Tisha B’Av 101: Customs, Rituals, & Restrictions
How Do Jews Observe the Saddest Day on the Jewish Calendar?
BY Sarah Rashba & Danielle Fisher | July 26, 2023 | 8 Minute Read
What Is Tisha B’Av?
During the height of the summer, on the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av, falls the saddest day on the Jewish calendar—Tisha B’Av (lit. Hebrew for “Ninth of Av”). The culmination of three weeks of intensifying mourning, Tisha B’Av primarily commemorates the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, first by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, and then by the Romans in 70 CE. Throughout time, our communal mourning has morphed to include a score of Jewish tragedies, including the Crusades, the massacres of Jewish communities in the Middle East and North Africa, the Holocaust, and the persecution and decimation of European Jewry. We observe the holiday by fasting and observing a number of traditional mourning customs, reflecting on our people’s past, and praying for the future redemption.
What Happened on Tisha B’Av?
According to the Rabbinic Sages, the 9th of Av was preordained by God to be a day of tragedy for the Jewish people.
In Mishnaic Times
According to the Mishnah (Ta'anit 4:6), five calamities took place on the 9th of Av:
- The Spies’ Evil Report (1312 BCE): Our suffering on the 9th of Av sources back to the Biblical sin of the Israelite spies sent to scout the land of Israel before the people entered. When the spies brought back a negative report, the Israelites wept, betraying their lack of faith. G-d decreed that the entire generation would die in the wilderness. Because the Israelites wept needlessly on the 9th of Av, the Sages claim, G-d decreed that the day would become one of true tragedy in future generations (Taanit 29a:7). (For more about what the spies did wrong & the modern ramifications of their sin, check out this fascinating video series.)
- Destruction of the First Temple (586 BCE): The Babylonians destroyed the First Temple, killing 100,000 Jews and exiling thousands of others. The Talmud tells us that the Temple began to burn on the 9th of Av and continued through the 10th. (For this reason, some observe mourning practices until midday on the 10th of Av.)
- Destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE): The Romans destroyed the Second Temple. Estimates of Jews killed range from hundreds of thousands to over a million. The Romans sold hundreds of thousands of Jews as slaves and exiled them.
- Failure of the Bar Kochba Revolt (135 CE): The last major rebellion of the Jews of Judea against the Romans failed. The Romans killed 100,000 Jews while suppressing the revolt, taking hordes of Jews captive.
- Desecration of Jerusalem (136 CE): The Roman commander who crushed the Bar Kochba revolt, Turnus Rufus, plowed the Temple and its surrounding area. The Romans turned Jerusalem into a pagan city and barred Jews from entering.
Throughout Modern History
Multiple other historical calamities have befallen the Jewish people on the 9th of Av, including:
- Expulsion of the Jews from England (1280) and from Spain (1492)
- Outbreak of World War I (1914), which laid the groundwork for World War II.
- Approval of the Final Solution, leading to the Holocaust and the decimation of European Jewry (1941)
- Mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka (1942)
- Deadly bombing of the AMIA building (the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina), killing 86 people and wounding 300 others (1994)
Our Tisha B’Av mourning encompasses these tragedies and more, even those that did not occur on the 9th of Av.
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When Is Tisha B’Av?
The fast of Tisha B’Av, as decreed by the Rabbinic Sages, begins at sunset on the 8th day of the Hebrew month of Av and lasts for 25 hours until nightfall on the 9th. If the 9th of Av falls on Shabbat, the fast is postponed until the 10th of Av. Tisha B’Av falls on the following dates (sunset to nightfall):
- Mon, August 12 – Tues, August 13, 2024 (Jewish Year 5784)
- Sat, August 2 – Sun, August 3, 2025 (5785)
- Wed, July 22 – Thurs, July 23, 2026 (5786)
- Wed, Aug 11 – Thurs, Aug 12, 2027 (5787)]
If God loves us, why does God let bad things happen to us?
This question may be impossible to answer, but on Tisha B'Av it's just as impossible to ignore.
What Are the Restrictions of Tisha B’Av?
Because of its status as a day of mourning, the restrictions of Tisha B’Av generally mimic those of a mourner. Prohibitions include:
- Eating & drinking
- Bathing or washing (wash hands only until the knuckle)
- Applying ointments, creams, or perfumes
- Shaving or cutting hair/nails
- Marital relations/intimacy
- Wearing leather shoes or festive clothing
- Sitting on chairs of normal height (until midday on the 9th of Av)
- Studying Torah (with the exception of mournful passages like Lamentations, certain passages of Jeremiah, the Book of Job, or Talmudic laws of mourning)
- Greeting others or sending gifts
- Engaging in pleasurable trips or activities
There is a custom to avoid air travel on Tisha B’Av, and to lessen our comfort by modifying our normal sleeping arrangements on the night that Tisha B’Av begins. While work is permitted, it is highly discouraged, in order to help us maintain focus on mourning.
What Do We Do On Tisha B’Av?
Before the fast begins on the night of the 8th, we sit on the floor and eat a seudah hamafseket, a preparatory meal, consisting of a hard-boiled egg and a slice of bread dipped into ashes to symbolize mourning. Then, at synagogue, we:
- Remove the curtain from the ark and dim the lights
- Read The Book of Lamentations, or Megillat Eicha
- Recite kinot, mournful poems commemorating Jewish tragedies throughout history. (For a deeper exploration of the kinot, check out our Kinot 101 Guide).
On Tisha B’Av morning, we refrain from putting on tefillin during shacharit, or morning services. In the afternoon, we:
- Resume sitting on chairs of normal height
- Put on tzitzit and tefillin with blessings during mincha, or afternoon services
- Insert a special passaged called Nachem, or comfort, in the Shemonah Esrei prayer during afternoon services begging G-d to console the suffering mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
The Shabbat after Tisha B’Av is called Shabbat Nachamu, the Sabbath of Comforting. On Shabbat Nachamu, we read the first of seven haftarot that express the theme of redemption, leading up to Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
Finding Hope in Tisha B’Av
Though Tisha B’Av is a day of mourning, it is also filled with enormous potential, hope, and anticipation for the future redemption. The Sages claim that the Messiah was born on Tisha B’Av, during the very time that the Temple was up in flames (Midrash Eichah Rabba 1:51). The prophet Zechariya envisions a day when Tisha B’Av will transform from a mournful day into a holiday of joy and redemption (Zechariya 8:19). Even if we’re not there yet, through our uniting to mourn as a community, we reaffirm our identity as one people and help counteract the sinat chinam (baseless hatred) that led to the Temple’s destruction.
Making Tisha B’Av Meaningful
Aleph Beta’s Tisha B’Av videos can help you connect with the deeper significance of the day. Join us in exploring this pivotal day in Jewish tradition, and make this Tisha B’Av count.
Explore Tisha B'Av Videos
How Am I Supposed To Appreciate The Loss Of The Beit HaMikdash?
Video series • Part 1 of 7 • 9 min
It’s one thing to mourn the suffering of actual people, but how are we supposed to feel genuinely sad over the loss of a building?
Why Does God Let Us Suffer?
Video series • Part 1 of 6 • 11 min
If God loves us, why does God let bad things happen to us? This question may be impossible to answer, but on Tisha b’Av it’s just as impossible to ignore.
Reversing Tisha B’Av: How To Actually Rid Ourselves Of Sinat Chinam
Video series • Part 1 of 5 • 8 min
We sit on the floor, we cry – but sometimes it feels like we’re just going through the motions. Rachel Imenu shows us a deeper way to mourn — that actually changes us, that banishes sinat chinam, baseless hatred, from our hearts.
Kamtza And Bar Kamtza: What Is Baseless Hatred, Anyway?
Video series • Part 1 of 5 • 3 min
When was the last time that you hated someone for absolutely no reason? Could it be we’ve been misunderstanding the true meaning of “baseless hatred” this whole time?
The Mysterious Connection Between Mashiach And Tisha B’Av
Video series • Part 1 of 7 • 12 min
A few generations before the destruction of the Temple, there was a king who, the Talmud tells us, could have been the Messiah. How did the Jewish people get so close to redemption, only to end in exile? If we can answer this question, perhaps we can come to understand the power of our own potential and to reshape our destiny.
How The Sin Of The Spies Led To Tisha B’Av
Video series • Part 1 of 6 • 10 min
The Talmudic Sages tell us that the first great tragedy to occur on Tisha B'Av was the sin of the spies in the desert. How can this seemingly unrelated event help us understand the deeper reasons for the Temples’ destruction?
Yochanan Ben Zakkai And Yavneh: The Secret Of Jewish Survival
Video series • Part 1 of 5 • 10 min
How can we feel connected to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple when these tragedies happened thousands of years ago? The answer may lie in understanding what still links us to these past events and how, against all odds, exile didn’t put an end to the Jewish people. This story starts in a place called Yavneh.
What Jacob And Joseph Teach Us About Returning Home
Video series • Part 1 of 6 • 8 min
Can mourning bring us closer to redemption? This series dives deep into a connection between Shir Hamaalot (Psalm 126) and the story of Jacob and Joseph to uncover the connection between the depths of grief and unassailable hope.
Megillat Eicha And Its Secrets
Video series • Part 1 of 2 • 57 min
What does Eicha have to do with the garden of Eden? At first glance, not much. But if we look closer, it turns out that the Megillah is actually echoing language first used in the beginning of Genesis. Uncovering the deeper meaning of this connection can shift the way you think about Tisha B’Av.
Mourning: What Death Teaches Us About What It Means to Live
Video • 1 hour, 53 min
How are we supposed to make sense of loss? In this deep dive Premium course, Rabbi Fohrman shares how he has come to understand mourning and loss in the larger context of life, death and living a purposeful life.
More Tisha B'Av Content
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