Ninth of Av

One can readily understand why Lamentations and the sad parts of Jeremiah would be appropriate for the Ninth of Av, for they recount and mourn the very destruction of the Temple that the Ninth of Av commemorates.

What does matter to me--I find it most disturbing--is the prophet's theology that serves as the foundation for Jewish mourning on the Ninth of Av. The traditional theology of Jewish Exile and Redemption, expressed by Jeremiah in the prophetic book in the Bible that bears his name, is that God manipulated the Babylonians to destroy the Temple in order to punish the people Israel for their sins.

(2) The days preceding the Ninth of Av were observed as days of mourning in which haircutting, laundering, betrothals, and marriages were forbidden.

This tragedy is commemorated every year on the ninth of Av, a day marked by fasting, mourning, and the chanting of Lamentations and other dirges.

This weekend also is the weekend right after the Ninth of Av and begins the readings of speaking comfort to Jerusalem."

Please do not misunderstand me I am not calling for abolition of the Ninth of Av, the practice of fasting, the reading of Lamentations, or the mourning for the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem.

Tomorrow is the fast of Tisha B'Av, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av, when Jews recall the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem (in 586BCE and 70CE) and other calamities which also befell us on the ninth of Av.

The ninth of Av commemorates the destruction of our inner sanctuary, of our sense of collective-self, the integrity of our identity.

Police refused a request from "Women's Forum, for the Temple Mount," to visit the Temple Mount next Wednesday, during the 9 days of mourning leading up to the Ninth of Av, the Hebrew date when the First and Second Temples were destroyed.

What Jews have forgotten, however, is that for centuries the memory of the Bar Kokhba rebellion was part of the mourning on the Ninth of Av. Betar, the last stronghold of Bar Kokhba's rebellion, fell to the Romans on that day, a day on which Jews lament the destruction of the two Temples in Jerusalem.

The weeks between the 17th of Tammuz and the Ninth of Av on the Hebrew calendar are traditionally a time of suffering for the Jewish people, a fact that did not escape many Israelis when it was announced last week that literally tons of their dietary staples, hummus and tehina, were contaminated with salmonella.

The Bible records the Ninth of Av as the date of the destruction of the First Temple.

This Sunday, August 14, Jews will mark the fast of the Ninth of Av, an annual day of mourning commemorating the anniversary of the destruction of both the First and Second Jewish Temples in Jerusalem.

The ninth of Av this year marks 1,939 years since the Roman conquest and destruction of the Second Temple.

The group's warning follows a Supreme Court decision made earlier this week, ordering police to allow whoever wants to visit the Temple Mount during regular visiting hours on the Ninth of Av.