The Message of Tisha B'Av Part 1

The eve of The 9th of Av .. Tisha B'Av .. is the Saddest day in the Jewish Calendar. The day the Rabbis Called 'a day set for Misfortune.' The Midrash says That God from the Beginning had Marked Tisha B'Av as a day of Grief Because of the Spies in the Desert Episode.

You Remember.

We're in the the Wilderness. Moses Sends spies to Canaan. They Return on the 9th of Av & The Majority Reports that the land Cannot be Conquered Because the People who Live there are GIANTS!
So the Israelites Rebel & Cry 'Better we Should have Stayed in Egypt!'
This Makes God Really Mad. 'You Weep now Without  Cause' He says. 'But Surely you will Have good Reason to Weep on this Day.'

& Then .. Because of Their Cowardice Ingratitude & Lack of Trust.. God Condemns the People to Die in the Desert Without Seeing the Promised Land & Ordains the Destruction of the Temple in Some Future year on Tisha B'Av.

Fast Forward...

It's the 9th of Av 587 B.C.E. & {Just as Predicted} Solomon's Temple is Taken by the Babylonians. The Jews are Sent into Exile & Tisha B'Av Becomes a day of Tears.
Years Later Cyrus Lets the Jews Return to Jerusalem & Allows them to Rebuild the Temple. They Ask 'Should we Continue to Fast & Mourn the Loss of the First Temple as we Did while in Babylon?' To which the Persuasive Prophet Zechariah Answers 'These Fast days Should now be Turned into days of joy' Whereupon the Fast of The 9th of Av is Discontinued for Centuries {Or so it is Generally Believed..}
But Then Comes Another Calamitous 9th of Av This one in 71 C.E.

The Romans Destroy the Second Temple Force Israel Back into Exile & Tisha B'Av Becomes once Again a day of Mourning & Fasting.
The Gloom of Tisha B'Av is Compounded by These Additional Tragedies that are said to have Happened on the Dreadful Date:
134 C.E.:: The Fall of Bethar Ends the Bar Kochba Rebellion
135 C.E.::  Jerusalem is Plowed Under & a Heathen City Built on its Site.
1243::   Torahs & Sacred Books are Burned in France.
1291::  The Jews are Run out of England.
1493::  The Jews are Forced out of Spain.
& so Tisha B'Av Becomes known as the Black Fast.. a Symbol of all the Persecutions Endured by Israel the day of Tears Predicted way back in the Desert.