By Robin.
On the 9th of the month of Av (2-3 August 2025) the Jewish people have a day of mourning called Tisha B’Av. The meaning of Tisha B’Av is the “9th of Av” and commemorates what are generally acknowledged to be the two most tragic events of Jewish history.
It was on this day that the Babylonians destroyed Solomon’s Temple in 586 B.C. and on this same day in A.D. 70 that the Romans levelled the Second Temple with fire. Tisha B’Av is therefore set aside as a very somber fast day on the Jewish calendar.
Throughout Jewish history several other calamities have coincided with Tisha B’Av.
In A.D. 135 the Bar Kochba Rebellion was violently crushed by the Romans ending any hope for Jewish independence for the next 1800 years.
In the year 1290 all Jews were expelled from England on Tisha B’Av for no other crime than being Jewish.
On Tisha B’Av in the year 1292, the Catholic King and Queen of Spain launched the Inquisition. During the following years, hundreds of thousands of Spanish Jews were commended to convert to Catholicism or be burned at the stake.
Today, Tisha B’Av has come to be regarded as a symbol of all the tragedies of the Jewish People.
The mood for the synagogue is somber. Prayers and Scripture readings are chanted in hushed, melancholy tones. The assigned Scripture reading from the Prophets is Jeremiah 8:13 to 9:23 where the prophet is overcome by agony and grief at the sins of the people. The entire scroll of Lamentations is also read during the service. Worshippers listen with aching hearts to the intense distress of Jeremiah as he laments the devastation of his people and capital city;
Lamentations 2:11
“My eyes fail with tears … because of the destruction of the daughter of my people (Jerusalem)”.
Is Israel forever destined to mourn her sin and the loss of her Temple?
There is a day coming when Israel will repent and her sins be remembered no more (Jeremiah 31:34) and Ezekiel and Zechariah tell us, her holy Temple will be restored, far more glorious than ever can be imagined. Most importantly, the Lord will reign from the new Temple and be King over the whole earth and the mourning of Tisha B’Av will be replaced by great joy and gladness.