Tisha B'Av

Embracing diversity, healing through Tisha B’Av - opinion

As we approach Tisha B’Av, let's reflect on embracing diversity in Israel, honoring each other’s differences, and striving for unity and respect.

 People spend time at a beach in Tel Aviv during the Israel-Iran war, June 21, 2025; illustrative.
PRESIDENT ISAAC HERZOG with Sheikh Muafak Tarif and members of the Druze delegation.

Grapevine, July 25, 2025: A future theocracy?

 THE BOOK of Lamentations is read in a Tel Aviv synagogue at the beginning of Tisha B’Av on Monday night, with worshipers sitting on the floor as a sign of mourning. ‘This year, Tisha B’Av was unlike any other I have experienced,’ the writer laments.

Hopefully this will be the first and last 'real' Tisha B'Av after October 7 - opinion

 A flower shop owner is seen arranging roses for a customer on Tu B'Av, the Jewish holiday of love, in Jerusalem, on August 15, 2019.

Tu B'Av: Everything you need to know about the Jewish holiday of love and romance - explainer


Tisha B'Av is the time for some serious soul-searching - opinion

Know Comment: On the eve of Tisha B’Av, Israelis ought to recommit themselves to a vision of the common good; to just a little less hacking at each other politically; to a touch more tolerance.

An ultra-Orthodox jew prays at the Westen Wall July 17, 2002 on Tisha B'Av

Iran plans to attack Israel on Tisha B’Av, the Jewish day of disaster - report

Iran reportedly plans to attack Israel on the day of Tisha B'Av, when Jews mourn the loss of the first and second Temples.

 A man hangs a picture of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh who was assassinated early on Wednesday morning in Iran, at Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon July 31, 2024.

Lamentations at Rabin’s tomb link Tisha Be’av to modern tragedies

A young man was playing a somber tune on a piano as dozens of people waited for the chanting of lamentations to start.

 Dina, who asked that we not use her last name, waved two Israeli flags, one being her own design, at Zion Square on Wednesday night to commemorate the eve of Tisha Be’Av

We need to talk about Israel. Tisha B’Av’s central text suggests ‘how’

The first word of the Book of Lamentations, the central text of this week’s Tisha B’Av fast, is “eicha,” or "how" – a harbinger to Israel's current situation.

 "Jeremiah seated in the ruins of Jerusalem," Eduard Bendemann, 1837.

To prevent another Tisha Be'av, we must learn something from the past - opinion

If the parties internalize and converge, on this Tisha Be'av, we will be able to feel that we have learned something from the past and will not repeat the mistakes of our ancestors.

 WORSHIPERS SIT on the ground as a sign of mourning on Tisha Be’av last year at the Western Wall

During the three weeks: Is it permissible to celebrate a wedding during these days?


How Nathan Fielder’s show ‘The Rehearsal’ made me appreciate Tisha Be’av

With all the real tsuris in the world, why would we intentionally afflict ourselves over a calamity that happened 2,000 years ago?

Nathan Fielder is the creator of “The Rehearsal.”

Tragedies from the past, the present... and the future?

It is easy for us to take on three weeks of mourning, nine days of added stringencies, and a full day of crying, fasting and praying, and then move on with our lives.

Tisha Be’av at the Western Wall 390

Temple Mount orgs. on Tisha Be'av: Come up even if you might need to drink

"This year too, on Tisha Be'av, we can progress significantly on the Temple Mount! I won't go into more detail. Everything is dependent on the number of pilgrims."

Jews visit the Temple Mount on Tisha B'Av, 2019

Tisha B’Av and the Power of Mourning


What did Jerusalem look like at the time of the original Tisha Be'av?

To this day, the day that marked this destruction, the 9th of Av in the Jewish calendar, has been a day of fast and mourning.

The Givati Parking Lot Excavations.