A Time to Mourn: Tisha B’Av

Question

Hi Rabbi,

What is the meaning of “Tisha B’Av”?

Thank you so much for your answer and for this informative and inspiring “Ask the Rabbi” service!

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Answers

  1. The Just Ask! - AskTheRabbi.org Team

    Tisha B’Av literally means “The Ninth Day of Av” (Av is a Hebrew month). It is the date of the greatest tragedies in Jewish history and is commemorated with signs of national mourning. In particular: fasting, reading the Book of Lamentations and reflecting on our ways and how to improve.

    This year (2022), the ninth of Av occurs on Shabbat, August 6. However, since Shabbat is not a day for sadness, the fast and mourning are “pushed off” until the following day, from after Shabbat until nightfall on Sunday, August the 7th.

    Some of the events that occurred on this date are: the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, the crushing of Bar Kochba’s rebellion against the Roman conquest, the declaration of the First Crusade by Pope Urban II, the expulsion of Jewry from England by King Edward I, the expulsion of Spanish Jewry during the Spanish Inquisition, the beginning of deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka concentration camp. It is also the date when Iraq walked out of talks with Kuwait, leading to the Gulf War, and was the date of the deadly bombing of the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina. And that is just a partial list.

    Allow me to share the following story to help in our understanding the significance of this day:

    The French ruler Napoleon Bonaparte looked in on a Synagogue in Paris on the Ninth of Av and saw Jews sitting on the floor chanting lamentations and shedding tears. “Why are they crying like that?” he asked. “They are in mourning for the loss of their Holy Temple in Jerusalem,” his aides explained. “But I have not heard of any such event recently from my reliable intelligence sources,” he proclaimed. “Master Napoleon,” they said, “this event took place close to 1,800 years ago.” “1,800 years ago and they still weep their hearts out? I vow that a people who can still mourn for their Temple and their homeland after so many years will certainly regain them!”

    Our Sages teach that the day of Tisha B’Av, which is now a day of national mourning, will in the future become a festive national holiday and that there will be no more war, suffering and mourning. May this be very soon! Amen.

    Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team