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Bein Hameitzarim (Between the Straits)
From sources and other "otzar Israel"
We will have services on Tisha B'Av this year “quite early,’” after Shabbat at 9:00 pm on July 17 and at 9:00 am on Sunday morning July 18. A full day of fasting is observed from before sunset, Sunday evening at 8:50 pm (starlight). We will read from the Book of Lamentations and sit together on the sanctuary steps Saturday night after Shabbat and Sunday morning. PLEASE HELP US MAKE A MINYAN for this important commemoration (Zoomers also are welcome). Mincha will be by Zoom on Sunday beginning 8:00 pm sharp.
Five calamities happened on Tisha B'Av, says the Mishna:
• The spies convinced the Israelites not to invade Israel in the second year and as a result they died in the desert in the course of forty years.
• The first Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzer the Babylonian in 586 BCE
• The Second Temple was destroyed by the Roman Emperor Titus in 70 CE
• The Betar revolt of Bar Kochva was crushed after three years and 500,000 were slaughtered, to end the last ember of Jewish nationhood 135 CE
In that time, Jerusalem was ploughed under to enable Rome to establish the capital in its place 135 CE. Since then a number of other tragic events converge on or around Tisha B'Av (courtesy of Wikipedia):
• The First Crusade officially commenced on August 15, 1096 (Av 24, AM 4856), killing 10,000 Jews in its first month and destroying Jewish communities in France and the Rhineland.
• The Jews were expelled from England on July 18, 1290 (Av 9, AM 5050)
• The Jews were expelled from France on July 22, 1306 (Av 10, AM 5066)
• The Jews were expelled from Spain on July 31, 1492 (Av 7, AM 5252)
• Germany entered World War I on August 1–2, 1914 (Av 9–10, AM 5674), which caused massive upheaval in European Jewry and whose aftermath led to the Holocaust.[9] • On August 2, 1941 (Av 9, AM 5701), SS commander Heinrich Himmler formally received approval from the Nazi Party for "The Final Solution." As a result, the Holocaust began during which almost one third of the world's Jewish population perished.
Two events happen biblically in the Torah even before the destruction of the Temple. Moses comes down to give the two Tablets of Law and sees the Israelites dancing around a Golden Calf and smashes the tablets. God at that time had wanted to destroy the people but Moshe advocated and then spendt forty more days petitioning God to come among His people. The date: Tamuz 17, exactly forty days after Moses and the People stood at Sinai and told him then to go up the mountain. In the next year Moses sends out the spies to reconnoiter the land. Ten of them come back pessimistic in their assessment and they convince the people they cannot conquer the land. God again is furious, but Moses again counsels against Him destroying the people who are, after all, the descendants of the Patriarchs to whom God promised the land. So God requires the generation presently pessimistic to die in the desert in the course of forty years, and that the next generation would then be able to enter. One midrashist mentions that the very date the spies come back from their mission and in which the people suffer a failure of nerve is 9th of Av. “You are crying for nothing!” God tells them at the time. “I’ll give you something to cry about!” So this was determined to be the day on which the Temples would fall. Shattering, crying, and God being alienated from Israel become the salient features of these three weeks.
These two dates–17 Tammus to 9 Av–mark the three week period in which Nebuchadnezzer and his army seiged and penetrated the ramparts of Jerusalem and eventually razed the First Temple. The Prophet Daniel apparently is the one who establishes this three week commemoration. (Tur Orach Hayyim 551 Daniel 10:2) The Book of Ecclesiates mentions in a passage the “almond blossoms…” (Chap.12:5) Jeremiah, in the first chapter we read on Shabbat in the three weeks, mentions, “I see in my vision an almond staff”. The time it takes to see a new bud transform to a blossomed almond flower is twenty one days. This is the time that it took for the "bud of siege" to bloom into total destruction of Jerusalem. This rabbinic imagery is all the more jarring, because it borrows the use of an almond-blossoming staff. Such a staff is exactly what God uses to show favor and love to the tribe of Aaron, and establishes them as the line of Kohanim in the book of Numbers. (Nu 17:23) Because the eternal flame of the altar and the wine libation ceased from that moment of siege, so we refrain in the three weeks from drinking wine and eating meat (excepting on Shabbat). Some don’t buy new clothing or tools so as not to need to say a shehehiyanu at this semi-period of mourning. Weddings and music are prohibited. The length of time for these restrictions are somewhat fluid. The Ashkenazim are most restrictive. Rabbi Yaacov Ashrei tells us that the S'fardim observe these customs from the Month of Av, and Ashkenazim at 17 Tammuz on. Rashba (1300s Spain) notes in a Teshuva that though it’s customary to stop eating meat from the time of Av on, the Talmud doesn’t forbid it. Rambam’s formulation in his Mishna Torah forbids it on the week of Tisha Bav excepting Shabbat. The Selonker community from Greece had no restriction in regard to wine, only meat. Haircuts and shaving restrictions and bathing restriction likewise start for some on 17 Tammuz and for others as late as the week in which Tisha B'Av falls. Laundering is restricted on the week of Tisha V'Av. Even wearing a full suit the Shabbat prior to Tisha B'Av is discouraged. Bathing also has its increasing restrictions at this time. It is especially prohibited to take leisure showers and to enjoy swimming at the beach. However, in contemporary times, bathing briefly for hygiene is generally permitted.
This period of time is also seen as "a time of misfortune" in some of the codes. Selling homes and buying them are put off to later dates, and travel for some, especially on Tisha B'Av, is ill advised. Some speak of not walking outdoors between the hours of 10 am-3 pm due to the "evil force" (ketev Meriri) that may affect its force on young students. Although some communities allow weddings after Tammuz 17 but before Av, especially in cases of widowers who have yet to have children, it is wise not to undertake such a Huppah, since it is “chamira secanta,” a time of serious danger.
Liberal Jews these days don’t commonly abide by these guidelines, but they provide a spiritual and emotional latticework for those wishing to experience a deep communal sadness and sense of incompleteness due to our history of oppression and misfortune. Having an outlet for such sadness and expressing it can be an important act of ethno-historic identity as a Jew.
I wish all of wish all of you a meaningful three weeks and a manageable fast to mourn the loss of our Holy Temples and the grandeur that they bestowed upon us.