Tisha B'Av: Encyclopedia II - Tisha B'Av - Background

Tisha B'Av - Background

Tisha B'Av - The destructions

The fast commemorates two of the saddest events in Jewish history -- the destruction of the First Temple (originially built by King Solomon), and the destruction of the Second Temple. Those two events occurred about 556 years apart, but both in the same month, Av, and, as tradition has it, both on the ninth day.

In connection with the fall of Jerusalem three other fast-days were established at the same time as the Ninth Day of Av: these were the Tenth of Tevet, when the siege began; the Seventeenth of Tammuz, when the first breach was made in the wall; and the Third of Tishri, known as the Fast of Gedaliah, the day when Gedaliah was assassinated (II Kings 25:25; Jeremiah 41:2). From Zechariah 7:5, 8:19 it appears that after the erection of the Second Temple the custom of keeping these fast-days was temporarily discontinued. Since the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Second Temple by the Romans, the four fast-days have again been observed.

Tisha B'Av - The desert

On this day in the year 1312 BCE, the generation of Jews who came out of Egypt under Moses' leadership 16 months earlier were condemned to die in the desert and the entry into the Land of Israel was delayed for 40 years.

Tisha B'Av - The five calamities

According to the Mishnah (Taanit, 4:6), five specific events occurred on the ninth of Av that warrant fasting:

1. The return and sin of the Mosaic spies (Numbers ch 13-14)
2. The destruction of the First Temple (587 BCE)
3. The destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE)
4. The Bar Kokhba's revolt ended with the destruction of Betar
5. The subsequent razing of Jerusalem one year later.

According to the Talmud (Taanit there), the destruction of the Second Temple actually did not occur on the ninth of Av, but it's thematically linked to the fast day (and that the destructive fire began on that date - even if it was consumed the next day).

Tisha B'Av - Later calamities on 9 Av

A large number of calamities occurred on the ninth of Av:

• In 1290, the signature of the edict by King Edward I expelling the Jews from England
• The burning of the Talmud in 1242
• The declaration of the Crusades by Pope Urban II in 1095
• The Alhambra decree was put into effect, leading to the Jewish expulsion from Spain in 1492
• The AMIA Bombing (Asociación Mutua Israelita Argentina) by Arab terrorists on July 18, 1994 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which killed 86 and wounded more than 120.

At any rate, it has not become the practice to institute annual commemorations of historical disasters. Rather, they are commemorated on Tisha B'Av. Examples are the destruction of many Jewish communities in the Rhineland during the Crusades. The liturgy often makes mention of specific instances (see below).

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Background", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki