This year the ninth day of the month of Av (Tisha B’av), the day the Holy Temple in Jerusalem began to burn, falls on the Sabbath. This is a rare occurrence on the Jewish calendar and comes with a unique set of laws and observances, as the fast and traditional mourning practices are postponed until after Shabbos ends.
The idea that Shabbos overrides the mourning practices of Tisha B’Av demonstrates the sanctity of the weekly Shabbos holiday, but what becomes of Tisha B’av? How can the day the Holy Temple began to burn pass without some form of outward commemoration?
The Talmud (Megillah 5b) says that Rebbi wanted to “uproot” [La’akor] Tisha B’av completely, when it fell on Shabbos, reasoning that once it’s pushed off, it should remain so. While the Hebrew word La’akor is usually translated “to uproot,” it can also mean, in a homiletical sense, to declare as the root (Ikkar), the essence. So the passage can also be read as saying that Rebbi pointed to a Tisha B’av on Shabbos as showing the true essence of Tisha B’av.
Why do we mourn on Tisha B’av? Why not come to terms with the fact that the Holy Temple is gone, accept G-d’s judgment, and make the best of Jewish life without a Temple? Isn’t it an essential Jewish value that we should accept G-d’s decrees? Well, yes, that is true for all of G-d’s decrees — except the destruction of the Temple. For nearly 2000 years, Jews have sat on the floor, weeping through the stirring descriptions of Jerusalem’s destruction and the tragedies faced throughout their history in exile. Every day they have prayed for a rebuilt Jerusalem. These demonstrate an intense national longing to reunite with G-d’s Presence, in a way that could only be felt in the Temple in Jerusalem. When lovers are separated, their bond is shown in their yearning to return to each other. That thirst to reconnect with G-d is the true essence of Tisha B’av.
This Shabbos, we push aside all the physical expressions and challenge ourselves to sense the emotional yearning hidden within us, the yearning to reunite with our beloved Creator. This Shabbos demonstrates the essence of the mourning, ultimately reignites within the Jewish conscience the dream of rebuilding, and lays the foundation for the final return to Yerushalayim HaBenuyah (Jerusalem Rebuilt). We pray that it come soon. (Based on Nesivos Shalom pg 307)
Please share your thoughts on this and your own feelings about Tisha B’av.
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Mordechai Dixler
Program Director, Project Genesis – Torah.org
It is so very important for us to give our utmost as we draw closer to G-D. It truly is essential, like milk for a baby. We are to hunger and thirst after righteousness. Additionally, remembering the past, to honor it or to keep deep feeling fresh, is a duty and a fulfillment of honoring both those who before suffered and those who also gave their hearts to mourn. We should never forget as we continue in hope; as we look to the fulfillment of the promise. How could one not become absorbed in such a rich and deeply rooted outcry of the spirit? It is that longing, that desperate hungry prayer and the emptying of the heart that fuels the fire of hope and faith.
Why does one usually look for the more ‘Machmir’ understanding, i.e. Megillah 5b ‘la’akor’, when the normally understood meaning is to ‘uproot’. Logically, if Tisha B’Av has falls on a Shabbat, the Sunday is not Tisha B’Av.
The Talmud states that the Sages, meaning the majority opinion, did not agree with Rebbi’s assertion. The Halacha follows the Sages and Jews do traditionally fast this Sunday even though it is the 10th of Av. The homiletic understanding of Rebbi is an attempt to derive from Rebbi’s statement a deeper meaning and principle that is universal, even though the law does not follow his opinion
Our people have remembered with tears the loss of the temple, we have had our hearts broken twice, and been under the judgement of our Maker. Yet since the event of Av 9th and Shabbat do not come often, and we are called to remember Shabbat, then we can not be like the 38 spies who look at all the reason we could not take the land. We need to thank our Abba, bless Be He, that we are called in rememberance to a time when all was perfect, when not even a marr of sin rested on earth, since recently Shabbat and Passover were one this year, and since last year Yom Kipper and Shabbat were one, and maybe the possibility of Shabbat and Yom Kipper will be one in 2013, we need to see that the sign of Redemption, the purpose for Project Genesis is our blessed hope. We are our Maker’s children we can put our little hand in the Yod of the Almighty hand, and remind Him we are but dust, and HaShem Awesome He is, is our strength and staying power. We acknowledge our loss, but we claim the sign of complete restoration, Eze. 20:12-20. We seek our priesthood to prepare to do their duties, Mal. 3, we seek to ready ourselves for the Davidic line full there destiny. We humble ourselves and pray seek His face, turn from our wicked ways, and also realize that before all the children of Israel come home, as yesterday message from Chabad house declared, the temple should be rebuilt. The day before let us weep more, that if we like Hadassah were fully ready we may have the destruction of temple be the beginning of a temple being build, and the day after Shabbat, bow in humbleness again for the journey seem long, yet arise with the hope, this Av 9th The Shabbat was linked with it pain sorrow, and loss, this day has the blessing of Shabbat to remind us that the end was declared in the beginning. So bless you, for renewing the spark in us, of our project, the Genesis project, we have great hope because of the many appointed time these last two years being link with Shabbat, and while we stay humble for our lossing we are commanded to remember the Shabbat, and just because we have no memory of such a perfect day, just because our memory is much fresher, and more real of the loss, does not mean that our Maker is not well able to bless us with a place to worship Him directly. He gave us time to worship Him before He gave us a place to worship Him. A set Apart temple will be sure, as we set apart Shabbat more fully, the next day we shall be more real to our present condition, but in Shabbat that condition is swallow in a remembrance that is not one day in the year, but 4 times in a month, every seven days. Our Maker loves us so much that He rest in our love, and total faith in Him. In the story of Purim we have an event of destruction replace by providence with hope, and new opportunities, we can this time as Av 9th and Shabbat meet give a better response of gratitude, as we can say we are well able to with Hashem help keep this land, build the temple, bring the family home, and most of all seek our best occupation seeking our Elokim to know His love more and more.
Tisha Bav was an enligthment for me. It helped me finaly understand what the love of God meant.
Thank you Rabbi