Nine Days, The

The first nine days of the month of Av, and also the morning of the tenth, The Temple was set ablaze on the afternoon of the ninth of Av, and burned through the tenth. are days of acute mourning for the destruction of the first and second Holy Temples. Du...

Brush up on important info regarding this most significant (and unusual) time of year.

Question: I know that the days from the first until the ninth of Av are considered bad days for the Jewish people and that I should try not to have a court case during that time, as the mazal of the Jewish people is not so good. I was wondering, however, ...

The rhyme and reason behind the well established pre-Tisha B’Av ban on meat and wine is surprisingly vague and inconclusive – especially as Talmudic sources say nothing of the sort, and the tradition doesn't jibe with general mourning and bereavement prac...

I think of the caterpillars we watched as children, seeing them lift-and-crunch from tail to fore as they jerk across a leaf. And I wonder if, standing beside the white or yellow line painted along the tar of Jaffa Street, onlookers felt they'd missed a s...

Laws of the 9 Days and the Fast of Tisha B'Av.

"When Av begins, we diminish [our] rejoicing" (Talmud, Taanit 26b). On the 1st of Av, "The Three Weeks" mourning period over the destruction of the Holy Temple--which began 13 days earlier on Tammuz 17--enters an intensified stage. During "The Nine Days" ...

What is the symbolism of the most tragic month of the year being called Av, which means Father? The message is that we all have one Father. The strength of the Jewish people is that we are one big family. This week’s story is with two Jewish mothers who n...