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Tisha b’Av Events Through History

The 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av is an important fast day on the Jewish calendar. We commemorate not only the destruction of the Jewish Temples, but also other catastrophes in Jewish history that have had a profound impact on the world. Here is a list of some of those events.

• The 12 spies returned with their report on this day. Israel lost faith and was condemned to die in the wilderness (Ta’anit 29a; BaMidbar 14:1-10)
• On this day Shlomo’s (Solomon’s) Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BCE.
• On this day the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.
• On this day the Roman army plowed Jerusalem with salt in 71 CE.
• On this day, in the year 130 CE, the Roman Emperor Hadrian ordered Govenor Tineius Rufus to plow Jerusalem over. This “plowing” fulfilled Micah 3:12 to erase Yehudah from memory.
• The final destruction of Simeon Bar Kokhba’s army occured on this day, in 135 CE. In this crushing defeat of the “Second Revolt,” the last Jewish fortress at Betar fell. Bar Kokhba and his men were killed and Rabbi Akiva was executed.
• One year later, in 136 CE, on this day, Hadrian established a heathen temple on the site of the Jewish Temple and rebuilt Jerusalem as a pagan city which was renamed “Aelia Capitolina” to which the Jews were forbidden to enter. Hadrian also changed the name of the region from Israel to “Palaestina.”
• On this day in 1096, the Crusades began, killing more than 1.2 Million Jews along the way, as Christians marched across Europe to the Land of Israel to liberate it from the Muslims.
• On this day in 1290, under orders from King Edward I, England banashed all the Jews. They were given until “All Saints Day,” November 1, to depart.
• On this day in 1306, the Jews were expelled from France.
• On this day in 1492, the Jews were expelled from Spain.
• On this day in 1626, the birth of Shabbetai Tsvi, a false Messiah, was recorded.
• On this day in 1882, the Pograms against Russain Jews began.
• World War I was declared on this day in 1914, and as Russia mobilized for WWI, it launched persecutions against the Jews in Eastern Russia.
• On the 7th of Av, in 1941, SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich was appointed by Goering to carry out the “Final Solution,” the murder of all the Jews in Europe. Two days later, on the 9th of Av, 1941, SS commander Heinrich Himmler formally presented his plan to the Nazi Party on the Final Solution. One year later, to the day, the plan was formally implemented.
• On this day in 1942, the first killings started at Treblinka. The first transport of “deportees” left Malkinia on July 23, 1942, in the morning hours. It was loaded with Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto.
• In 2005, on the 10th of Av, Jewish settlers in Gaza were forcibly expelled from their homes to enable the transfer of Gaza to the Arabs. After the transfer, the Arabs proceeded to destroy all remnants of the former Jewish communities and turned them into terrorist training camps and rocket launch sites. two years later, many of those expelled are still without homes.