Tisha b'Av

by Rabbi Michael Bugg

Tisha B'Av, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av, is a solemn occasion, a time to remember the destruction of the two Temples as well as numerous other calamities that have befallen the Jews on this day since. For example (with thanks in part to KHouse for the list):

135 CE - The Bar Koshba revolt is squelched with the fall of Bethar, the last Jewish stronghold
136 CE - Emperor Hadrian establishes a temple of Zeus and the pagan city of Aelia Capitolina on the ruins of Jerusalem
1095 AD - The declaration of the Crusades by Pope Urban II, which resulted in many Jews being attacked by Crusaders on their way to the Holy Land
1242 AD - The burning of the Talmud
1290 AD - The signing of the edict by King Edward I expelling the Jews from England
1492 AD - Ferdinand and Isabella issued a royal decree that all Jews must leave the Spanish territories by August 3rd (9th of Av on the Hebrew calendar)
1914 AD - The start of the First World War
1942 AD - The first killings at the Treblinka extermination camp in Poland
1994 AD - And the AMIA bombing by Arab terrorists in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which killed 86 and wounded more than 120

It is also tradition that it was on the 9th of Av that ten of the twelve spies that Israel sent into Canaan came back with a bad report, causing Israel to lose faith and wander the wilderness for 40 years (cf. Num. 13). I also think it likely that Moses removed the Tent of Meeting from the camp on Tisha b'Av, as we explain in our article, The Feasts and the Exodus.

The hour before sundown is typically occupied by a mourning meal: A hard-boiled egg dipped in ashes, bread, and water. Lentils are also eaten by some, with the round shape of the lentils and the round shape of egg symbolizing the cycle of suffering in life. It is customary to fast on this day as on Yom Kippur, which means no food, water, washing, leather, or other luxuries are to be partaken of. (Arutz Sheva has a good article on fasting safely here.) During the fast, it is traditional to read from the book of Lamentations, which of course was written by the prophet Jeremiah after the destruction of the First Temple.

Many of my Messianic brethren are suspicious of any tradition that they cannot find in the Scriptures. However, the fast of Tisha B'Av is specifically referenced in Zec. 7:4-7:

Then the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying, “Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me? When you eat, and when you drink, don’t you eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? Aren’t these the words which the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and its cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?’”

This passage seems at first glance to be critical of Tisha B'Av, but in actuality it is critical of those who mourn wrongly, mourning for their own circumstances rather than for their sins against the Holy One that resulted in such terrible punishment coming on our people. Therefore, for those who fast today, let us fast with right intention and pure hearts, looking forward to the fulfillment of the promise that, “The fasts of the fourth fifth, seventh, and tenth months shall be for the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace" (Zec. 8:19).

Shalom!

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