As Americans, we remember certain indelible dates such as December 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked, or November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
We Jews also have such a date that holds tragic significance. The ninth day of the Jewish month of Av, known as Tisha B’Av, which occurs in mid-summer, holds major significance for the Jewish people.
On this date — or close to it — the following cataclysmic events occurred (descriptions of the events are greatly simplified):
1313 BCE: the spies sent out by Moses, as recorded in the Torah, returned with a negative report of the Promised Land.
586 BCE: The First Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians, sending most Jews into exile.
70 CE: the Romans destroyed the Second Temple, carting off Temple treasures to Rome.
133 CE: the revolt against the Romans led by Simon Bar Kochba was put down with the destruction of the city of Betar, resulting in a name change to the land and the end of an independent Jewish state.
1095 CE: the First Crusade began, bringing with it attacks on Jewish communities in Europe.
1290 CE: Jews were expelled from England. They were not legally accepted back until 1656 under Oliver Cromwell. This is the first instance of the entire Jewish population being banished from a country.
1492 CE: Spanish Jews were forced out of Spain. They were not allowed back in until 1868, when a new constitution supported freedom of religion. However, the original Alhambra Decree of 1492 was not rescinded until 1968.
1914 CE: World War I began.
1941 CE: The Final Solution received official Nazi Party approval.
1942 CE: Treblinka began operating, and deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto started.
1994 CE: the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires was bombed, killing scores of people and injuring at least 300.
For these things do I weep; for the foe has prevailed.
Gone is the joy of our hearts; our dancing is turned into mourning.
(from the Book of Lamentations)
There are few standalone resources for Tisha B’Av beyond a chapter here and there in holiday anthologies and the text of Lamentations.
For more information:
Sefaria for the text of Lamentations.
Wikipedia for basic information.
My Jewish Learning: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/tisha-bav-101/
American Jewish World Service: https://ajws.org/who-we-are/resources/holiday-resources/tisha-bav/
P.S. In Founder’s Hall, there is a Torah scroll that survived the Holocaust and came to us with a story of its lost community in the Czech Republic. For many years, it has been flanked by a yellow star worn by Jews under Nazi occupation and documents attesting to both artifacts’ history. Taken down during last year’s renovation of Founder’s Hall, it is now time to put both back up, with a bit of solemn fanfare as befits their status as important artifacts of our people’s history. Join us on Thursday, July 23, starting at 6 pm.