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:

The spring is full of joyful Jewish festivals that enrich us and inspire our people of the awesome sovereignty of the Almighty who chose the Jewish people to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. From the physical redemption, coming out of Egypt during Pesach, through the fifty-day count of the Omer until Shavuot (Pentecost means fiftieth), our people are molded and formed into a nation. At Mount Sinai during Shavuot, the people take upon themselves to do and to hear the commandments of Hashem. This in itself seems to be the crowning event of the people, having been sovereignly chosen and put aside, the people are now committing to filling this destiny.

The Torah shows that soon after this event, the people went through a struggle in the absence of their physical leader Moses. This led them to search for a replacement leader to support and guide the people through the desert. We read of the sin of the golden calf, which would have brought about the destruction of the people, if it had not been for the intercession of Moses and the mercy of the Almighty. This move from the fruitful spring into the heat of the summer shows how the relationship of the people with Hashem becomes more difficult.