Tisha B’Av

Ninth of Av

Tisha B’Av means Ninth of Av.  Av is the fifth month of the Jewish sacred calendar, which begins with Nisan, the month in which Passover occurs.  The civil calendar begins with Tishri, which is the seventh month of the sacred calendar, in which the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles occur.

Tisha B’Av commemorates the destruction of both the first and second temples, as well as other events.  It is the second most solemn fast day in the modern Jewish calendar, after Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).  It is considered to be the saddest day of the year, a day of misfortune and tragedy.

This is not a Biblical fast day in the sense that God instituted it; however, it is referenced in the Bible in the book of Zechariah as the “fast of the fifth” month.

Thus says the Lord of hosts: “The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be joy and gladness and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.”

Zechariah 8:19 NKJV

According to Zechariah 7:5, Tisha B’Av became an annual fast during the seventy years of the Babylonian captivity after the destruction of the First Temple.

Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: “When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me – for Me?”

Zechariah 7:5 NKJV

The Four Fasts

All four of the fasts mentioned in Zechariah 8:19 are associated with the destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple.  They also have associations with later tragedies which have befallen the Jewish people, especially the fast of the fifth month, Tisha B’Av.  Jeremiah 52 records major events in the destruction of Jerusalem happening in the tenth, fourth and fifth months.

4. Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around. 5. So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 6. By the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. 7. Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled and went out of the city at night… 12. Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 13. He burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, he burned with fire. 14. And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around.

Jeremiah 52:4-7a, 12-14 NKJV

Jeremiah 52:12 records the destruction of the temple as happening on the tenth day of the fifth month.  In 2 Kings 25:8, which is part of a parallel passage, it is recorded as happening on the seventh day of the month.  One explanation for this discrepancy is that the destruction began on the seventh day and was completed on the tenth.  However, Jewish tradition states that the destruction began on the ninth day (Tisha B’Av) and continued through the tenth.

The “fast of the fourth month” is now observed as the Seventeenth of Tammuz, but was originally observed on the ninth of Tammuz.  This fast commemorates:

• the destruction of the original tablets of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 32:19), which is deduced to have taken place on 17^th Tammuz.  Moses stayed on Mount Sinai for 40 days (Exodus 24:18) and 17^th Tammuz is 40 days after Shavuot (Pentecost), which is the day Moses is traditionally said to have ascended Mount Sinai and received the Ten Commandments.
• the day (9^th Tammuz) upon which Nebuchadnezzar breached the walls of Jerusalem before the destruction of the First Temple (Jeremiah 52:6-7, quoted above).
• the breach of the walls of Jerusalem before the destruction of the Second Temple, which took place on 17^th Tammuz in AD 70.

This fast begins a three-week period known as “The Three Weeks” or “Dire Straits”, a time of mourning which culminates with Tisha B’Av.

The “fast of the seventh” month is the Fast of Gedaliah, which generally takes place on 3^rd Tishri, after Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets/Jewish civil New Year).  It is thus part of the “Ten Days of Awe” which culminate with Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).  This fast commemorates the death of Gedaliah (Jeremiah 41:1-2), who Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had appointed governor over the remnant of the Jews left in Judah after the destruction of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 40:11-12).  This death was a great tragedy which caused the final dispersion of the remaining Jews from the Land, who largely went to Egypt, including Jeremiah (Jeremiah 43:5-7).

The “fast of the tenth” month is the Tenth of Tevet.  This fast commemorates the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 52:4, quoted above).  There are also other events traditionally said to have taken place on or near this date.

Tisha B’Av History and Tradition

Some of the events which have happened on (or close to) Tisha B’Av include:

• (according to Jewish tradition) the weeping of the children of Israel (Numbers 14) after the spies returned from spying out the Promised Land and brought a bad report (Numbers 13).  This event caused the wanderings in the wilderness for 40 years, and for all of that generation to die without seeing the Promised Land.
• the destruction of the First Temple and the Jewish captivity.
• the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70, beginning a worldwide Jewish dispersion, which continued until Israel’s reestablishment as a nation in AD 1948.
• the fall of the fortress of Betar during the defeat of the Bar Kokhba Revolt against Roman rule, and the massacre of more than half a million Jews, in AD 135.
• the start of the First Crusade in AD 1096, which led to the deaths of more than 1 million Jews.
• the expulsion of Jews from England in AD 1290.
• the expulsion of Jews from France in AD 1306 (10^th Av).
• the expulsion of Jews from Spain in AD 1492 (7^th Av).
• Germany declaring war on Russia and entering World War I in AD 1914.
• SS commander Heinrich Himmler formally receiving approval from the Nazi Party for “The Final Solution” in AD 1941, beginning the Holocaust.
• the beginning of the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp in AD 1942.
• the AMIA bombing of the Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires, killing 85 and injuring 300, in AD 1994 (10^th Av).
• Israel’s unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip in AD 2005 (10^th Av).

Observant Jews commemorate Tisha B’Av by fasting between sunset on the eve of the day and nightfall the following day, about 25 hours.  There are other prohibitions, including:

• No eating or drinking.
• No washing or bathing.
• No application of creams or oils.
• No wearing of leather shoes.
• No marital relations.
• No sending gifts, or even greeting one another with “hello”.
• No outings, trips or similar pleasurable activities.
• No wearing of fine festive clothing.
• Torah study is forbidden except for “distressing” texts such as Lamentations and Job, which are often read in synagogue services.

There are exceptions to these rules; for example, you can wash your hands after going to the bathroom, combat soldiers don’t have to fast, and so forth.

Tisha B’Av and the Messiah

3. … “Should I weep in the fifth month and fast as I have done for so many years?” 4. Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, 5. “Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me – for Me? 6. When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves?’ ”

Zechariah 7:3b-6 NKJV

As the main focus of the day [Tisha B’Av] recalls the destruction of the two Temples in Jerusalem and the subsequent Jewish diaspora, the modern day re-establishment of a Jewish state in the Holy Land has raised various attitudes within Judaism about the appropriateness of fasting and other mourning customs associated with the day. Some observant Jews outside of Orthodoxy curtail some of the mourning customs in recognition of the miracle of the reestablishment of Jewish sovereignty after nearly two thousand years.

“Tisha B’Av”, Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tisha_B%27Av) (Retrieved 13 July 2021)

The Jews are indeed asking, “Should I weep in the fifth month and fast..?”

As long as the Jews do not know their Messiah, they do, in a sense, observe Tisha B’Av only for themselves, not for God.  However, according to Zechariah 8:19 (quoted above), these mournful fast days will not continue as such – they will become cheerful feast days! Fasting will turn into feasting!  But this will only happen when the Jews have recognised and embraced their true Messiah.

The following two quotations illustrate how some people in modern Judaism associate Tisha B’Av with the Messiah.

Following the Six-Day War, the national religious community viewed Israel’s territorial conquests with almost messianic overtones. The conquest of geographical areas with immense religious significance, including Jerusalem, the Western Wall, and the Temple Mount, was seen as portentous; however, only the full rebuilding of the Temple would engender enough reason to cease observing the day as one of mourning and transform it into a day of joy instead. …

Classical Jewish sources maintain that the Jewish Messiah will be born on Tisha B’Av, though many explain this idea metaphorically, as the hope for the Jewish Messiah was born on Tisha B’Av with the destruction of the Temple.

“Tisha B’Av”, Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tisha_B%27Av) (Retrieved 13 July 2021)

The Jews thus associate the destructions of the First and Second Temples, both occurring on Tisha B’Av, with the coming of their Messiah.  Jesus Himself predicted the destruction of the Second Temple (Matthew 24:2).  Many Jews believe the temple should be rebuilt once again.  However, since the Messiah has indeed come, there is now no need for a physical temple.  With the sacrifice of Himself, Jesus abolished the need for other sacrifices, and we ourselves are now the temple of the Holy Spirit; God dwells within us.  We have no need to mourn the destruction of the physical temple!  We do not need to weep or fast in the fifth month!  Our fasting is turned into feasting!

Jesus came:

To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

Isaiah 61:3a NKJV

It is our prayer that the Jewish people will also come into this revelation; that, indeed, they no longer need to “weep in the fifth month and fast as [they] have done for so many years” (Zechariah 7:3b NKJV), but that, instead, through knowing their Messiah, “The fast… shall be joy and gladness and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah…” (Zechariah 8:19 NKJV).