• HOME
• WHAT’S NEW
• STORE
• RESOURCES
  • About Michael Medved
  • Advertisers
  • Bumper Music
  • Contact Us
  • Station Guide
  • Help
  • Live Events Calendar
  • Michael’s Blog
  • Michael Medved’s Column
  • Medved Photo Album
  • Talk Radio Broadcast

Wednesday, July 20, 2010, marks the beginning of the most mournful fast day of the Jewish calendar. Yoram Ettinger, former official at the Israeli embassy in Washington does an excellent job of providing background on this yearly observance.

 

The Fast of Av: Background on the Annual "Day of Disasters" 

1.  Napoleon was walking at night in the streets of Paris, hearing sad voices emanating from a synagogue.  When told that the wailing/lamenting commemorated a 586 BCE catastrophe, he stated: “Any People which solemnizes its ancient history is destined for a glorious future!”

 

Memory is deliverance; Forgetfulness is oblivion.

 

2.  The Ninth Day of Av – the most calamitous day in Jewish history - is the 9^th day in the 11^th Jewish month: 9/11! Fasting on Tisha' Be'Av commemorates catastrophic national destructions, as well as the moral causes for the destruction. It was first mentioned in the book of Zechariah 7:3.

 

3.  Major national calamities in Jewish history occurred on the Ninth Day of Av (July 30, 2009):

 

*The failed "Ten Spies/tribal presidents" (VS. Joshua & Caleb) – who slandered the Land of Israel, preferring immediate convenience and conventional "wisdom" over faith and long term vision - which prolonged the wandering in the desert for 40 years.

*The destruction of the First Temple and Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (586BC) – 100,000 killed and a national exile.

*The destruction of the Second Temple and Jerusalem by Titus of Rome (70AD) – 1MN killed and a national exile.

*Bar Kochba (Great) Rebellion crashed (135AD) with the fall of Beitar (in Gush Etzion, Judea & Samaria) and the plowing of Jerusalem by Quintus Tinius Rofus, the Roman Governor – 580,000 killed.

*First Crusade Pogroms (1096) – scores of thousands slaughtered.

*Expulsion from Britain (1290).

*Expulsion from Spain (1492).

*WW1 erupted (1914).

*Warsaw Ghetto Uprising crashed by the Nazis (May 1943) – 50,000 slaughtered.

 

3.  The Ninth Day of Av is the central of the Four Days of Fast, which commemorate the destruction of the First Temple: 10^th Day of Tevet (the onset of the siege that Nebuchadnezzar laid to Jerusalem), 17^th day of Tamuz (the walls of Jerusalem were breached), 9^th day of Av (destruction of both Temples) and 3^rd day of Tishrey (The murder of Governor Gedalyah, who maintained a level of post-destruction Jewish autonomy, which led to a savage Babylonian murder and exile).

 

5.  The Ninth Day of Av culminates the Three Weeks of Predicament ("Yemey Beyn Hameitzareem" in Hebrew), starting with the 17^th day of Tamuz, when the walls of Jerusalem were breached by Nebuchadnezzar (1^st Temple) and by Titus (2^nd Temple).

 

5.  The month of Av represents Faith in G-D (in spite of calamities) and a transformation from Curse to Blessing & Consolation, which is also represented by the two Hebrew letters of AV ("Aroor" = cursed and "Barookh"=blessed). The Hebrew letters of AV constitute the letters of Father (a synonym to G-D) and the first two letters of "EVEL" (mourning). The transformation from Curse to Blessing could forge one's character, as suggested by the numerical value of AV (Aleph=1 and Bet=2), which is Three, the combination of the basic even and odd numbers (King Solomon: "A triangular string/knot cannot be broken"). The zodiac sign of Av is a lion, which represents the Lion of Judah, rising in the aftermath of destruction. Aharon – the embodiment of human kindness - died on the 1^st day of Av.

 

7.  The Ninth Day of Av concludes a series of three Torah readings (Haphtarah) of Jewish calamities (two by the Prophet Jeremiah and one by the Prophet Yeshaayahu, and launches a series of seven Torah readings (Haphtarah) of consolations (by the Prophet Yeshaayahu).

 

8.  The Book of (5) Lamentations (The Scroll of Eikhah – by Jeremiah the Prophet, who prophesized the destruction, the exile and the deliverance) is read on the Ninth Day of Av and since the first day of Av. The numerical value of Eikhah is 36, which is equal to the traditional number of righteous Jewish persons.   The Hebrew meaning of Eikhah could be construed as "A reproaching How Come?!", as well as "Where are you?" (Why have you strayed away?).  The first three Hebrew letters of Eikhah mean "How" and the fourth/last letter stands of G-D.