This is the Forward’s coverage of the Jewish holiday of Tish’a B’av, which commemorates the destruction of Jerusalem’s ancient temple (the Second Temple) by the Romans in the year 70, and other historic tragedies.
Tisha B’Av
The Latest
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Life A holiday marking one societal rupture, Tisha B’Av spurs Jewish creativity amid another
(JTA) — For many observant Jews, the mourning over the destruction of the two ancient Temples in Jerusalem on the fast of Tisha B’Av actually begins three weeks earlier with the onset of a period of mourning during which it’s customary to avoid joyful activities like weddings and music. But with much of the world…
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Community The personal is political on Tisha B’Av
I didn’t talk to my roommate for an entire year. I was in 11th grade, at a Yeshiva where the students lived in dormitories on campus. Early in the school year, Sruli and I got into a fight. We were taking turns on a handheld electronic football game we had borrowed from a friend and,…
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Opinion Make 2,000 years of mourning count: Use it to fight racism.
There is a story first documented at the end of the 1800s and almost certainly false: Napoleon was taking a walk in Paris one August evening when he heard a loud wailing from a nearby synagogue. His servants investigated and found people sitting on the ground, barefoot, weeping into prayer books. They informed Napoleon that…
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The Schmooze Amazon Would Still Like You To Buy ‘Tisha B’Av Jewish Rabbi Yoga Pants’
Time to go to the gym! Grab your sneakers, your water bottle, your headphones or earbuds or air pods. And don’t forget to slip on your Tisha B’Av Jewish Rabbi Yoga Pants Gym Leggings. That bizarro word salad represents, apparently, a product sold by the e-commerce giant Amazon. Tisha B’av, known as the saddest day…
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Opinion Protest Is A Sacred Jewish Practice
Despite growing up to become a rabbi, I don’t remember much about my Hebrew School days. I remember being excited to learn the letters, and being bored reading about some people called “Babylonians” in a book that smelled like a basement. One thing I do remember quite clearly, however, is a trip I took with…
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Fast Forward 40 Jews Arrested In New York City During ICE Protest On Tisha B’Av
NEW YORK (JTA) — Forty Jews were arrested at a New York City protest against Amazon’s work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Sunday’s protest was one of more than 50 similar Jewish demonstrations that were held across the country to mark Tisha b’Av, the traditional Jewish day of mourning, in opposition to U.S. immigration policy….
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Opinion It’s The Jewish Day Of Mourning. But In Pittsburgh, We Never Stopped.
It’s the time of year that for one day, the ninth of Av, Jews think about being displaced and exiled. We think of what was lost with the destruction of two Temples, and our historical exile from Jerusalem. This year, I am in the unenviable position of feeling this uprooted aspect of Jewish history in…
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Opinion This Tisha B’Av, We Mourn Injustice In Israel – And Commit To The Fight To End It.
Many progressive Jews struggle with whether Tisha B’av still has resonance when Judaism has evolved so far beyond Temple service. We wonder whether a full day of mourning for Jewish destruction and exile is still called for when we have a sovereign State of Israel and the accompanying reality of national power. But the sages…
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