From sunset on August 12 to the appearance of the first stars on August 13, that is, on the 9th of the month of Av according to the Jewish calendar (Hebrew – Tysha be-Av), Jews are in mourning and fasting in memory of the most tragic events in the history of the Jewish people that took place this day in different periods. During fasting, believers do not eat, drink, or wear leather shoes. Tisha Be'Av is also the only day of the year when a Jew is not only not obligated, but also has no right to study the Torah, because its study is considered a source of joy.
Initially, the fast of the 9th of Ava was associated with the so-called “sin of spies”. According to the Mishnah, Moses led the Jews to the borders of the Promised Land and sent 12 spies there at their request. When they returned, they reported that the country was "fortified to the sky" and inhabited by giants. Only two scouts claimed that the new land was beautiful and worth entering. The people believed the majority, and all night from the eighth to the ninth of Av, the Jews wept in despair that they would never enter the Promised Land. Then G-d became angry and emphasized that this time the Jews wept in vain, but now they will have many reasons to weep this night for many generations. Such was the punishment for the sin of unbelief. For forty years the Jews wandered in the desert, until all representatives of the punished generation died.
Over time, the so-called other tragedies were added to the “sin of scouts”, which are also connected with the day of the 9th of Ava. Such catastrophic events include the destruction of the First (586 BC) and Second (70 AD) Temples in Jerusalem, which ultimately led to an exile (galut) lasting approx. two thousand years. A native of Buchach, Ternopil region, Shmuel Yosef Agnon, a writer and Nobel laureate, began his award speech as follows: “As a result of the historical catastrophe, when Titus of Rome destroyed Jerusalem, and Israel was expelled from its country, I was born in one of the cities of exile – to the Jewish diaspora...”. Every Jew can say that, so the 9th of Ava is a defining date for Jewish self-identification.
After the destruction of the Temples, many other events happened. Here are just a few tragedies from the history of the Jewish people that are connected to the 9th of Ava:
- the suppression of the Bar-Kohba uprising by the Romans, the destruction of the Betar fortress, the death of more than 500,000 Jews (135);
- the beginning of the first crusade was announced, as a result of which tens of thousands of Jews were killed and many Jewish communities were destroyed (1095);
- pogroms of Jewish communities in Germany and France took place during the Second Crusade (1146);
- the beginning of the expulsion of Jews from England (1290);
- accusing European Jews of organizing one of the largest plague epidemics in history, which led to a brutal wave of pogroms and murders (1348);
- a decree was issued on the expulsion of Jews from Spain (1492);
- the beginning of deportations of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka death camp in Poland (1942);
85 Jews died and 300 were injured as a result of a terrorist attack on the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires (1994).
With the end of Tisha be-Ava, the three weeks of mourning for the destroyed Temple and because of the physical and spiritual exile come to an end. So, we wish you an easy fast and faith that someday the days of sorrow will turn into joyful holidays.
Dilfuza Hlushchenko