WHAT - TISHA B’AV AGAIN?

Megillat Eichah - the Book of Lamentations - by candlelight.

Tonight marks the onset of Tisha b’Av, the most mournful day in the Jewish calendar. In a couple of hours I’ll be in synagogue, sitting on the floor, reading the Book of Lamentations by candlelight.

Unlike Yom Kippur, which is a day of solemn introspection and soul-searching, Tisha b’Av is sad. It’s the day we set aside to bewail pretty much all the Rotten Crap we Jews have had to deal with these past 2,600 years or so. And, trust me, that’s a lot of Crap... including the destruction of not one, but two (count ’em) Temples in Jerusalem. Oh, and did I mention a couple of exiles?

Rather than rehash the stuff I write every year on this day, I’ll simply put up links to a few of my previous posts. Here ya go:

Tisha b’Av 2008.

Tisha b’Av 2007.

Tisha b’Av 2005.

I’d tell you to enjoy reading ’em, but that’s not the point of the day, is it? So suffer. No need to thank me.