Tishah b'Av

If the prophets could see Israel now

By Laura Janner-Klausner, July 27, 2012

"Be consoled. Be consoled, my people". Between this Shabbat and the next, we wait for these calming words from Isaiah, which console us after weeks of pre-Tisha B'Av (ninth of Av) mourning and three Shabbats of being chided by our prophets. There is an inexorable process at work here: we have to hear this rebuke, we need to acknowledge pain before we can move to comfort and consolation.

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New edition of Tishah b’Av laments

July 12, 2010

The Koren Mesorat HaRav Kinot
Edited by Simon Posner
OU Press/Koren, £16.99
distributors: Kuperard

Just in time for Tishah b’Av, Koren has brought out a fine new edition of the liturgy for the fast including the Book of Lamentations and the kinot – dirges – recited on the saddest day of the calendar. It comes with an extensive commentary from the late Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik based on his lectures.

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Why a bleak fast can still be called a festival

By Rabbi David Lister, August 8, 2008

The fast of Tishah b'Av this weekend is one of the most mournful days in the calendar. But the rabbis still found seeds of hope within it


Much of Tishah b'Av is designed to break our morale. On this bleak day we mourn the destruction of the First and Second Temples on Temple Mount in Jerusalem, along with many other tragedies that have befallen us in the centuries that have passed.

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