From Doubt to Faith: Tish'a B'Av

From Doubt to Faith, From Mourning To Joy: Tish’a B’Av

By Rabbi Boaz D. Heilman

When Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, conquered Jerusalem in the year 587 BCE, his chosen date for setting Solomon’s Temple on fire was Tish’a B’Av (the ninth day of the Hebrew month Av). This choice may have been random; or he may have selected it on purpose. For the ancient Mesopotamians, this season was one of joy and celebration. After spending nearly half a year in the underworld, their deity Dumuzi was resurrected every summer at this time, and Nebuchadnezzar might very well have chosen the date to show the Judeans that whereas our God was now homeless, powerless and on exile, their god had ascended to victory and prominence.

The myth of the death and resurrection of a divinity called “The Favorite Son” was  popular at the time, and it made its way into other myths and religions.

But not in Judaism. This was, after all, the religion in which Father Abraham was told in no uncertain terms not to sacrifice his favorite son, Isaac.

Nevertheless, a day that had been set aside for celebration in the ancient world turned instead into a day of grief and mourning for the Judean nation.

But it didn’t stay that way. At least, not entirely.

In the Jewish tradition, formed by the ancient Rabbis to unify a people that had spread throughout a vast Diaspora, Tish’a B’Av was not just any random date on the calendar. Rather, it became a day set aside for disaster by God Godself. This was the day on which the twelve spies sent by Moses to bring back to the people a report of the Promised Land, returned with bad news: the land was fruitful and beautiful, but impossible to conquer. The majority report, delivered by ten of the spies, caused the people to panic and lose faith in God and Moses. Only Joshua and Caleb reminded them that God was their stronghold, and that as long as they kept their faith, they could indeed overtake the giants and monsters that presently occupied the Land of Canaan. Unfortunately, the people refused to listen and nearly stoned Moses and Aaron to death. This was the first Tish’a B’Av, and it set the precedent for all those that would follow.

The First Temple, built in Jerusalem around 950 BCE by King David’s son, Solomon, was destroyed on Tisha B’Av, as was the Second Temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. Both destructions resulted in the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Jews, and many who survived were sold to slavery or exiled to foreign lands.

It was on Tish’a B’Av that the last Judean rebellion against the Romans was crushed in 135 CE. The leader of the rebellion, Simeon Bar Kochba, a man whose vision and bravery caused many to see him as the Messiah, was killed and his fortress, Beitar, was razed to the ground. Following this disaster, the Roman emperor Hadrian changed the name of Judea to Palestine. He also founded a new city on the ruins of Jerusalem and named it Aelia Capitolina, hoping to erase the memory of the holy city from the hearts and souls of the defeated but still-stubborn Judeans.

In the more recent past, other disasters took place on the same date (or, in some cases, a day or two later): The expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290; from France in 1306; from Spain in 1492; and the start of the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942.

In the eyes of some, the dating of these disasters was no more than coincidence. As the Rabbis saw it, however, it was no less than the fulfillment of a divine decree.

But the story does not end with destruction. Just as in the Torah God relents and lets the remnant of Israelites enter the Promised Land, so is God bound throughout history to forgive God’s People, the Jews, when they repent and return to God through faith and good deeds.

By setting Tish’a B’Av in a context of faith, the Rabbis succeeded in transforming sorrow and mourning into faith and hope. As long as the Jewish Nation held on to their belief in God, Redemption was bound to come about. It was their failproof restructuring of the Jewish religion that turned a day in history into an eternal, cosmic event. Our faith became our mission, and as long as we endeavored to fulfill it, our Redemption was imminent.

Jewish tradition calls for the observance of Tish’a B’Av through a number of customs:  fasting for 25 hours; communal reading of kinnot (liturgical poems of keening and grief) as well as the books of Job and Lamentations; and the performance of deeds of kindness and righteousness. These, we are told, are the actions that will hasten ge’ula (Redemption) and will bring salvation not only for us, but also for the entire world.

The Rabbis conclude their remarkable take on this day by teaching that on Tish’a B’Av, on the very day that was set aside for terrible misfortunes and calamities, the Messiah will be born. May our faith and good deeds be strengthened by this belief, so that the day will come soon when all hunger, war, disease and ignorance will disappear from this world once and for all and be replaced by wisdom, love and peace.

[This year, 2020, Tish’a B’Av will be observed July 29-30]

© 2020 by Boaz Heilman