The 9th of Av

The month of Av is the 5th month in the Biblical calendar, and falls either in the 11th or 12th month* of the civil calendar. It is not a month that most Jewish people look forward to because so many bad things have happened to them, especially on the the 9th day. This is a Biblical event, but rather one of the minor holidays instituted by the Rabbi's.

Tisha b’Av (Hebrew for 9th of Av) mainly commemorates the destruction of the two temples. The first being Solomon’s which was destroyed in 586 BC, and the second in 70 AD. The mourning over this actually starts 3 weeks earlier on the 17th day of Tammuz because this is when battering rams broke through the wall of the first temple before being fully destroyed. During this three-week period there are to be no weddings, haircuts including shaving, nor is music to be played. It is also customary to refrain from eating meat or drinking wine, except on the Sabbath. On the 9th of Av the fasting becomes more intense with no eating or drinking until the nightfall of the following evening, no kind of pleasure is allowed even wearing your favorite perfume or cologne. No bathing or washing, and no wearing of leather shoes since this is considered to be comfortable and is considered a sign of enjoyment. Any other type of material for a shoe is acceptable since leather is generally equated with luxury. People will even sit in a chair or bench no higher than 12inches barefooted. In the synagogues the ark, or cabinet, where the torah is kept is draped in black. Even the book of lamentations is read. According to the Rabbi's this holiday is considered the second most important fast next to Yom Kippur.

Other events that happened on this day:

• According to the Mishnah (Ta'an 4:6) & Numbers 14 after the Israelites arrived at Kadesh-Barnea and lacking the faith to enter the Promised Land. God decreed that this particular generation would never enter His Land.
• 135 AD marks the fall of the last Jewish stronghold during the Bar Kochba rebellion against Rome, where over 100,000 Jews were slaughtered.
• 136 AD the Roman Emperor Hadrian established the heathen temple to Jupiter on the site of the Jewish Temple and rebuilt Jerusalem as a pagan city named Aelia Capitolina, and renamed the land as Palestina, to distance its Jewish heritage.
• 1190 AD the anti-Jewish riots and the mass suicide of the Jews in York, England.
• 1290 AD King Edward I signed the edict compelling the Jews to leave England.
• 1305 AD the Arabs began their riots in the city of Jerusalem which resulted in great tragedy, including the Jewish massacre in Hebron.
• March 31, 1492 the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella issued a royal decree that all Jews must leave the Spanish territories within four months. If they were found in Spain after this period they were to be killed. This deadline was later postponed to August 3rd. Boarding their ships before the deadline, at midnight August 2nd, Columbus and his crew set sail at dawn.
• In 1942 the first killings started at Treblinka “The first transport of deportees left Malkinia on July 23, 1942, in the morning hours. It was loaded with Jews from the Warsaw ghetto.
• On August 14th, 2005, Israelites prepare to move from their homes in the Gaza strip the very next day. It is put off one day because of the outcry of the people for all of the bad things that have happened on this day.

Dates for Tisha b'Av:

• July 29, 2009 - July 30, 2009
• July 19, 2010 - July 20, 2010
• August 8, 2011 - August 9, 2011
• July 27, 2012 - July 28, 2012
• July 15, 2013 - July 16, 2013

So until next time... Shalom!

* = A second month of Adar is added in to help offset the Jewish calendar making it 13 months long every few months. This is done because the Jewish calendar is lunar based and not solar based like the standard Gregorian calendar.