B"H
Thursday, Menachem Av 7, 5776 / August 11, 2016 - Hakhel year
This Shabbat is Tisha B’Av – the 9th day of Av.
When Tisha B’Av falls during the week it is a fast day. But when it falls on Shabbat, as this year, the fast is pushed of to the next day. Thus, this year the fast of Tisha B’Av will begin Saturday night and continue until Sunday night.
The Torah reading this Shabbat is Parshat Devarim, which begins the fifth book of the Torah (Deuteronomy). In the Parsha we find Moshe reprimanding the Jewish people for all their mistakes during their forty years in the desert. The reason they spent forty years in the desert is because of their refusal to go into the Promised Land.
This story happened on the day of Tisha B’Av over 1000 years before the destruction of the First Temple. On the 9th of Av, the spies, whom Moshe sent to scout the Promised Land, came back with a negative report. The Torah tells us that, after hearing the report, the Jewish people, "cried on that night" (Numbers 14:1) and refused to go to Israel.
"That night" was the night of Tisha B'Av. G-d then decreed that the Jewish people shall spend forty years in the desert until everyone over the age of twenty would die in the desert and not inherit the Land. This night became a night of "crying" for future generations with the destruction of the Temples.
Also, on Tisha B’Av, years later, the Romans decreed that the holy site where the Holy Temple stood should be plowed and desecrated.
Another tragic event: The city of Betar, from where Bar Kochba fiercely fought the Romans, fell on Tisha B’av. Many hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed in the city of Betar.
On the 9th of Av in the year 1290, Jews were deported from England.
On this day in 1492 Jews were expelled from Spain.
Jews were deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka concentration camp on Tisha B’Av.
The Talmud says, "Whoever mourns for Jerusalem and the Temples will ultimately merit to see and partake in its rejoicing!" May we merit the coming of Moshiach and the rebuilding of the Temple. May it be speedily in our days. Amen.
For two thousand years we believed that deep within the embers and ruins of destruction, G-d planted the seeds of our salvation. Jews never lost hope and faith, even against all odds. Two thousand years of Jewish history is proof of how true this is. No matter how many times various nations tried to destroy us, even in our generation, in the end we not only survived, but came out stronger than before.
HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY