This Wednesday evening and Thursday, Jews throughout the world will observe Tisha B’Av, the Ninth of Av, which the sages set aside as a day for mourning several calamities suffered by the Jews of antiquity, including the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem. This week’s daily kavanot will trace the history and observance of Tisha B’Av from its establishment to the present day. Join us to observe this solemn day on Wednesday, July 26 at 7:15 p.m. at Temple Valley Beth Shalom.
The earliest mention of Tisha B’Av as a day of fasting comes from the Mishnah (published c. 200 C.E.), which suggests that five calamities befell Israel upon that day: It was the day that, our tradition holds, the Israelites first learned that they would not enter the Promised Land, as punishment for rejecting the land and resolving to return to Egypt following the report of the spies in Parashat Sh’lach Lecha. Next, the two Temples were destroyed in 586 B.C.E. and 70 C.E. Finally, Beitar, the last bastion in Bar Kochba’s rebellion, fell to Rome in 133 C.E., and the Romans razed Jerusalem two years later. Following the renaming of Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina by the Roman Emperor Hadrian, Jews were forbidden to enter the city grounds except on the ninth of Av
By the Talmudic period, the sages had determined the framework for observing Tisha B’Av. Jews were prohibited from eating, drinking, working, making intimate contact, and wearing perfume or leather shoes. Likewise, they were prohibited from studying Torah, Bible, or Rabbinic Texts—other than the Book of Lamentations, Job, or doomsday prophecies from Jeremiah—lest they derive joy from their studies. In the medieval period, the recitation of Lamentations, as well as kinnot—poems of mourning—were added to the daily prayers.
However, snippets from the sages reveal that the adoption of a ritual day of mourning was no simple matter. The Talmud contains successive exhortations from some of the greatest Talmudic scholars, urging Jews to observe mourning practices like fasting and refraining from work. Meanwhile, the Mishnah suggests that in many Jewish communities, it remained customary to work on Tisha B’Av. Finally, the Talmud teaches that Rabbi Judah the Prince attempted to abolish the day altogether but could not find consensus among his colleagues.
Despite lingering resistance, however, the sages ultimately succeeded in establishing Tisha B’Av as a lasting day of mourning for the Jewish people, entreating us to consider how communal grief may enhance our experience of Jewish tradition.
—Rabbi Josh Knobel