The Ninth of Av
Today is Tisha B'Av, which is Hebrew for the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av. Tisha B'Av is a day of fasting and mourning commemorating the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians and the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans about 550 years later. (Click on the title to learn more.) Recently, Tisha B'Av has become a time to remember all calamities that has befallen the Jews. It is traditional for congregations to gather, sit on the floor, and read the Book of Lamentations.
How the city sits solitary, that was full of people! How is she become as a widow! (1:1)

Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches; pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. (2:19)

Lift up your hands toward Him for the life of your young children. (2:19)

The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets; my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; You have slain them in the day of Your anger; You have slaughtered unsparingly. (2:21)


You have called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my terrors on every side, and there was none in the day of the Lord's anger that escaped or remained; those that I have dandled and brought up has mine enemy consumed. (2:22)


May the Almighty bless and protect us in the upcoming weeks. - served up by Doctor Bean @ 1:33 AM