Sephardic Jewish Center of North Miami Beach

Rosh Chodesh Av (the beginning of the month of Av) through Tishah B'Av is the period known as the "Nine Days," during which the mourning is intensified. The "Nine Days" sensitize us to the depth of sadness necessary to fully relate to the tragedies of Tishah B'Av. To this end, in addition to the prohibitions of the Three Weeks, the rabbis prohibited the following:

1) Buying, making, or wearing new clothing

2) Washing, laundering and cleaning clothes (unless one owns only one set of clothing)

3) Rejoicing and things which lead to rejoicing, such as the planting of trees or the building of a new home

4) Celebrations with music and dancing

 

* It is, however, permitted to get engaged during the Nine Days, but the engagement celebration must be postponed until after Tisha B'Av

5) Bathing

 

* This refers to bathing for pleasure, such as in a bubble bath, jacuzzi or taking a long, hot shower. It is permitted to bathe for personal cleanliness.

6) Eating meat and drinking wine

 

* While meat is generally not eaten, an exception is made for Shabbat or a Seudat Mitzva, a festive meal in celebration of a bris, pidyon ha-ben (redemption of the first born), bar mitzvah or conclusion of the study of a Talmudic tractate. Wine is permitted on Shabbat.

Tishah Ba'Av, the Ninth of Av, is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. Jews around the world gather together and mourn their state of spiritual exile, the Holy Temple, destroyed, not once, but twice, and the diaspora that has been the home of tragedy after tragedy.

Even before the great tragedy of the destruction of the First Temple (586 BCE), Tishah Ba'Av was already marked as a day of sadness. It was on the ninth day of Av that the spies returned to the People of Israel in the wilderness to discourage them from going up to Canaan(Numbers 13,14). Because the Israelites were so easily dissuaded, and so greatly lacking faith in G-d, they were forbidden to enter the Promised Land and destined to wander for forty years until that generation had passed away.

As part of the mourning ritual marking the destructions, the Ninth of Av is a fast day. More than just refraining from eating, Jews spend Tishah Ba'Av actively mourning.