Tisha B’Av,"The Ninth of Av," is a fast day that commemorates the destruction of the two Jerusalem Temples.
This year it starts at sundown, Monday, August 8, and ends at sundown, Tuesday, August 9, 2011. Join together with us and Jewish people all over the world in humbling ourselves before God, and asking for his mercy and healing.
Many other calamities have befallen the Jewish people on this day:
- 587 BCE (3338)- The First Temple is destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians.
- 70 CE (3830)- The Second Temple is destroyed by Titus and the Romans.
- 135 CE (3895) - The Romans defeat Bar Kochba, and Emperor Hadrian turns Jerusalem into a Roman city.
- 1290 (5050) - King Edward I of England signs an edict expelling all Jews from England.
- 1492 (5252) - The Alhambra Decree takes effect, expelling the Jews from Spain and from all Spanish territories.
- 1914 (5674) - World War I begins when Germany declares war on Russia
- 1940 (5700) - Himmler presents his plan for the "Final Solution" to the Jewish problem to the Nazi Party.
- 1942 (5702) - Nazis begin deporting Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto.
Sources: Aish.com and "Jewish Literacy," by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin.