Tisha Be’av – Israel
Mourns – Islam Celebrates – False Peace – War – Armageddon – Peace
Supplement to Archive Update 79
Time of Mourning for Israel – Time of Celebration for Terrorists
August 14, 2005
Saturday began the traditional mourning observances of Tisha Be’av in Israel. It is a time of mourning of the destruction of the Jewish temples by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. and by the Romans in 70 A.D. It is an especially great time of mourning this year because Israel will soon begin to mourn the loss of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, losing most of the settlements there.
This week will produce a clash of extremes in the Middle East – Great mourning for Israelis over their centuries of loss, and wild celebrations by the Islamic world over what they will claim is the result of Jihad
by their many terrorist groups in Israel and across the rest of the world.
Israel has made it abundantly clear that any action against the settlers pulling out of Gaza or the West Bank will be met with fierce retaliation and they mean what they say.
The coming months will be tumultuous, but by 2007 the Palestinians will be in place behind the Israel security barrier, and any action on the part of any terrorist group against Israel, linked with those inside the barrier, will see Israel’s IDF launching precision and decisive strikes against them. There current victory celebrations will be turned into wails of mourning if they do not toe
the mark once they are forced on the opposite side of the security barrier from Israel. And Israel’s day of rejoicing will finally occur when the true Moshiach (Messiah) suddenly appears to deliver them from all their enemies at the final battle of Armageddon.
Zechariah 14:8,9 – And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. [9] And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.
The following description of Tisha Be’av comes from the archive pages of THE JEWISH LINK.
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TISHA Be’AV – A TIME OF MOURING FOR ISRAEL
Tisha Be’Av means “the ninth (day) of Av.” usually occurs in the English Calendar during July or August. The Fast of the Ninth of Av, is a day of mourning to commemorate the many tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people, many of which coincidentally have occurred on this ninth of Av. The worst of Jewish tragedies occurred on the 9th of Av, most notably the destruction of both Temples. (the first by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E.; the second by the Romans in 70 C.E.).
Although this holiday is primarily meant to commemorate the destruction of the Temple, it is appropriate to consider on this day the many other tragedies of the Jewish people. In chronological order it’s source began with the sin of the spies whom spoke negatively about the land of Israel to the Jewish nation (noted in the book of Bamidbar of the Torah)
. That same night the Jews mourned for lack of faith. Ever since, G_d had given the nation a real reason to mourn in correction of this lack of faith. Throughout history, the Temples burned, the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, Pogroms and World War I and II have all occurred on this momentous day.
In the future this day of mourning will completely turn into a day of rejoicing as the true Moshiach will be born on this day removing the yoke of the nations around us.
Tisha Be’Av is the culmination of a three-week period of increasing mourning, beginning with the fast of the 17th of Tammuz, which commemorates the first breach in the walls of Jerusalem, before the First Temple was destroyed. During this three-week period, weddings and other parties are not permitted, and people refrain from cutting their hair. From the first to the ninth of Av, it is customary to refrain from eating meat or drinking wine (except on the Shabbat) and from wearing new clothing.
Tisha Be’Av is an appropriate time for all Jews to mourn what we have lost.
Many of the customs of mourning are in effect during this period, which gives us the opportunity to look deeply into our lives and mourn for what we once had. Mourning requires that we attentively observe our feelings of what has departed from our lives. There’s not much else to do but observe the feelings as they arise without fleeing from them. The more diligently we’re willing to face the feelings, the sooner they will depart from your life. The feelings that accompany loss are often painful, but the effort of making full use of these weeks of grieving is highly cathartic and purifying. Tisha Be’Av is an ideal opportunity for us to complete the process of healing as
an entire community.
The restrictions on Tisha Be’Av are similar to those on Yom Kippur: to refrain from eating and drinking (even water); washing, bathing, shaving or wearing cosmetics; wearing leather shoes; engaging in sexual relations; and studying Torah. Work in the ordinary sense of the word is also restricted. People who are ill need not fast on this day.
Many of the traditional mourning practices are observed: people refrain from smiles, laughter and idle conversation, and sit on low stools.
In synagogue, the book of Lamentations is read and mourning prayers are recited.
The ark (cabinet where the Torah is kept) is draped in black.
The physical connection of the entire Jewish people to Jerusalem comes to the fore, obviously, when King David conquered it from the Jebusites, paid for the holy site on the Temple Mount and made the city his capital.
After the destruction of the First Temple, the majority of the Jewish population was swept into exile in Babylon, by whose rivers they swore to weep for Zion, “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its cunning.
May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not place Jerusalem above all my joy.”
In the Maccabean era,
the very essence of the fight for Jerusalem was to establish the Jewish nature of the city and drive out pagan practices from Temple ritual and Hellenism from public life. Under other circumstances, there would have been no national uprising against Jewish subordination to the Greeks.
The importance of Jerusalem as a national symbol grew with subsequent periods of foreign domination: during the Great Rebellion and
the Bar Kochba Rebellion, coins were minted in memory of Jerusalem.
It is, however, only after the destruction of the Second Temple that the significance of Jerusalem is transformed into that which we know today – a focal point, around which Jewish life turns and towards which the entire Jewish people’s national aspirations and messianic hopes are directed.
Thus, we find that not only is this a spiritual connection, but also a physical one: all synagogue interiors around the world are built facing Jerusalem. Indeed, the daily and festival prayers abound in references to Jerusalem- in terms referring to the city and in lengthier text; the liturgy contains five major blessings relating to Jerusalem, while many other community and home rituals also describe and commemorate the Holy City.
Jerusalem is the major topic of pre-modern Hebrew poetry, and the Kinot – the mediaeval and subsequent mourning liturgy of Tisha Be’av – focus time and again on Jerusalem as they lament the trials of the Jewish people throughout its history of exile.
As the inevitable cycle of life continues and repeats, traditions connected with Jerusalem have been enshrined to remind us that even joy is not complete without Jerusalem: a plate is broken at the signing of an engagement contract; a groom breaks a glass under the bridal canopy after the ceremony; one small section of the wall in every new house is left unplastered or unpainted – incomplete.
For generations, it was impossible for most Jews to dream of living in Jerusalem themselves, but they participated by supporting those communities which resided there, hosting guests who had travelled from Jerusalem to raise funds. This was more than a form of charity: it brought Jerusalem to everyone and everyone to
Jerusalem – a way of life.
Diaspora Jewish life would be incomplete without Jerusalem: the hope for redemption and for the return of the people to Eretz Yisrael has always focused on Jerusalem. It is a longing and a hope which are most poignantly felt and expressed on Tisha Be’Av.
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