from Israel My Glory, Vol. 62, No. 5
TISHA B'AV
Israel's Day of Tragedies
by Tom Simcox
People often have days when nothing, absolutely nothing, goes right. The Jewish people have such a date, when so many tragedies occurred that they established a national day of sadness,fasting, mourning, and remembrance.
Tisha B’Av (literally, “the ninth day of the month
of Av”) falls either in July or August, depending on
the year. This year it was celebrated on July 27. Five
monumental events happened on that date, forever
changing the history of the Jewish people.
On the ninth of Av in 586 B.C., Solomon’s
Temple was destroyed by Babylon, and the
Jewish people were carried into captivity.
More than 650 years later, in A.D. 70, the Temple
built by Zerubbabel, modified by Herod, and visited
by Jesus was sacked and destroyed by the Romans
under the command of Titus.
Sixty-five years later on the same date in
A.D. 135 the Romans killed the pseudomessiah Bar
Kochba and crushed his Jewish revolt at Betar.
In 1492 King Ferdinand of Spain issued the
expulsion decree that set Tisha B’Av as the final
date for all Jews to leave Spain, thereby destroying
one of the largest Jewish communities in the world.
That date also saw the beginning of the infamous
Spanish Inquisition, instituted to force
Jewish people to embrace Catholicism or face
horrific torture. Despite submission to forced
conversion, however, thousands were tortured
anyway and burned alive.
Although the Bible does not give the date,
Jewish students of Scripture also believe the sin
of the spies at Kadesh-barnea, which caused the
Lord to make the nation wander in the desert for
forty years, occurred on Tisha B’Av.1
To this day Tisha B’Av remains a day of sadness
and denial of physical pleasures. Everyone
is supposed to fast except for the young and
those who are ill or have physical limitations. The
fast of Tisha B’Av is similar to that of Yom Kippur,
and those who fast even deny themselves water.
They refrain from washing, shaving, cutting their
hair, wearing leather shoes, and using lotions
and cosmetics.2 The custom is to sit on the floor
or stools, as when sitting shiva, the seven-day
period of mourning for those who have died.3
Early in Av, some Jewish people refrain
from eating meat and drinking wine, except on
the Sabbath.4 And weddings, parties, and joyous
celebrations are all put on hold until after the
ninth of the month.5
In the synagogue the book of Lamentations is
read. Also, the ark where the Torah scrolls are kept
is often draped in black cloth to indicate mourning.6
Jewish teachers see a special blessing in
mourning over Jerusalem. They believe that all
who mourn over her will rejoice in her future
glory and exaltation,7 citing Isaiah 66:10–12:
Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with
her, all ye that love her; rejoice for joy with
her, all ye that mourn for her. . . . For thus
saith the LORD: Behold, I will extend peace
to her like a river, and the glory of the
nations like a flowing stream.
These verses look forward to the future
Messianic Kingdom, when Jerusalem will be
inhabited by David’s Greatest Son; and the city
will never mourn again.
E N D N O T E S
1 “The Ninth of Av,” [www.ou.org/yerushalayim/tishabav/tishabav.html].
2 “Tisha B’Av,” [www.jewfaq.org/holidayd.htm].
3 “The Ninth of Av.”
4 Ibid.
5 “Tisha B’Av.”
6 Ibid.
7 “The Ninth of Av.”
 Tom Simcox is the Northeastern States Director for the Friends of Israel
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