Tisha B'Av: A date with disaster?

Tisha B’Av, or the ninth day of the month of Av in the Jewish calendar, has been wrought with disaster several times over.

As the Jewish month of Av arrived, many have noticed the looming threat of disaster increases once again. The three weeks between the 17th Tammuz and 9th of Av or “Tisha B’Av” is known as a time – “between the straits” or “dire straits” – when the nation of Israel has faced terrible danger and tragedy multiple times throughout history. This concept of “between the straits” – taken from the Book of Lamentations – relates to a ship having to weave its way through a precariously narrow stretch at great risk of shipwreck.

“Judah has gone into captivity,
Under affliction and hard servitude;
She dwells among the nations,
She finds no rest;
All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits.” (Lamentations 1:3)

And it’s certainly a time of dire straits for Israel, yet again, as the nation enters historically choppy waters.

The tragedies of Tisha B’Av

Tisha B’Av is a day of mourning for Jewish people because it is said that, both times, the Temple was destroyed, first by Babylon in 586 B.C.E and then by Rome in 70 C.E., on this very date. Moreover, many other tragedies happened to the Jewish people, including expulsions, Crusades and significant events of the Holocaust.

Whether or not these things all occurred on that exact date can be contested, but this timeframe has certainly seen some very dark circumstances in Israel’s history.

According to tradition, the Bar Kokhba Revolt was crushed by the Romans on the 9th of Av in 132 A.D., and 100,000 Jews were killed. The following year on the 9th of Av, salt was sown in Jerusalem so nothing could grow. In the year 1096, 10,000 Jews were killed in the first Crusade on the 9th of Av, 4856 on the Jewish calendar, and a couple of centuries later, Jews were expelled from England entirely on the 9th of Av in the year of 1290. Similarly, the terrible expulsion from Spain happened on Av 8-9 in 1492.

Other tragedies are included in the litany of Tisha B’Av disasters, but the primary focus of the day is the two devastating destructions of the First and Second Temples. Suffering often prompts the question, “Why?” and the remarkable recurrence of disaster on this date raises even more questions. The Talmud records a rabbinic discussion in Tractate Yoma regarding why the First Temple fell.

“Due to what reason was the First Temple destroyed? It was destroyed due to the fact that there were three matters that existed in the First Temple: Idol worship, forbidden sexual relations, and bloodshed.” (Tractate Yoma 9b, Steinsaltz translation).

Reflecting on the Babylonian destruction and exile, they concluded it was caused by Israel’s idolatry, unlawful sexual relations and bloodshed. Certainly these sins were all featured strongly in the prophetic warnings repeatedly given to Israel before disaster struck. Further down the page in Tractate Yoma, the matter of the Second Temple’s destruction at the hands of the Romans is discussed, with notably significant differences.

“The people during the Second Temple period were engaged in Torah study, observance of mitzvot, and acts of kindness, and… did not perform the sinful acts that were performed in the First Temple.”

So why, the rabbis ask, was the Second Temple destroyed, since this time they were trying so hard to follow the law?

“It was destroyed due to the fact that there was wanton hatred during that period. This comes to teach you that the sin of wanton hatred is equivalent to the three severe transgressions: Idol worship, forbidden sexual relations and bloodshed."

Baseless hatred

The phrase “wanton hatred” is often translated as “baseless hatred” or hating for no good reason. In Hebrew, the expression is “sinat chinam” (hatred for nothing).

Sinat chinam is judged to be as bad as all three of the previous sins that brought down the First Temple, in their reasoning — all of that evil combined is equal to the terrible sin of 'hating for no reason.' It is conversely parallel to the New Testament teaching that all good deeds are nothing without love.

The word “chinam” in modern Hebrew means “free,” as it denotes something given without a specific reason or cost. It shares the same root as the word "chen," which means "grace" – favor for no real reason – a concept of unearned or unmerited kindness, which is essentially the inverse of "chinam."

The idea of baseless hatred, or hatred without a cause appears a few times in the Bible, primarily in the Book of Psalms.

“More in number than the hairs of my head

are those who hate me without cause;

mighty are those who would destroy me,

those who attack me with lies.” (Psalm 69:4)

“Princes persecute me without cause,

but my heart stands in awe of your words.” (Psalm 119:161)

The phrase also appears in Psalm 35:19 and Psalm 109:3, but crops up again only in the New Testament. Jesus refers back to these passages in the Psalms and relates them to Himself: “If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’” (John 15:24-25).

Jesus said that the temple would be destroyed because Israel did not recognize the time of His visitation, and while thousands of Jewish people followed Jesus, He was ultimately crucified because He was hated for no good reason.

Boiling pot from the north

Today, Israel as a nation is also the subject of that baseless hatred, "sinat chinam."

The fury and hatred rising against Israel and Jewish people in general has been staggering. And it’s not just words. Antisemitic attacks have been taking place globally, but Oct. 7 took everyone by surprise with the ferocity and cruelty of the violence. Now Israel is battling with Iranian terror proxies determined to destroy the Jewish state on every side. Particularly the north.

Intelligence reports suggest that there is an attack from the north planned to hit Israel deliberately on the date of Tisha B’Av. Remarkably, Jeremiah 1 has been read in synagogues all over the world in this time of “dire straits,” which speaks of trouble brewing in the north, and disaster about to break out into the north of Israel.

Even as the nations may rage that Israel doesn’t belong in the Middle East, archaeology tells a different story, and, as so often happens, right at the pertinent moment. As if a wink from above, the missing piece of a 2,000-year-old Roman sword was recently discovered during excavations of the City of David, testifying to the Jewish history of Jerusalem, just before Tisha B’Av.

The Arch of Titus in Rome irrefutably displays the scene of the fateful day the Romans carried the menorah away from the temple in Jerusalem for all to see. That light was taken away on Tisha B’Av in 70 B.C.E., but God never gave up on His people or His plans.

Even as the threat of destruction looms once again over that ominous date, the people of Israel refuse to be cowed or defeated. Conversely, there have been outbreaks of public rejoicing in Jerusalem – in the market, at the Western Wall plaza – with crowds bursting into song, declaring “Am Israel Chai!” The people of Israel live!

Despite all the baseless hatred aimed at Israel right now, there is a growing confidence that God’s covenantal grace and blessing is still over Israel, no matter what.