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Tishah
Ba'Av
Tishah
Ba'Av, the Ninth of Av, is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar.
Jews around the world gather together and mourn their state of spiritual
exile, the Holy Temple, destroyed, not once, but twice, and the
diaspora that has been the home of tragedy after tragedy.
Even before the great tragedy of the destruction of the First Temple
(586 BCE), Tishah Ba'Av was already marked as a day of sadness.
It was on the ninth day of Av that the spies returned to the People
of Israel in the wilderness to discourage them from going up to
Canaan(Numbers
13,14). Because the Israelites were so easily dissuaded, and so
greatly lacking faith in G-d, they were forbidden to enter the Promised
Land and destined to wander for forty years until that generation
had passed away.
As part of the mourning ritual marking the destructions, the Ninth
of Av is a fast day. More than just refraining from eating, Jews
spend Tishah Ba'Av actively mourning. To read more about the tragedies
of Tishah Ba'Av and the special rituals and observances of Tishah
Ba'Av, please continue:
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