Tisha B'av is one of the most painful days in the Jewish calendar. This is a day of mourning to mark the destruction of the two temples in Jerusalem. The first house, built by King Solomon, was destroyed in 586 BC, after the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar II besieged the city of Jerusalem. The destruction was the end of a period of independent Jewish rule in the Land of Israel and the beginning of the Babylonian exile.
The Second Temple was renovated by Herod and destroyed in 70 AD, when the Romans under the rule of Emperor Vespasian and his son Titus destroyed Jerusalem. This destruction marked the beginning of a long Roman exile and had a profound effect on the identity and culture of the Jewish people.
Tisha B'av and the month of Av in general, mark many dramatic events in Jewish history. The end of the Bar Kochba rebellion in 135 AD and the destruction of the city of Bitar, in the month of Av in 1290 there was the deportation of the Jews of England, and other events such as the death of the holy Ari, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, one of the greatest Kabbalists.
From the middle of Tammuz to the 9th of Av, about three weeks, the days are called the days between the Egyptians, days that have a kind of mourning and correction. They don't get married, they don't dance, they don't get haircuts and they don't bless and they don't renew themselves. The nine days between Rosh Chodesh Av and the 9th are tougher days of mourning. Those who are careful not only do not renew themselves and do not rejoice as in the other days between the Egyptians, but also do not wash their clothes, bathe in cold water and do not eat meat or chicken until after the 9th of Av.
On Tisha B'Av, a 25-hour fast is observed, until the stars of Tisha B'Av come out. On this day, the focus is on reflecting on the loss of the temple, darkening the synagogue, reading the lamentation scroll describing the destruction and praying special prayers in a weak voice and without chanting.
After the destruction came the exile
Av month is one of the hottest months in Israel. Following the destruction there was a great fire in Jerusalem which consumed the houses, the crops and the food warehouses. Everything was burned, and following the destruction and the fire came the exile. The first exile is the Babylonian exile. The Jews were led on foot, tied to each other, in a painful walk to Babylon, which is today's Iraq. The weather in the month of Av is harsh, the heat is heavy. The exiles marched through Syria, through the back of the mountain, to Babylon, where they settled by the rivers. Seemingly a flourishing place but could not be happy because they cried and missed.
"On the rivers in Bat Shem we sat and wept in remembrance of Zion." Weep for the destruction, for the losses, for their loved ones who perished, for the agony of the journey to exile and the slavery that was imposed on them. The destruction was great and terrible. After the destruction of the Second Temple, the exile was to Rome. The Romans took the Jews as slaves, sent them to the arena to fight lions, put them as rowers in ships where they sat tied and whipped, and the suffering was very great. According to the student, the girls were thrown into a "cuba of prostitutes", especially the daughters of the nobles were sent to prostitution to shame them.
The one who wrote about it was Josephus Flavius, Josephus ben Mattathias who Greekized, in his book "The Wars of the Jews". He wrote the book for the Romans, and probably a part was written to please, but this is the main historical source that remains. Flavius writes that Jerusalem before the destruction was hostile, literally a hornet's nest. There were groups of sikrim, so called after the small, rounded knife they hid under their clothes, called a sika, and they pulled out and stabbed anyone who dared to express an opinion different from theirs. Since the knife was small, they could stab and hide again, disappear into the crowd as if they had done nothing.
They were Jewish zealots who opposed the Roman occupation of Judea. They had an extreme messianic attitude and they were not sick of violence and terrorism. The Sikris also acted against Jews who were close to the government. So that those who did not want to act in their violent and extreme way would join them, they burned the food warehouses in Jerusalem, thinking that people would be hungry and they would have no choice but to join their war.
In those days the people of Jerusalem stored food that could sustain the survival of the city for three years. They knew there would be a siege and hoped the city would hold out and the Romans would leave. When the Sikris burned the food warehouses the moderates were also forced to join the Sikris because they had nothing left to lose. The Sikris closed the gates of the city so that no one could leave, and demanded a fight to the death.
Leave Jerusalem in a coffin
One of the leaders of the Sanhedrin of that time was Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakhai, known as the Rabbi. Although he lived in Jerusalem, he did not belong to a noble family like that of Hillel the Elder or Rabbi Gamaliel. He was a student of Hillel the Elder and of Shammai, and was one of the leaders of the Pharisees in Jerusalem Later it became one of the greatest rabbis in Jerusalem in those days, but the internal riots of the Sikris and the fear that the Romans would occupy the city were a real threat.
Ribaz realized that he had to leave Jerusalem or he would be killed either by the Sikriim or by the Romans when they conquered the city. The gates were locked and he could not leave by a normal route. Ribaz's sister's son was Abba Sikra, from the Sikriim, and Ribaz Realizing that he needed help from the inside to get out of the city, he asked his sister to help him, claiming that the Sikri were starving everyone after they burned the food warehouses and locked the city.
The nephew suggested to the Rabbi that he should dress up as a dead man, lie in a coffin and hold something smelly so that he would smell like a dead man. After he was in the coffin, his disciples would throw him outside the city. Since in Jerusalem it is forbidden to mourn the dead, and since the city is closed, they did not bother with the burial, but threw the dead outside To the city. And so it was. After taking the coffin with Ribaz out of the city, the Sikris wanted to stab the body to make sure he was dead, but Father Sikra prevented them from doing so. When they moved away, Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakhai got up from the coffin and went to the minister of the Roman army in Israel, Vespasian.
The Ribaz prophesies a future for Vespasius, telling him that he will be the king, that he will soon be the emperor of Rome. The Gemara says that Vespasius wanted to kill him because he called him king, but at that moment a messenger came in and told him that he had indeed been appointed emperor of Rome. Then the Ribaz was asked every There are many questions and at the end Vespasian says that from now on there will be a new army commander who will conquer Jerusalem - in fact it is Titus, the son of Vespasian who has been appointed commander - and Vespasian allows Ribaz to ask for one request. Ribaz asks for Yavne and her sages. He understands that a new Jewish center needs to be established. Since the Romans kept Jewish slaves in Yavneh, there was an infrastructure there. Historians of the time write that Rivaz was part of a group of peace seekers who opposed the fanatics.
In the Gemara it is written that Rabbi Yochanan asked for three requests. Yavneh and her sages, to save the family of Rabbi Gamaliel the President and to find a cure for Rabbi Zadok who was sick from too many fasts he imposed on himself. When the sages heard what he asked, they were angry with him and said: "The sages turn back and their understanding will fail", as if God takes wisdom from man so that he does not speak wisely. According to them, they should have asked that they leave Jerusalem and not destroy it. And why didn't Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakhai ask for it? It is possible that he thought that it would not be possible to fulfill and then he would lose the right to the request, and the small request can be fulfilled and save a little of the Jewish settlement.
The claims are many and the answers are divided. The Babylonian Talmud states that Vespasian said that he must destroy Jerusalem and after being amazed by his wisdom, he gave Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakhai only one wish. But it is possible that he realized that in this way he could gain his status as an important leader in the Jewish pantheon. In addition to Livna, the Ribaz sought to save Rabbi Gamaliel and Rabbi Zadok, two of the greatest sages who could help renew the way of Judaism. The Ribaz understood that it was impossible to continue the old Judaism of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is destroyed, the Temple is destroyed, we need a different way of thinking, to get out of the concept of sacrifices and priests, and to build a new Judaism that connects man and his God directly without an intermediary and without offering sacrifices. In Yavneh he founded the Beit Midrash "Kerem Yavneh", and laid the foundations for the compilation of the Oral Torah that he later used in the editing of the Mishnah seders. The Talmud states that he lived 120 years and was one of the great sages who "never made small talk."
Prayers instead of sacrifices
Herod renovated and invested everything he could in building the Second Temple. Vespasianus the Roman emperor and his son Titus, destroyed it. Before they destroyed it completely, they took loot, including the menorah and marched with it in the victory parade to Rome. The treasures of the Temple were magnificent, and the Temple was considered the largest temple in the entire Middle East. Even today you can see on the Titus Gate in Rome, the victory parade carved in stone, and Jewish slaves marching with the menorah of the Temple.
The Temple, which was the center of connection between the Jews and the Creator, was destroyed. Until then, Jews would go up to the temple, turn to the priests who would present their requests, the sacrifices they brought and the gifts to the Creator. The priests mediated the connection between the common citizen and the forces of creation. Rabbi Z realized that when there is no temple, other ways and new ideas have to be invented, otherwise Judaism cannot be preserved.
He wanted a modern Judaism that would preserve the old foundations but bring a new approach and way, a way in which the relationship between the individual and the Creator would be direct and personal and would not have to go on a pilgrimage and make sacrifices, would not need a priest to speak in his place with his God. He innovated and changed the ways of worship and a revolution began to take place in Judaism. The old Judaism of a temple was changed, and the Rabbis introduced sacrifices, prayers instead. He said that one should pray 3 times a day for a morning sacrifice and a minachah sacrifice, and because the bones in the sacrifices were burned all night, there is the third prayer, the evening prayer. This is how he preserved Judaism, but He changed it. When Rabbi Gamaliel arrived and joined the Sanhedrin in Yavneh, the Rabbi vacated his place in the leadership and moved to Beror Ha'il.
Is this still the same Judaism, perhaps a continuation of the same Judaism or a development? It is told about a grandfather who worked for his life with an ax, and when he passed it to his son, the blade was already worn. The son changed the blade, and continued to work with the axe. When the ax passed to the grandson, the handle was already worn. The grandson replaced the handle and continued working. Is the ax that the nephew received at the end of the story the ax of the great grandfather?
Ribaz changed the customs of Judaism but left the roots of Judaism, but it seems that until the end of his days he was troubled by the question of whether he asked Vespasians correctly, and whether he did correctly when he developed the customs of prayer. Before his death, he lay on his bed and wept. His disciples came and asked him why are you crying? You are wise and great in Judaism. He told them that in front of the Creator, as opposed to a king of flesh and blood, it is impossible to bribe or change the decrees, then it is eternal and absolute. He also said that he does not know whether he will go to heaven or not to hell and therefore cries.
To heaven or hell?
And this is how it appears in the Babylonian Talmud Tractate of Blessings, (page 28, page 2):
And when Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai fell ill, his students entered his room.
When he saw them he began to cry.
They said to him: Rabbi, Ner Yisrael, right pillar, strong hammer, why are you crying?
He said to them: They would lead me before the king of flesh and blood, that today is here and tomorrow in the grave, that if he is angry with me, his anger is eternal, and if he forbids me, there is none And he is forbidden forever, and if he dies from me - there is no death for him, death for a lifetime, and I can appease him with words and bribe him with money - over and over Therefore I was a weeper;
And now that they bring me before the holy King of kings, blessed is He, who lives and exists forever and ever, that if he is angry with me - his anger is the anger of the world, and if or Sreni - his ban is a world ban, and if he dies - his death is the death of a world, and I cannot appease him with words and bribe him with money;
And no more, except that there are two roads before me, one to the Garden of Eden and one to Hell, and I don't know which way they are leading me - and I won't cry?
Damned for resurrection
Between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av, the days are the days "between the Egyptians". Days when they mourn the beginning of summer, the time when everything is dry. In ancient cultures summer is a symbol of mourning. The same is true in Judaism. The month of Av marks not only the destruction of the Temple, but the elimination of the almost last vestiges of independence that Jews had in occupied Israel and Judea. The second house was destroyed in 70 AD and about 60 years later, in 135 AD, came Bar Kochba - Bar Kosba.
He was a zealot and led a rebellion against the Romans. He lived with a sense of a messianic mission, and even though Jerusalem was destroyed, he came and called to go with him to a war of liberation from the Romans. Those who followed Bar Kochba, as well as Rabbi Akiva who followed him, were mistaken in believing, according to the Sages, that he would be the King Messiah. It is said that Chever Kochba trained the warriors he gathered through hard training, it is written that he would take off their little finger, the pinky, in order to forge them.
In the Sage tradition, a failed king is considered to be a failure, and he is described as negative. Archaeological finds show the rebellion, but it should be said that in those days there were a number of sects that emerged from Judaism.
Although he was considered a failure and a fanatic, who was one of the main reasons that caused the Romans to destroy the Jewish settlement, the Kochba bar was chosen in the young Israel of 1948 as a symbol of the liberation struggle, a controversial choice that became part of the Israeli myth. Probably the reason is that during his reign there was independent Jewish rule in Israel.
After 6 years of fighting the Romans, they defeated him, and he was probably killed near the settlement of Bitar, although according to tradition he was not killed by the hands of the Romans but was bitten by a snake as a punishment from God. The day the first temple and also the second temple were destroyed. Beitar fell on the 9th of Av to the Romans. The Romans destroyed everything and sent the Jews into a long and difficult exile. The Romans burned and destroyed the few remaining Jewish settlements and wiped out the Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel. The Jews hid in caves, and the Romans came everywhere and brutally exterminated them. The Jewish community in Israel lost its independence, and after the revolt, a long period of exile began that actually lasted until the beginning of Zionism.
The 9th of Av is a day of mourning. They don't say hello, they don't study Torah, they don't beg, they just say sorry. As if the grief is your own private. Fasting appears three times in the book of Zechariah. The commentators say three times that once they will not enter the land because of the calf's sin, once when the first temple was destroyed and once when the second was destroyed. But from the destruction comes the resurrection. In 1882, with the immigration of Yemenite Jews "I will go up at Tamar", the return of Jews to the Land of Israel began to be seen, and the beginnings of Zionism and revival began to emerge.
An opportunity to release suffering
For those born on the 9th of Av, they say there is a connection to the royal dynasty of Israel. It is speculated that the prophet Jeremiah was also born on the 9th of Av. Regarding birthday celebrations, it is recommended to celebrate on the 9th of Av and not on the day itself. And in the context of celebrations, I want to illuminate that every destruction gives rise to growth, eliminates the limitations of the old concept and inspires a new, better attitude.
In the case of Judaism, the period brought an end to the slaughter and burning of the victims, an end to hierarchies of priests and classes and the development of a new Judaism in a more egalitarian Jewish society that allows a person to communicate with his God privately without a priest and an altar as mediators. Anyone can pray anytime and anywhere.
Take the 9th of Av as an opportunity to cleanse yourself of pride, release suffering, say goodbye to destructive extremism, eliminate evil, and allow inner revival, purity and love, to awaken. I bless all of us that we will wake up to a revival of evil and a new brotherhood, of acceptance of difference and openness to others, of tolerance and compassion, and I hope we don't remove another false messiah from our midst, God forbid he will bring us to the next destruction. May we know peace, brotherhood and love, and return boys to their limits.