Tisha B’Av: Is This Ancient Tragedy Still Meaningful?
Tisha B’Av. Look at how we observe this day. Why Do We Mourn The Ancient Tragedy Of Tisha B’av? We sit on the ground, surrounded sometimes by candles. We sing elegies...
Baseless Hatred: The Great Tisha b’Av Crime
So, I confess, I have always had a real problem with Tisha B’Av. I know that sounds terrible to say but here’s my issue, we all know the famous saying quoted...
Partnering with Hashem
O how has the city that was once so populous remained lonely! She has become like a widow! She that was great among the nations, a princess among the provinces, has...
More Inyanei Tisha B’Av
Gadol Gibor v’Nora – Great, Mighty, and Awesome Why are the Anshei Knesses Ha’Gedolah, asks the Gemara in Yoma (69b), called by that name? Because they reinstated the practice of referring...
By Rav Mosheh Twersky HY"D
The Four Fasts, Then & Now
The Gemara in Maseches Rosh HaShana (18b) says that there are three categories regarding the four fasts (of Asarah b’Teves, Shiva Asar b’Tamuz, Tisha b’Av, and Tzom Gedaliah) : 1) when there is gezeiras malchus (persecution) all four fasts are obligatory...
By Rav Mosheh Twersky HY"D
The Four Fast Days and Sefer Zechariah
Why do we fast on Tisha B’av? The primary answer, of course, is to remember the destruction of the Bet HaMikdash and Yerushalayim. Yet, according to the Navi Zechariah, not only...
By Rabbi Menachem Leibtag
The Ultimate Jewish Optimism: From Chazon to Nachamu
Why do we change the mood halfway through Tisha B’Av to a more optimistic one? What can’t we even have 1 day on our calendar that focuses entirely on sadness? Recorded...
By Rabbi Shai Finkelstein
Reflections on the Month of Menachem Av
The word moed means a meeting, a time when we meet Hashem. How then is Tisha B’Av a moed? How is Tu B’Av a holiday on par with Yom Kippur? The...
The Glaring Omission of the Spanish Inquisition from Kinot
Unlike the crusades, one of the most tragic events in Jewish History, the Spanish inquisition and the subsequent expulsion is absent from Kinot. Why? Shiur provided courtesy of Torah Anytime
By Rabbi Daniel Glatstein
Tisha B’av Kinot 5777 – Rabbi Steven Weil
There are many possibilities as to what is the basis of our theology, our world outlook. According to Rabbeinu Bachya the basis is hakarat hatov. A lack of this trait is the...
