Tisha B'Av (24th July): Next Year in Jerusalem!

Ron Ross
Bridges for Peace News
Email: ronrossbfp@hotmail.com

13th July, 2007

Israel is braced for trouble. Why not? The calendar is relentlessly ticking down to 9th Av (Tisha B'Av) It falls 24th July, this year.

Jews around the world fasted on Tuesday. This marked the beginning of their annual three-week mourning period commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples.

During this three-weeks observance weddings and other party celebrations are not permitted and people refrain from cutting their hair. They avoid eating meat and wine is only served as part of the Sabbath. Jews will not wear new clothes during the fast of the Ninth of Av.

"Five misfortunes befell our fathers ……on the ninth of Av….On the ninth of Av it was decreed that our fathers should not enter the (Promised) Land, the Temple was destroyed the first and second time, Bethar was captured and the city (Jerusalem) was ploughed up." (Mishnah Ta'anit 4: 6)

The first and second temples were both destroyed on ninth of Av, the first by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E. and the second by the Romans in 70 C.E.

Bethar was the last fortress to hold out against the Romans during the Bar Kochba revolt in 135. It fell, thereby sealing the fate of the Jewish people of that day.

The sorrow of Tisha B'Av has continued for the Jews.

In 1492, King Ferdinand of Spain issued the expulsion decree, setting Tisha B'Av as the final date by which not one, solitary Jew would be allowed to walk on Spanish soil.

World War 1, which started the merciless march towards the Holocaust, started on Tisha B'Av.

The prohibitions applied for the remembrance of the Jewish pain and sorrow connected with Tisha B'Av are more stringent than for Yom Kippur. Jews are not permitted to wash, be anointed or wear leather shoes during this time.

The last meal before the twenty-one day observance usually consists of one hard-boiled egg and bread. It should be eaten alone so as to avoid a chorum which would provide a blessing. It is custom to eat this meal while sitting on a stool, indicating loneliness. This custom is to remind the Jewish observer of sitting Shiva (grieving for a lost loved one).

This year the chief rabbi's Yonah Metger and Rabbi Shlomo Amar have emphasized the situation facing Israel today.

"It is a time of trouble for Israel: Israel's enemies sound off and lift their heads in arrogance and conceit, opening their mouths wide with threats... They boast of their desire to destroy the Jews," read a portion of the letter carried by Israel National News.

But as always, the Jew has hope. It is taught Tisha B'Av is a love story. It is when observers express hope that Messiah, who according to Jewish tradition will be born on this day, is indeed already in the world. They look to the next Tisha B'Av hoping and praying it will be celebrated next year in His Presence which will be in joy-filled Jerusalem, and in the Third Temple.

The rabbis wrote in their article: "Let us cry out with all our strength, and call to our God and the God of our fathers from the depths of our heart - for 'God is close to all who call upon Him in truth' (Psalms 145)."

They observed: "God's salvation can come in the blink of an eye," and urged the nation of Israel to be ready.

(Email: ronandyvonne@mac.com)

Ron Ross resigned as Senior Pastor of Noosa Baptist Church to become National Director of Bridges for Peace Australia. Three years ago he joined Bridges for Peace in Jerusalem to establish international radio news and an audio service webcast at www.bridgesforpeace.com Ron was Sports Editor of WINTV for 20 years before joining the full-time missions. You can contact Ron at : ronrossbfp@hotmail.com