Stephen Wise Temple, Adat Ari El, Ramat Zion, VBS Shared Tisha B’Av Observance

Wednesday, July 26 | 7:15 p.m. | Valley Beth Shalom

On Wednesday, July 26, Stephen Wise Temple will partner with Valley Beth Shalom, Temple Adat Ari El, and Temple Ramat Zion for a shared observance of Tisha B’Av at Valley Beth Shalom.

Starting at 7:15 p.m., attendees can take part in a learning session entitled “Sinat Hinam, Useless Hatred: Unity and Division—What Unites Us, What Divides Us,” taught by clergy from each of the participating synagogues.

At 8:15 p.m., members of all participating synagogues will chant Eicha, the Book of Lamentations. The book is a collection of poetic laments about the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E., and is one of the Five Megillot (the others being the Song of Songs, Book of Ruth, Ecclesiastes, and the Book of Esther).

Tisha B’Av (the ninth day of the month of Av) is an annual fast day in Judaism, primarily commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples. According to the Mishnah, five tragic events occurred on the ninth of Av.

  • The 12 spies sent by Moses to observe the land of Canaan returned from their mission, all but two of whom brought back reports discouraging the Israelites from entering the Promised Land. It was because of this lack of faith in God that the generation who escaped Egyptian slavery would not enter the Land of Israel.
  • King Solomon’s First Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C.E., sending the Kingdom of Judah into Babylonian exile.
  • The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E.
  • The Bar Kokhba revolt was quelled by the Romans, and the city of Betar destroyed, killing over 500,000 Jewish civilians in 135 C.E.
  • After the Bar Kokhba revolt, Roman commander Quintus Tineius Rufus plowed under the site of the destroyed Temple in Jerusalem.

Other events that occurred on the ninth of Av, historically, included the beginning of the First Crusade (Aug. 15, 1096), which killed 10,000 Jews in its first month; the expulsion of Jews from England (July 18, 1290); the expulsion of Jews from France (July 22, 1306); the expulsion of Jews from Spain (July 31, 1492); official approval by the Nazi Party of SS commander Heinrich Himmler’s “Final Solution” (Aug. 2, 1941); and the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto (July 23, 1942), sending all of its inhabitants to the Treblinka death camp.