Five Things You Should Know About Tisha B'Av

While most Jewish holidays are a time for unique celebrations and joyous reflection, Tisha B’av is quite a different story. Here are five things you should know about this historically dark day in Judaism:

1. What is it? Tisha B’Av commemorates the ninth day in the month of Av in the Hebrew calendar. It is considered the saddest day in Judaism, as it commemorates the tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people on that day throughout history.

2. When is it? It begins at sundown Monday and ends at nightfall Tuesday.

3. How is it commemorated? Observant Jews will fast for 25 hours, read the Book of Lamentations and perform traditional mourning customs for at least part of the day. From the first to the ninth day of Av, it is also customary for many to stop eating meat or drinking wine (except on the Sabbath) and from wearing new clothing.

4. What tragedies occurred on Tisha B’Av?

• In biblical times, the date is reported as when 10 of the 12 scouts Moses sent into Canaan to view the land sinned by giving false and disparaging reports of the Promised Land. As a result, an entire generation of Jews that left slavery in Egypt were not permitted to enter.
• Most notably, it is the given date for the destruction of the first Holy Temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E., and second Holy Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 C.E. The formal expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492 through the Alhambra Decree also occurred on the ninth of Av.
• In more modern times, deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka concentration camp began on that date in 1942, and the terrorist bombing of the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, occurred on that date in 1994.
  

5. What’s happening locally? A communitywide night service is also scheduled for 8 p.m. Monday at the in Farmington Hills. Members of six synagogues in Metro Detroit, including Congregation Beth Ahm, B'Nai Moshe, and B'Nai Israel are invited to share a night of prayer and reflection.

Sources: jewfaq.org/holidayd.htm and Aish.com.