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| From Sunset 28 July to 29 Jul 2012 |
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| Roman Arch in Rome Commemorates The Destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 A.D. |
1.1312 BC After the exodus from Egypt, while the Jews were wandering in the desert, 12 spies were sent to report on the ‘promised’ land ahead, the land of Israel (Canaan). 10 of them returned on the 9th Av with negative reports. Their lack of faith caused God to condemn all of their generation (except for the two spies who brought back favourable reports of the land) to die out in the desert rather than live to enter Israel.
2. 586 BC, Solomon's Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian captivity began. 100,000 Jews lost their lives during the invasion by the Babylonians
3. 70 ADTitus destroyed the Temple just as Jesus Christ/Yeshua predicted in Luke 19. By the way, most of the 15 Roman legions were Arab mercenaries and the Romans slaughtered over 2 million Jews. So many Jews were cruficied that the Romans ran out of wood. More than 1,000,000 Jews were sold as slaves by Romans or were killed and tortured in gladiatorial "games" and pagan celebrations.
4. 71 AD the Romans plowed Jerusalem under with salt in order to make it permanently desolate.
5. 130 AD The Roman Emperor Hadrian ordered Governor Tineius Rufus to plow Jerusalem over. This "plowing" fulfilled Micah 3:12, to erase Yehudah from memory.
6.135 AD during the time of the Jewish revolt against Roman rule, soldiers led by Rabbi Simon bar Kochba were massacred in their final battle at Bethar and the Jewish revolt was smashed by the Romans. Over 500,000 Jews were slaughtered. The Roman emperor Hadrian turns Jerusalem into a Roman city.The Romans implemented their own version of the Nazi’s Final Solution. They banned the practice of Judaism thinking the Jews would disappear as a nation and all the Jews would become Romans. Jews who circumcised their children, read the Torah, refused to eat non-Kosher food were subject to the death penalty.
7.AD 136 the Roman Emperor Hadrian established a heathen temple to Jupiter on the site of the Jewish Temple. Jerusalem was renamed Aelia Capitolina, and the Jews were forbidden to enter the city. Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem as a pagan city, and renamed the land as Palestina, to distance its Jewish heritage. The date when the Temple area was plowed under by the Romans.
8. 1095 AD In the First Crusade declared by Pope Urban II, 10,000 Jews were killed in the first month. The Crusades brought death and destruction to thousands of Jews and totally obliterated many communities in the Rhineland and France.
9. 1190 AD There was a mass suicide of 500 Jews as a result of the rich storming a castle in which the Jews had sought sanctuary in York, England.
10.1290 AD (5050)The expulsion of Jews from England by King Edward I "Longshanks" Plantagenet was accompanied by pograms and confiscation of books and property. The Jews were given until All Saints Day, Nov. 1, to depart. (Pograms are an organized, often officially encouraged, massacre or persecution of a minority group, especially against Jews.)
11. 1306 AD The Jews were expelled from France.
12.1492 AD (5252)An inquisition in Spain and Portugal culminated in the expulsion of the Jews from the Iberian Peninsula. Families were separated and many died by drowning. There was a massive loss of property. The Golden Age of Spain (and the Spanish Empire began to decline) came to a close when Queen Isabella and her husband Ferdinand ordered that the Jews be banished from Spain. The edict of expulsion, The Alhambra Decree, was signed on the 31st March and the Jews were given exactly four months to put their affairs in order and leave Spain and its territories. (Some believe Christopher Columbus may have had Jewish blood and that some of his sailors were Jews.
13. 1626 The birth of Shabtai Tsvi, a false and apostate Messiah, was recorded.
14.1882 The pograms against Russian Jews began.
15. 1914 (5674) World War I (WWI) begin when Germany declares war on Russia. Russia begins persecuting its Jews. Seventy-five percent of all the world's Jewry live in war zones. Jews fight in armies of all sides, with more than 120,000 Jewish casualties. More than 400 pogroms began immediately following the war in Hungary, Ukraine, Poland and Russia. WWI set the stage for World War II and the Holocaust.16. The building of the concentration camp Dauchau, the boycotting of Jewish businesses, and Jewish people being driven out of the military.
16. 1940 (5700) SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich was appointed by Hermann Goering to carry out the "Final Solution," the murder of all the Jews in Europe. Two days later on the 9th of Av Himmler presents his plan for the “Final Solution” to the Jewish problem to the Nazi Party.
17.1942 (5702) – Nazis begin deporting Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto. Deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka concentration camp began. The first transport of "deportees" left Malkinia on July 23, 1942, in the morning hours. It was loaded with Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto, whose uprising had started on Passover.
18. 1989 Iraq walks out of talks with Kuwait.
19.1994 The deadly bombing of the AMIA, the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killed 86 people and wounded some 300 others.
20. In Israel in 2005 Jewish settlers in Gaza were forcibly expelled from their homes to enable the transfer of Gaza to the Arabs. After the transfer, the Arabs proceeded to destroy all remnants of the former Jewish communities and turned them into terrorist training camps and rocket launch sites. Two years later, many of those expelled were still without homes. The 9th of Av was the last legal day for Jews to live in Gush Katif before they were expelled a few days later in what is referred to as the “disengagement.”
21.2012 Mitt Romney’s planned visit to Israel is on the 9th Av, 29 July shows his understanding of threats to Israel, says his campaign adviser. Dan Senor of the Weekly Standard wrote, “What better way for the Governor to understand the opportunities and the threats to Israel than to be there on a day when the people of Israel and Jews around the world commemorate and mourn the destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem twice in their history,” Tisha B’Av marks the culmination of the mourning period known as "The Three Weeks," and is a day of solemnity, sorrow, and remembrance. Jews refrain from ordinary pleasures and indulgences, including a 25-hour fast from eating and drinking. Jews avoid frivolity of any sort and follow customs associated with mourning: Jews do not bathe, wear cosmetics or leather shoes, and they sit on low chairs to minimize comfort. Even Torah study, an activity Jewish tradition considers joyous, is restricted to passages describing the laws of mourning, the destruction of the Temple, and other tragic events.
Tisha B'Av is the culmination of a three-week period of increasing mourning, beginning with the fast of the 17th of Tammuz, which commemorates the first breach in the walls of Jerusalem, before the First Temple was destroyed. According to Jewish law, during this three-week period, weddings and other parties are not permitted, and people refrain from cutting their hair. From the first to the ninth of Av, it is customary for traditionally observant Jews to refrain from eating meat or drinking wine (except on the Shabbat) and from wearing new clothing.
These customs, of course, are not ends in themselves, but a means of reminding Jews that they are doing much more than simply mourning the loss of buildings. Those buildings, the Holy Temples, Jews believe, were the holiest spots on earth, where the one true God was manifested. While the Temples stood, they reflected God's glory, and what went on within them gave common men and women tangible connections to the Divine. The buildings' destruction took not just their magnificence, but removed the certainty that the Jews once had in determining God's will. God is still present in the world, of course, but Jews believe He is hidden from them in a way that He was not before.
There are those who say that it would be best to forget all this suffering and move on. But the Bible exhorts us to remember: "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you" (Psalm 137:5-6). We commemorate past tragedies not to wallow in our grief, but to strengthen our memory of history, to correct the missteps that led us to catastrophe, and to ensure that such things do not happen again. And, perhaps, our remembering will help us realize that our survival — through so many trials — is indeed a miracle, a gift from God.
On this solemn day, Jews remember those who were murdered for being Jewish, whether by Romans, Inquisitors, Cossacks, Nazis, or terrorists. Jews remember those who died defending the Jewish people, the Jewish State, and the sanctity of God's name. Jews remember that, until the Messianic Age, Israel can never be completely free of the threat of war and destruction.
Remembering Jewish trials is painful, but remembering Jewish survival is redemptive. We and the Jews should never succumb to despair. Even in our nation's darkest moments the Lord (Adonai) is with us. We will not be afraid" (Psalm 118:6). And we faithfully believe in His promise to us: "You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands" (Isaiah 55:12).
Of course there’s no way of knowing in advance whether another terrible event will take place on the 9th of Av 2012. But with the events in Syria approaching a crisis point it certainly is possible. Syrian President Assad has promised to set the entire Middle East afire if any foreign nation dares to interfere with Syria’s civil war. Assad is also moving his WMD out of storage, these include Sarin, Mustard Gas and Cyanide warheads. As the situation in Syria gets more desperate, the terrorist and war threats to Israel increase.
As Tisha B'Av approaches I ask you to pray for the welfare of the Jewish people, Israel and are own nation.
There are five things forbidden on Tisha B’Av:
1.eating and drinking
2.washing oneself
3.anointing oneself with oil
4.wearing leather shoes and
5.sexual relations
All adult Jews are required to fast on Tisha B’Av, including pregnant women and nursing mothers. Sick people do not have to fast, but should not eat ‘rich’ or indulgent foods or drinks. They should eat only that which is absolutely necessary for their physical well-being.
The study of Torah is prohibited on Tisha B’Av because Torah study brings a person joy. However, one is permitted to study the third chapter of tractate Mo'ed Katan which deals with the laws of mourning and excommunication.
One may also study the Midrash to the Book of Eichah (Lamentations). Eichah with its commentaries and Job with its commentaries are works which generate a sense of sorrow in the reader. One may also study the chapters of admonition and calamities recorded in Jeremiah; however, one should be careful to skip those verses that speak of consolation. One may also study the aggadot about the Destruction of the Temple recorded in tractate Gittin.
Synagogue services
Ma'ariv (Evening Service)
On the evening of 8th Av, the regular weekday Ma'ariv service is said. After the Amiday, Kaddish is said and Eichah is read, followed by the recital of Kinot (dirges). Following Kinot, V'Attah Kadosh, then Kaddish are said.
Our sages (Eichah Rabbah) wrote: “God said [to the angels at the time of the Destruction of the Temple]: ‘What does a mortal king do when he is in mourning? He extinguishes the lanterns [in his palace]. I too will do the same’, as the verse (Joel) states ‘The sun and moon have become darkened.’
At night only a single light is lit at the pulpit of the synagogue and the parochet (curtain) is removed from the ark. In many Sephardi communities it is customary to extinguish all lights in the synagogue and to light only one small lamp. After this the chazan announces the number of years that have passed since the destruction of the Temple.
Rama writes that each time the word eichah is read [i.e. at the beginning of the chapters], the reader should lower his voice.
Shacharit (Morning Service)
In many communities the large tallit (prayer shawl) is not worn in the morning for prayers, and neither does one put on tefillin. The basis for this latter ruling is the fact that tefillin are referred to as being our "glory" and on Tisha B’Av our glory is absent.
Selichot and Avinu Malkeinu are added to the Torah reading for the fast day. After the cantor repeats the Amidah, the chazan adds the Anenu. The Torah is read from the portion of va-Etchanan, beginning with the verse (Devarim 4:25) “It shall be when you bear children”, which speaks of the destruction of the land) and three people are called up. The third person called up reads the Haftara for the fast (Jeremiah 8:13-9:23, which speaks of the Destruction of the Temple).
After the Torah reading, Kinot (dirges) are recited and are followed in some communities by a second reading of Eichah.
Some people follow the custom of visiting the cemetery on Tisha B’Av. The elders of Jerusalem used to walk around the walls of the city because seeing its ruins would create in them a sense of pain.
It is customary to give charity on every fast day, for it is said that the reward for the fast comes through the charity that is given to the poor on that day.
If Tisha B’Av falls on Shabbat, the fast is delayed until the following day.
Mincha (Afternoon Service)
The Torah is read again and three more people are called up. The third person called up reads the Haftara for the fast.
Shabbat Nachamu
The Shabbat following Tisha B’Av is the ‘Shabbat of Consolation’ (Shabbat Nachamu). It's name comes from the prophetic portion that is read taken from Chapter 40 of Isaiah, beginning with the words, "Nachamu, nachamu a'mi" ("Console, console my people, says your God.") On this Shabbat and each of the following six Shabbats until Rosh haShanah the haftarah (Reading from the Prophets) will be a consoling passage from the Book of Isaiah.
Christians and Torah Jews know that the Temple will be rebuilt because Jesus, John, and Paul all prosphesized it see (Matt 24:15; Rev 11:1, 2; 2 Thess 2:4). But we also know that this Temple will be desecrated by the Coming World Leader when he sets himself up to be worshiped (2 Thess 2:3-4). It is possible this prophetic event will also take place on Tisha b'Av - the 9th of Av.
Shalom
alan
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