Tisha B’Av: A Tragic Day Throughout Jewish History

Jewish Ledger | July 27, 2012

Tisha B’Av begins at sundown on July 28. The ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av is often considered the “saddest” day on the Jewish calendar. A fast day that commemorates the destruction of both the First and Second Temples, it is the culmination of a three week period of increasing mourning that begins with the fast of the 17th of Tammuz, when the walls of Jerusalem were first breached, leading
to the destruction of the First Temple.

While Tisha B’Av is primarily intended to recall the destruction of the Temples, both of which were destroyed on the ninth of Av, it is also considered a day to mourn the many other tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people on this day. Among them:

• Spies return with evil reports from the land of Israel, leading the Jewish people to cry in despair and God to decree that the children of Israel wandering in the desert would not be permitted to enter the land of Israel;

• The last fortress to hold out against the Romans during the Bar Kochba revolt falls, sealing the fate of the Jewish people.
Over 100,000 Jews were killed;

• The First Crusade is declared by Pope Urban II, bringing death and destruction to thousands of Jews, and obliterating many communities in Rhineland and France.

• The Inquisition in Spain and Portugal culminates in the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in the year 1492. Tisha B’Av is set as the final date by which not a single Jew is allowed on Spanish soil.
;

• Jews are expelled from England in the year 1515, accompanied by pogroms;

• World War I breaks out in 1914 when Germany declared war on Russia. German resentment from the war set the stage for the Holocaust;

• Deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka concentration camp begin in 1942.

In addition to the prohibition on eating and drinking, and other restrictions similar to those on Yom Kippur, it is customary to read the Book of Eichah – Lamentations – on Tisha B’Av, both at night and during the day: a series of deeply impassioned and poetic dirges in which the prophet Jeremiah implores the Jewish people to repent and describes in detail Jerusalem under siege and the utter destruction of the First Temple.

FOUR PERSPECTIVES

Recently, the Ledger received an article from Rabbi Stephen Fuchs, in which he offered a look at the meaning and implications of Tisha B’Av from the perspective of Progressive Judaism. Rabbi Fuchs is the president of the World Union of Progressive Judaism and rabbi emeritus of Temple Beth Israel, a Reform congregation in West Hartford, where he still maintains his home base.

Along with Rabbi Fuchs’ piece, we thought it would be interesting to ask several of our Connecticut rabbis for their view of Tisha B’Av from the perspective of their denominations.  Although he was away in Israel and therefore had to make his remarks brief, Rabbi Plavin was kind enough to send us his  brief thoughts.

We think these three perspectives add an interesting element to the upcoming solemn day.

Rabbi Stephen Fuchs

Rabbi Stephen Lewis Fuchs

President

World Union for Progressive Judaism

(Reform)

Page 1 of 5 | Next page