple on the site of the Bait Hamikdash and built the pagan city, Aelia Capitolina, where Yerushalayim had been. Jews weren't even allowed to enter this city.
- The anti-Jewish riots in York, England in 1190 CE.
- In 1290 CE King Edward I forced the Jews to leave England.
- In 1492 CE 200,000 Jews were expulsed from Spain.
- World War I started on Tisha b'Av.
- In 1919 CE the Arabs started riots in the city of Yerushalayim, which ultimately led to the Jewish massacre in Chevron (Hebron).
- 1942 CE: The deportation of the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto began on Tisha b'Av.
Of course the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash alone is already enough reason to mourn, but all these other tragedies all add up to the weight of our sorrow on this day.
We mourn like people who have just lost a close relative: we sit on low chairs or on the floor, we don't greet each other, don't comb our hair, we don't wear any jewelry, no leather shoes, refrain form marital relations, and neither eat nor drink from sundown to sundown.
We're not allowed to study Torah on this day, because studying Torah is a pleasure, but we are allowed to read the books of Eikev (Lamentations) and Iyov (Job), as well as several parts of the prophets about disasters that befell our ancestors.
In Eikev 1 we read:
1 How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! How is she become as a widow! She that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!
2 She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; she hath none to comfort her among all her lovers; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.
3 Judah is gone into exile because of affliction, and because of great servitude; she dwelleth among the nations, she findeth no rest; all her pursuers overtook her within the straits.
4 The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly; all her gates are desolate, her priests sigh; her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness.
And in Eikev 2:
10 They sit upon the ground, and keep silence, the elders of the daughter of Zion; they have cast up dust upon their heads, they have girded themselves with sackcloth; the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
11 Mine eyes do fail with tears, mine inwards burn, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the breach of the daughter of my people; because the young children and the sucklings swoon in the broad places of the city.
12 They say to their mothers: 'Where is corn and wine?' when they swoon as the wounded in the broad places of the city, when their soul is poured out into their mothers' bosom.
13 What shall I take to witness for thee? What shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? For thy breach is great like the sea; who can heal thee?
(...)18 Their heart cried unto the Lord: 'O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night; give thyself no respite; let not the apple of thine eye cease.
19 Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches; pour out thy heart like water before the face of the Lord; lift up thy hands toward Him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger at the head of every street.'
from: The Hebrew Bible in English, according to the JPS 1917 Edition.
The destruction of the Six Million is our stark connection to the eternal Tisha B'Av. The Bobover Rebbe and Rav Shimon Schwab composed Kinnot (Elegies) lamenting and memorializing this unspeakable tragedy.
Artscroll.com provides a FREE pdf-download of these Kinnot!
Right-click the link below, choose "save target as", and save this document to your computer.
Kinnos For Our Time
Of course it's hard for children to understand why we mourn so heavily on this day, and it's really up to the parents to help them understand and feel what Tisha b'Av is all about. That's why - although children aren't commanded to fast yet - I substituted a "Daniel-Fast" for them.
Sure they may eat and drink, but they are only allowed to eat fruits and veggies, and they only get to drink water on this day. This serves a twofold purpose: it prepares them to the real fasting once they have reached bat-mitsvah-age, but also it makes them ask: "why are we fasting?", and thus provides a perfect opportunity for me to explain to them what Tisha b'Av is all about.
I always try to have a craft for them as well, like making a cardboard model of the Temple. This really helps making them feel more involved.
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