Tisha B'Av: Mourning Destruction, Awaiting Redemption
by Hillel Fendel
and 
.(IsraelNN.com) The fast of Tisha B'Av, the "saddest" day in the Jewish calendar, begins Wednesday evening at sundown, and ends Thursday evening.
Its name literally means "the ninth day of [the Jewish month of] Av," the date of some of the gravest tragedies to have befallen the Jewish People. Most notably, both Holy Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed on Tisha B'Av, but the list of calamities on this date includes also the following:
- G-d decreed, following the Sin of the Spies as recounted in Numbers 13-14, that the Children of Israel would not be allowed to enter the Land of Israel until the entire generation had died out.
- The fall of Beitar, the last fortress to hold out during the Bar Kochba revolt in the year 135 C.E., to the Romans.
- A year later, the Temple area was plowed over, marking the last milestone of national Jewish presence in our homeland until the modern era.
- The Jews of Spain were expelled by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1492.
- World War I erupted in 1914, setting the stage for World War II and the Holocaust.
- Mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka death camp began on Tisha B'Av eve of 1942.
- The Jews of Gush Katif spent their last legal day in their homes in Tisha B'Av of 2005, and were expelled three days later.
Despite the sadness of the day, the saddest part of the regular daily prayers - tachanun - is not recited, in the anticipation of the final joyous Redemption that will render Tisha B'Av a day of joy.
Many tens of thousands of people spend Tisha B’Av, or parts of it, at the Western Wall – which, together with the Temple Mount, is the sole remnant of the Second Temple. Visitors spend hours mourning the destruction, the Exile of the Divine Presence and the unredeemed state of the Nation of Israel by reciting and studying the traditional Tisha B’Av lamentations and the Scroll of Eichah (Lamentations).
March Around the Old City
The traditional Women in Green Tisha B'Av March around the Old City will begin at 8 PM with evening prayers and the reading of Eichah, followed at 9:30 by the march towards the New Gate, Damascus Gate, a short ceremony at Lions' Gate, and culminating at Dung Gate near the Western Wall around 11 PM. Thousands of people generally participate in the march.
The Egged bus cooperative will be adding bus lines on Wednesday and Thursday to the Wall. Buses will leave the Wall as late as 2 AM Thursday morning, and resume again four hours later. In addition, an Egged shuttle service will take passengers every ten minutes on Wednesday night and Thursday from the Carta parking lot outside Jaffa Gate to the Wall.
Bus service to Rachel’s Tomb, south of Jerusalem, and to the Machpelah Cave in Hevron, will also be reinforced.
Israeli law forbids the opening of restaurants, clubs and theaters on Tisha B’Av. However, various events, organized by both religious and secular, will be held to discuss the contemporary and traditional significance of the day. In Haifa, Mayor Yona Yahav, Science Minister Rabbi Prof. Daniel Herskovitz, and author A. B. Yehoshua will hold a panel discussion on Wednesday night on “Spiritual Needs and Tisha B’Av.” In Tel Aviv’s Beit Daniel, a session on Exile and Jewish Wandering will be held Wednesday evening, while in the Tzavta Theater, Eichah and modern will be read aloud.
On Thursday in Jerusalem’s Beit Avichai, the roots of hatred in human society will be discussed in the context of movie-making in Israel.
For a selection of Tisha B’Av Torah essays, click here.
Check out more multimedia coverage of Tisha B'av by clicking here.
The Sages enacted Yom Kippur-like restrictions on Tisha B'Av, including no eating, drinking, washing, or marital relations. Leather shoes are not worn, and even Torah study -- a major source of Jewish joy -- is restricted to topics connected with the Destruction of the Temples, prophecies of rebuke, Tisha B’Av, and the like. Sitting on chairs is not permitted until the afternoon.
The hour before the onset of Tisha B'Av is marked by a “mourning meal,” consisting only of a hard-boiled egg dipped in ashes, bread, and water. It should be eaten while sitting on low stools or on the floor, with each person sitting alone in a different corner of the room.
The regular evening prayer service is followed by the reading aloud, in a traditional mournful melody, of Eichah.
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