Join us Monday August 12, 2024 at 8 pm for a pre Tisha B’AV meal as we observe this day with a traditional reading of Eichah (Lamentations) and the recitation of kinot prayers.

Be sure to download our Pre Tisha B’Av Meal Guide in preparation for the service.

This year the fast of Tisha B'Av will begin at sunset on Monday, August 12 and conclude after nightfall Tuesday, August 13.

Tisha B’Av (“the ninth of Av”), is also known as the Fast of the Fifth Month in the book of Zechariah. It is a day of mourning to commemorate the many tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people, many of which occurred on the ninth of Av. It usually occurs during August.

Tisha B’Av primarily commemorates the destruction of the first and second Temples, both of which were destroyed on the ninth of Av (the first by the Babylonians in 586 BCE; the second by the Romans in 70 CE).

Although this holiday is primarily meant to commemorate the destruction of the Temple, it is appropriate to consider on this day the many other tragedies of the Jewish people. Many tragic events occurred to our ancestors on this day, such as:

• The spies brought back an evil report about the Land Hashem had promised to give them, causing their entire generation to pass away before reaching the Promise Land.

• The first Temple was destroyed.

• The second Temple was destroyed.

• Betar, the last fortress to hold out against the Romans during the Bar Kochba revolt fell.

• One year after the fall of Betar, the Temple area was plowed.

• In 1492, King Ferdinand of Spain decreed the expulsion of the Jews, setting Tisha B’Av as the final date Jews would not be allowed to walk on Spanish soil.

• World War I – the precursor to the Holocaust – began on Tisha B’av. 

Tisha B’Av is the culmination of a three-week period of mourning, beginning with Tzom Tammuz, the fast that happens on the 17th of Tammuz, commemorating the first breach in the walls of Jerusalem, just before the Second Temple was destroyed. During this three-week period, weddings and other parties are not permitted, and people refrain from cutting their hair. From the first of Av to the ninth of Av, it is customary to refrain from eating meat or drinking wine (except on the Shabbat) or from wearing new clothing. 

The traditional restrictions on Tisha B’Av are similar to those on Yom Kippur: to refrain from eating, drinking (even water), washing, bathing, shaving, wearing cosmetics, wearing leather shoes, and engaging in marital relations. In a prohibition more stringent than on Yom Kippur, only specified portions of the Torah and Talmud should be studied on Tisha B’Av (so that we refrain from being joyful). Work, in the ordinary sense of the word, is also limited. People who are ill need not fast on this day. Many of the traditional mourning practices are observed: people refrain from smiles, laughter and idle conversation, and sit on low stools. 

In the synagogue, the book of Lamentations is read and kinot (mournful, poetic prayers) are recited. The ark (cabinet where the Torah is kept) is draped in black. The rabbis teach that whoever mourns over Jerusalem will merit the future vision of her joy. As it is written in Isaiah 66:10, “rejoice greatly with her, all who mourn her.”

What is Tisha B’Av?

The LORD uses the prophet Isaiah to chastize the Children of Israel for going through the motions of fasting, while their hearts were full of pride and far from Him, saying:

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. (Isaiah 58:6–8)

Based on this passage, we can do other things in addition to the traditional means by which we observe this day. We can give gifts to the poor, visit the shut-ins or those incarcerated, or feed the hungry and homeless. These are the kind of deeds the LORD is looking for on a day calling us to return to Him.