Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av, comes this year on the 20th of July. It is the second most mournful day in the Jewish calendar, next to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
On Tisha B’Av we remember a litany of calamities that struck our people at this time throughout history. As Messianic Jews, we are no less smitten by these tragic events and their memory than are others of our people.
Among the event we remember are the following:
During the time of Moses, Jews in the desert accepted the slanderous report of the 12 Spies, and the decree was issued forbidding us from entering the Land of Israel.
The First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, led by Nebuchadnezzar. 100,000 Jews were slaughtered and millions more exiled.
The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans, led by Titus. Some two million Jews died, and another one million were exiled.
The Bar Kochba revolt was crushed by Roman Emperor Hadrian. The city of Betar—the Jews’ last stand against the Romans—was captured and liquidated. Over 100,000 of our people were slaughtered.
The Temple area and its surroundings were plowed under by the Roman general Turnus Rufus. Jerusalem was rebuilt as a pagan city—renamed Aelia Capitolina—and access was forbidden to our people.
Pop Urban II declared the First Crusade. Tens of thousands of Jews were killed, and many Jewish communities obliterated.
The Spanish Inquisition culminated with the expulsion of our people from Spain on Tisha B’Av in 1492.
World War One broke out on Tisha B’Av in 1914 when Russia declared war on Germany. German resentment from the war set the stage for the Holocaust.
On Tisha B’Av, the deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto began.
It is right for us as Messianic Jews to mourn with our people at this time. The wellbeing of the modern State of Israel is not an issue exterior to our own.
This is one reason Jews reacted so strongly to outspoken comments by Helen Thomas, former White House reporter, who said that the Jews of Israel should “get the hell out of Palestine” and “should go back to Poland, to Germany, and the United States.” Before the founding of the Modern State of Israel, there were signs in Europe that said “Jews go back to Palestine.” Now that we are there, the Helen Thomases of the world say we should get out. The carnage of the Holocaust, and thousands of years of Jewish history as marked by Tisha B’Av have proven that we have no lasting home apart from our homeland.
As July 20 approaches, we invite you, friends of MJTI and of the Jewish people to investigate further the meaning of Tisha B’av and to reflect with us upon these tragedies which visited our people, and upon the God who has sustained us in life despite all the darkness we have known.
