The Day of National Mourning
Tisha B’Av refuses the comfort of resolution. It is a day devoted to remembering wounds that have never fully healed. By mourning destruction long past, we protest the illusion that history simply moves on. The fast strips away distraction, forcing us to confront the cost of hatred, indifference, and spiritual arrogance. Tisha B’Av insists that redemption cannot be rushed, and that forgetting is itself a moral failure. Only a people willing to grieve honestly can hope to rebuild without repeating the same catastrophes.
9 Av 5786
Begins at Sundown on Wednesday, July 22, 2026
Ends at Nightfall on Thursday, July 23, 2026
By Yael Valier
Rabbi Cardozo writes: "Maybe we should literally go out in the streets and help people, sit down with our ideological enemies and see where we can find common ground, instead of simply reciting more kinot?" And yet, there are reasons why we should continue to fast and read Eichah on Tisha b'Av. Here are just a few of those reasons
Some Afterthoughts on Tish’ah be-Av
In Israel & Zionism, Jewish Thought and Philosophy and Tisha B’Av
I must confess that this year’s Tish’ah be-Av, a few days ago, was the first time in 54 years (since I was 16) that I did not go to synagogue to hear Eichah (the reading from the Scroll of Lamentations) and recite kinot (elegies written by famous sages throughout the centuries regarding the destruction of both Temples and the many later tragedies that befell the Jewish people).
In Education, The Jewish Year and Tisha B’Av
In the wake of the destruction of Jerusalem the leaders of the Jewish people despaired. But the ordinary Jews did not. Despite the total collapse of Jewish life, they opted for the impossible. They not to listen to their leaders, but continued building the nation of Israel, as they had previously been taught by the very sages who now despaired. Sometimes, the simple man has more faith in the Jewish future than the greatest Talmudic scholar.
A few years ago, Israeli academic Amnon Rubinstein wrote 'The Sea above us,' a fictional tale in which Tel Aviv, Israel’s first Hebrew metropolis, lies under water. In an interview with Ari Shavit, the author explained the idea behind his novel, describing his deep ‘existential anxiety that our country is hanging by a thread, that one day it may simply cease to be. I haven’t read the book, but I admire Rubenstein and share his anxiety about the future