Tisha B'Av

Today, starting last night, is the Jewish remembrance of Tisha B’Av.  This remembrance is of many tragedies that befell Jews over history – and it is striking how many tragedies fell on the same day.

 

According to the Mishnah (Taanit 4:6), five specific events occurred on the ninth of Av:

 

The twelve spies sent by Moses to observe the land of Canaan returned from their mission. Only two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, brought a positive report, while the others spoke disparagingly about the land. The majority report caused the Children of Israel to cry, panic and despair of ever entering the "Promised Land". For this, they were punished by God that their generation would not enter the land. Because of the Israelites' lack of faith, God decreed that for all generations this date would become one of crying and misfortune for their descendants, the Jewish people. (See Numbers Ch. 13–14)

 

The First Temple built by King Solomon and the Kingdom of Judah was destroyed by the Babylonians led by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BCE and the Judeans were sent into the Babylonian exile.

 

The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, scattering the people of Judea and commencing the Jewish exile from the Holy Land.

Bar Kokhba's revolt against Rome failed in 135 CE. Simon bar Kokhba was killed, and the city of Betar was destroyed.

 

Following the Roman siege of Jerusalem, the razing of Jerusalem occurred the next year. A Temple was built in its stead to an idol.

 

According to the Talmud in tractate Ta'anit, the destruction of the Second Temple began on the ninth and was finally consumed by the flames the next day on the Tenth of Av.

 

Beyond these ancient calamities a number of more modern disasters occurred on Tisha B’Av.

 

Jews were expelled from England in 1290.

 

The Alhambra Decree of 1492, expelling the Jews from Spain, took effect on the 7th of Av, just two days before Tisha B'Av

 

In 1914 Tisha B'Av was August 1, the day Germany declared war on Russia and the Swiss army mobilized. World War I caused unprecedented devastation across Europe and set the stage for World War II and the Holocaust.

 

On the eve of Tisha B'Av 1942, the mass deportation began of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto, en route to Treblinka.