Fast of Tisha B’Av 258 articles

Jewish Holidays

Tisha B’Av is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar, not just because it is the day on with both temples were destroyed but also because many other tragedies have occurred on that day as well. We focus on these historical events as part of the kinot we say on Tisha B’Av night and during the day.

The Connection Between Parshat Devarim and Tisha B’Av
The Connection Between Parshat Devarim and Tisha B’Av
Parshas Devarim is always read on the Shabbos right before Tisha B’Av. The Biur Halacha (528:4) explains that this is purposefully done in order that Moshe Rabbeinu’s admonition to the Jews...
Jul 19, 2011
By OU Staff
The Haftarah of Shabbat Chazon
The Haftarah of Shabbat Chazon
The Shabbat before Tisha B’Av, is called Shabbat Chazon – the Shabbat of foretelling – as we read the Haftara portion from the prophecy of Isaiah (1:1-27), as the final of...
Jul 19, 2011
By OU Staff
Tisha B’Av and Parshat Va’etchanan
Tisha B’Av and Parshat Va’etchanan
The Torah reading of Tisha B’Av morning is found in Parshat Va’etchanan (4:25-40). The Talmud (Sanhedrin 38a) references this reading with the destruction of the First Beis Hamikdash, as the numerical...
Jul 19, 2011
By OU Staff
It’s a Mitzvah to be Sad…One Day a Year, on Tisha B’Av
It’s a Mitzvah to be Sad…One Day a Year,...
Once a disciple of a certain Chassidic Rebbe noticed his Rebbe dancing happily on the Ninth of Av. He was astonished by this behavior, for everyone knew that Tisha B’Av was...
Jul 19, 2011
By Rabbi Yaacov Haber
What Mourning Means: Reflections of Rav Soloveitchik zt”l on Tisha B’Av
What Mourning Means: Reflections of Rav Soloveitchik zt”l on...
Rabbi Koenigsberg is a Rosh Yeshiva at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University, and the editor of two volumes of the Shiurei HaRav series, an annotated collection of...
Jul 19, 2011
By Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik
Tragedy in Perspective: Why Did Rabbi Akiva Laugh?
Tragedy in Perspective: Why Did Rabbi Akiva Laugh?
At the end of “Masechet Makot,” the volume of the Talmud called “Makot,” on pages 24a and 24b, there are two similar stories. In each, the same group of great scholars...
Jul 19, 2011
By OU Staff
Destruction and Desecration: Titus the Wicked and his Nephew Onkelos the Convert
Destruction and Desecration: Titus the Wicked and his Nephew...
“The replacement for Vespasian, the newly crowned Emperor, was the wicked Titus, from whose mouth the verse ‘Where is their G-d, the Rock in Whom they trusted?’ seemed to come. For...
Jul 19, 2011
By OU Staff
The Fateful Meeting: Give Me Yavneh and It’s Sages
The Fateful Meeting: Give Me Yavneh and It’s Sages
The setting is Jerusalem, approximately in the year 70 C.E.; the city is in the grip of a terrible famine, and it is surrounded by powerful Roman legions, under the command...
Jul 19, 2011
By OU Staff
The Tiger at the Gates: The Romans Lay Siege to Jerusalem
The Tiger at the Gates: The Romans Lay Siege...
The Enemy Approaches, and Famine in Yerushalayim When the Roman Emperor was convinced by Bar-Kamtza that the Jews were indeed mounting a rebellion, he sent against Yerushalayim the great general, Nero....
Jul 19, 2011
By OU Staff
The Second “Beit HaMikdash,” Holy Temple, in Yerushalayim
The Second “Beit HaMikdash,” Holy Temple, in Yerushalayim
The End of Prophecy – The Formulation of the Mishnah The Prophet Yirmiyahu had received a prophecy that the “exile” following the destruction of the First Temple would be relatively “short”...
Jul 19, 2011
By OU Staff

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