Mourning and Fasting
This year the Tisha B’Av (9 Av) fast begins the evening of August 12th, 2024 and goes through August 13th, and this is the fast of the fifth month mentioned in Zechariah 8:19. Here is a fascinating overview capturing the meaning of the holiday and fast… Rabbi Avraham Goldhar has amazed audiences around the world…
There are Three Weeks that are an annual mourning period that falls out in the summer. The Three Weeks or Bein ha-Metzarim (Hebrew: בין המצרים, “Between the Straits”) (cf “dire straits”) is a period of mourning commemorating the destruction of the first and second Jewish Temples. This is when we mourn the destruction of the Holy Temple and our launch into a still-ongoing exile. The period…
When the Jews rebelled against Roman rule, they believed that their leader, Shimonbar Koziva (also known as Bar Kochba), would fulfill their messianic longings. But their hopes were cruelly dashed on Tisha B’Av, 135 CE, as the Jewish rebels were brutally butchered in the final battle at Betar. The following account is from the Talmud (Gittin 57a–b): Because…
Question: Since it is forbidden to fast on Shabbat, do we fast on Yom Kippur if it falls on Shabbat? Answer: We do fast when Yom Kippur coincides with Shabbat (this being one of the differences between Yom Kippur and other fasts). Since Yom Kippur is a biblical fast, and the Torah calls it “Shabbat Shabbaton” – the Shabbat of Shabbats – this implies that it takes precedence over Shabbat.…