Tisha B'Av

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We are in the Hebrew month of Av, and today is the 9th of Av,  Tisha B'Av.

It is a sad day of fasting and remembering the destruction of the First and the Second Temples and other calamities that befell the Jewish people throughout history on this day.

When the Roman legions attacked,  Josephus writes that it was the rivers of blood flowing down the city's streets that extinguished the fires burning Jerusalem. 

To celebrate their triumph over the Jews in 70 CE, the Romans erected a monumental arch at the Forum in Rome.
One of its reliefs depicts soldiers carrying off sacred objects from the Temple. 
. . . Where is the gold menorah now?
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See about the religious observance of Tisha B'Av in my earlier posts.
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The two photos above are from the Tower of David Museum.
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May we know no more destruction.
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(Linking to ABC Wednesday.)

"Eikhah, how can it be?! "

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1 How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! How is she become as a widow! She that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!

2 She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; she hath none to comfort her among all her lovers; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.

3 Judah is gone into exile because of affliction, and because of great servitude; she dwelleth among the nations, she findeth no rest; all her pursuers overtook her within the straits.

4 The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly; all her gates are desolate, her priests sigh; her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness. . . .

Thus begins the biblical Book of Lamentations, read every year on Tisha B'Av, the 9th of Av, our day of fasting and national mourning for the destruction of the First and Second Temples and other calamities that befell the Jewish People on this day.
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Learn more about Lamentations at Wikipedia, more about Tisha B'Av at Chabad.org or at MyJewishLearning.
See how the day is observed at the Western Wall and in other ways at my other posts.
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Shabbat of Consolation

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The bus goes down down down from high altitude Jerusalem to below sea level Dead Sea.
With reflections of the skilled driver in the mirrors for Weekend Reflections.


A few days ago, on Tisha B'Av, Jews mourned the destruction of the Temples and of much of Jerusalem and the beginnings of our exile.
But God in his mercy does not leave us totally in this doom and gloom.
Instead, on the first Sabbath after Tisha B'Av he gives us Shabbat Nachamu, the Sabbath of Consolation, named after this day's reading from the prophet Isaiah 40:1-31 which begins "Nachamu nachamu ami," meaning "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people."

1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
. . . 9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!" 10 Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. . . .

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Shabbat shalom!
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Tisha B'Av begins

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Tonight and tomorrow Jews around the world remember the destruction of the First and Second Temples and many other calamities that befell our people on this day, the 9th of Av.
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More about Tisha B'Av:
How I sat on the floor and read Lamentations by candlelight--here and here
Tisha B'Av at the Western Wall
Diorama of Titus breaching the city wall of Jerusalem
Remembering the destruction on the wall of one's house
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That's My World today--collective remembering for thousands of years.
And for Shadow Shot Sunday too.
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Appropriate for Av 9

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For today's ABC Wednesday let "A" be for Av, for today is Tisha B'Av, the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av.

As we saw in the previous post, this is a sad day on which many Jews fast and mourn the destruction of ancient Jerusalem and of her First and Second Temples.

Recently I explored the Romema neighborhood with its grand old houses, begun in 1921.

Something about this building--maybe the open door with the star of David or the sunlight on the old tiles or a sense of mystery--beckoned me to enter and go up the stairs.
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The house seemed to be shared by four families now.
Four apartments.

But what surprised and moved me even more was what I found on the wall, near the ceiling.

The Hebrew on the tiles translates to

A REMEMBRANCE OF THE DESTRUCTION [i.e. of the Temple]

IF I FORGET YOU O JERUSALEM, LET MY RIGHT HAND FORGET HER CUNNING [Psalm 137:5].
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The famous Psalm 137 illustrated!

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"By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept,

when we remembered Zion.

On the willows there

we hung up our harps.

For there our captors required of us songs,

and our tormentors, mirth, saying,

'Sing us one of the songs of Zion! . . . ' "
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This is so appropriate for today, Tisha B'Av, the day on which the Temple was destroyed and following which many of Jerusalem's Jews were taken to exile in Babylon!
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When I returned home from Romema, I Googled and made yet another moving discovery!

Aviva Bar-Am wrote this about this same house:

"Following the fall of the Second Temple, sages of the period declared that every new building must carry a reminder of that destruction: an unpainted area measuring one cubit by one cubit . . . . Many religious Jews take this edict literally and leave an unplastered or black square on their walls. The picture you see embedded into the wall of Fishman-Maimon’s residence--ceramic tiles showing the River of Babylon, harps and weeping willows--[is one of these]."
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Furthermore, our Museum of Italian Jewish Art shows an example in carved marble and says,
"Writings of this kind were common in Germany and Poland, while in Italian synagogues, as well as private houses, part of a wall was usually left unplastered in order to remember the destruction of the Temple."

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So . . . we remember and do not forget.

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UPDATE 2014: 
Another nice explanation is here, at Jewish Treats.
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Titus at the gate

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Soon Israel goes into collective mourning.
Restaurants and places of entertainment will be closed tonight.
Tomorrow the stock market will not open.
Observant Jews (at least those whose health permits fasting in this heat) will not drink or eat from 7:42 p.m. Monday until 8:15 p.m. Tuesday.
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All this is to remember the calamities that befell the Jewish People over the past several thousand years on this very day, the 9th of Av, Tisha B'Av.

Chief among them is the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C.E. and of the Second Temple in 70 C.E.

This diorama in the museum of Hechal Shlomo shows details of how the Roman troops commanded by Titus, son of Emperor Vespasian, storm the city walls of Jerusalem in the year 70.
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The figures and war machines are all in miniature, so please click the photos to understand the detail.

See the siege tower and the catapult?

The battering ram battered the gates.

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Actually the Romans worked from February until August, breaching the first wall and the second wall, and finally entering the city in order to burn and raze the Temple.

Josephus writes that during that siege of Jerusalem General Titus, at one point, crucified 500 or more Jews a day. So many Jews were crucified outside the walls that "there was not enough room for the crosses and not enough crosses for the bodies" (Wars of the Jews 5:11.1).
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Sigh . . .

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All this happened 1,940 years ago but it is still part of our world, for That's MyWorld Tuesday.

Someone wiser than me once said that Jews have memory, not history.

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(For less gruesome pictures, please see my posts about Tisha B'Av at the Western Wall and reading Jeremiah's Lamentations by candlelight.)

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Tisha B'Av by the Western Wall

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Some people stayed the whole night of Tisha B'Av beside the beloved Western Wall.
When the sun came up and peaked over the Kotel, Jews were still praying or sitting on the ground as in mourning, reading the Book of Lamentations.
You too can see the Hebrew and English text and even listen to the Prophet Jeremiah's words being chanted at VirtualCantor.com (just click on Eicha).
Please see yesterday's post for more about this special day.


This wall was not totally knocked down by the Romans in 70 C.E. when the Temple and Jerusalem were destroyed. It is the only remaining remnant, not of the Temple building itself, but of the retaining wall of the elevated platform called the Temple Mount.
For 19 centuries it was a Wailing Wall.

Women to the right of the mechitsa screen, men to the left.

These photos are from the 9th of Av, three years ago. But it would have looked the same this morning. Nothing changes much.

Jews have been observing this fast day for over 1,900 years and will continue to do so.

Why?

As Yossi Goldman of Chabad writes,

"Jews never had history. We have memory. History can become a book, a museum, and forgotten antiquities. Memory is alive. And memory guarantees our future."

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The sun and sky over Jerusalem are for SkyWatch Friday .

Tisha B'Av

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The 9th day of the month of Av began tonight.
Our tradition teaches that many major catastrophes have happened to the Jewish people on this date, foremost of which was the destruction of both the First Temple and the Second Temple.
Religious, and some not so religious, Jews will be following the customs of mourning these next 24+ hours, including no food or water.
Many are at the Western Wall right now, sitting on the ground praying and reading Eicha. Many will stay there at the Kotel until morning prayers.
I sat on an old stone floor closer to home, in solitude, reading the pained words of the Lamentations of Jeremiah. In Hebrew it begins, "Eicha . . . " "Oh how . . ."

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"How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! How is she become as a widow! She that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!"

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I see Jerusalem on the distant hill and think of how she suffered. And wonder what future catastrophe she may yet have to endure.

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A little more about Tisha B'Av is at my post of last year.

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The Hebrew facing English text of this short and moving book of the Bible is here, just a click away. Please, join us.

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UPDATE: A website just came to my attention where you can hear it chanted! Click on a chapter for Megillat Eicha at VirtualCantor.com.
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Reading Lamentations of Jeremiah

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Today is Tisha B'Av, the day of mourning for the destruction of Jerusalem and of the First and Second Temples, for the beginning of the first Crusade, for the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, and for other tragedies and pogroms that began on this 9th day of Av throughout our history.
It is customary to have a communal reading of the scroll of Lamentations, in Hebrew Eicha.
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Instead of going to the local synagogue and sitting in the balcony behind a curtain in the women's section, I went alone to another place much prayed in, sat on the old stone floor, and read the Lamentations of Jeremiah by candlelight.
There, in silence and solitude, the words of the great prophet spoke to me as never before. So sad, so powerful, so moving!
Only in Jerusalem do the words come alive so much.
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"How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she that was great among the nations! . . . She weeps bitterly in the night, tears on her cheeks. . . ."

I urge you to sample the language and the mood of this 5-chapter book of the Bible. It can be found here.

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