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

Tisha B'Av - Observances

Tisha B'Av - Restrictions

Tisha B'Av is observed with a full day fast (a day without eating or drinking) that lasts 25 hours, beginning with sunset and ending with nightfall the subsequent day. In addition, washing and anointing (which could extend to certain cosmetic skin creams) are prohibited, and men and women observe the stringencies of niddah separation. Furthermore, as on Yom Kippur, no leather shoes are worn. During the first part of the day, people sit on the floor or on low chairs as during shiv'ah (the week of mourning observed after the death of a first-degree relative). People refrain from greeting each other. The laws of Tisha B'Av are recorded in Shulkhan Arukh O.C. 552-557.

Tisha B'Av - Services

The scroll of Echah (Lamentations) is read in synagogue during the evening services. In addition, most of the morning is spent reading kinoth (dirges), most bewailing the loss of the Temple and the subsequent persecutions, but many others referring to post-exile disasters. These later kinnoth were composed by various poets (often prominent Rabbis) who had either suffered in the events mentioned or relate received reports. Important kinnoth were composed by Elazar ha-Kalir and Rabbi Judah ha-Levi. After the Second World War, kinnoth were composed by the German-born Rabbi Shimon Schwab (in 1959, at the request of Rabbi Joseph Breuer) and by Rabbi Solomon Halberstam, leader of the Bobov Hasidim (in 1984).

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