Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

And on The Ninth Day, They Prayed

Yesterday evening marked the beginning of Tisha B’Av, the annual fast day which commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples and the subsequent exile of the Jews from the Holy Land.

Regarded as the saddest day in the Jewish calendars, all pleasurable activities are forbidden. As in a period of mourning, there is no eating, no drinking, no bathing, no leather shoes, and no sexual activity.

Once all that’s ruled out, what is there left to do? Well, the thousands of Jews who spent the night at the Western Wall in Jerusalem last night provided the answer: prayer — and a little shut-eye.

Splayed out in rows or curled up in corners, the faithful grabbed 40 winks where they could:

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.