Faith Chapel Ministries
The 9th of Av: We Must Remember
Locations & Times
Faith Chapel Ministries
3112 S Bantam Rd, Bethel, OH 45106, USA
Sunday 10:30 AM
Genesis 12:1. Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you. And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Isaiah 62:1 For Zion’s sake I will not hold My peace, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, And her salvation as a lamp that burns.
I. Introduction
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. "Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows" – Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
2. APPLICATION
· I have on more than one occasion seen this quote by Dr. King invoked in the context of 9-11 and the bloody wars that have ensued in its aftermath. His words are just as true today as they were when they were spoken in the time of the Vietnam war. The current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, regardless of the outcomes, are unlikely to result in a peaceful tomorrow.
· Then what is the answer? What are the proper chisels for carving out a more peaceful world? When man has finally grown weary of attempting to solve the world's most serious problems with bombs, bullets and ballots, he is left with only one place to turn, and that's to God. Until we are willing to look deeper, beyond the earthly struggles and divisions, to the ultimate division that exists between God and Man, we have no hope of healing our world. Until that divide is bridged, Muslims will fight Jews, East will fight West, Blacks will fight Whites, Man will fight his fellow Man. It is not until the soul finds peace with God, that one soul can find peace with another.
· Ephesians 2:14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
II. Body
A. The 9th of Av
1. Is an annual fast day in Judaism which commemorates the anniversary of a number of disasters in Jewish history, primarily the destruction of both the First Temple by the Babylonians and the Second Temple by the Romans in Jerusalem.
2. The 9th of av is regarded as the saddest day in the Jewish calendar and it is thus believed to be a day which is destined for tragedy.
3. The 9th of Av falls in July or August in the Western calendar.
4. The observance of the day includes five prohibitions,
· most notable of which is a 25-hour fast.
· The Book of Lamentations, which mourns the destruction of Jerusalem is read in the synagogue,
· followed by the recitation of stories, liturgical dirges that lament the loss of the Temples and Jerusalem.
· As the day has become associated with remembrance of other major calamities which have befallen the Jewish people, some stories also recall events such as the murder of the Ten Martyrs by the Romans, massacres in numerous medieval Jewish communities during the Crusades and The Holocaust.
B. The Twelve Spies
1. According to Rabbinic tradition the sin of the Ten Spies (besides Joshua and Caleb) produced the annual fast day on the 9th of Av.
2. When the Israelites accepted the false report that the land of Canaan (Israel) would be "impossible" to conquer, the people wept over the false belief that God was setting them up for defeat. The night that the people cried was the ninth of Av, which became a day of weeping and misfortune for all time.
C. Destruction of the Temple
1. Excavated stones from the Western Wall of the Temple Mount (Jerusalem, Israel), knocked onto the street below by Roman battering rams in 70 AD
2. The fast commemorates the destruction of the Jewish First Temple and the Second Temple,] both of which occurred on the 9th of the Hebrew month of Av, about 655 years apart.
3. In connection with the fall of Jerusalem, three other fast-days were established at the same time as the Ninth Day of Av:
· these were the Tenth of Tevet, when the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians began;
· the Seventeenth of Tammuz, when the first breach was made in the wall by the Babylonians;
· Third of Tishrei, known as the Fast of Gedaliah, the day when Gedaliah was assassinated in the time of the Babylonians following the destruction of the First Temple.
· The three weeks leading up to Tisha B'Av are known as The Three Weeks, while the nine days leading up to Tisha B'Av are known as The Nine Days.
D. Calamities
1. five specific events occurred on the ninth of Av that warrant fasting:
2. The Twelve Spies sent by Moses to observe the land of Canaan returned from their mission. Only two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, brought a positive report, while the others spoke disparagingly about the land.
· The majority report caused the Children of Israel to cry, panic and despair of ever entering the "Promised Land". For this, they were punished by God that their generation would not enter the land. Because of the Israelites' lack of faith, God decreed that for all generations this date would become a day of crying and misfortune for their descendants. (See Numbers 13; Numbers 14).
3. The First Temple built by King Solomon and the Kingdom of Judah destroyed by the Babylonians led by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 BCE after a two-year siege and the Judeans were sent into the Babylonian exile. According to the Talmud , the actual destruction of the First Temple began on the Ninth of Av and the Temple continued to burn throughout the Tenth of Av.
4. The Second Temple built by Ezra and Nehemiah was destroyed by the Romans in August 70 A.D., scattering the people of Judea and commencing the Jewish exile from the Holy Land that continues to this day.
· The Romans subsequently crushed Bar Kokhba's revolt and destroyed the city of Betar, killing over 500,000 Jewish civilians (approximately 580,000) on August 4, 135 CE (Av 9, AM 3895).
· Following the Bar Kokhba revolt, Roman commander Turnus Rufus plowed the site of the Temple in Jerusalem and the surrounding area, in 135 CE.
5. The First Crusade officially commenced on August 15, 1096 (Av 24, AM 4856), killing 10,000 Jews in its first month and destroying Jewish communities in France and the Rhineland.
6. The Jews were expelled from England on July 18, 1290 (Av 9, AM 5050).
7. The Jews were expelled from France on July 22, 1306 (Av 10, AM 5066).
8. The Jews were expelled from Spain on July 31, 1492 (Av 7, AM 5252).
9. Germany entered World War I on August 1–2, 1914 (Av 9-10, AM 5674), which caused massive upheaval in European Jewry and whose aftermath led to the Holocaust.
10. On August 2, 1941 (Av 9, AM 5701), SS commander Heinrich Himmler formally received approval from the Nazi Party for "The Final Solution." As a result, the Holocaust began during which almost one third of the world's Jewish population perished.
11. On July 23, 1942 (Av 9, AM 5702), began the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto, en route to Treblinka
12. Most religious communities use The 9th of Av to mourn the 6,000,000 Jews who perished in the Holocaust
E. Holocaust
1. Group Deaths
· European Jews 5,600,000 to 6,250,000
· Soviet prisoners of war 3,000,000
· Polish Catholics 3,000,000
· Serbians 700,000
· Germans (political, religious, and Resistance) 80,000
· Germans (handicapped) 70,000
· Homosexuals 12,000
· Jehovah’s Witnesses 2500
Isaiah 62:1 For Zion’s sake I will not hold My peace, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, And her salvation as a lamp that burns.
I. Introduction
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. "Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows" – Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
2. APPLICATION
· I have on more than one occasion seen this quote by Dr. King invoked in the context of 9-11 and the bloody wars that have ensued in its aftermath. His words are just as true today as they were when they were spoken in the time of the Vietnam war. The current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, regardless of the outcomes, are unlikely to result in a peaceful tomorrow.
· Then what is the answer? What are the proper chisels for carving out a more peaceful world? When man has finally grown weary of attempting to solve the world's most serious problems with bombs, bullets and ballots, he is left with only one place to turn, and that's to God. Until we are willing to look deeper, beyond the earthly struggles and divisions, to the ultimate division that exists between God and Man, we have no hope of healing our world. Until that divide is bridged, Muslims will fight Jews, East will fight West, Blacks will fight Whites, Man will fight his fellow Man. It is not until the soul finds peace with God, that one soul can find peace with another.
· Ephesians 2:14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
II. Body
A. The 9th of Av
1. Is an annual fast day in Judaism which commemorates the anniversary of a number of disasters in Jewish history, primarily the destruction of both the First Temple by the Babylonians and the Second Temple by the Romans in Jerusalem.
2. The 9th of av is regarded as the saddest day in the Jewish calendar and it is thus believed to be a day which is destined for tragedy.
3. The 9th of Av falls in July or August in the Western calendar.
4. The observance of the day includes five prohibitions,
· most notable of which is a 25-hour fast.
· The Book of Lamentations, which mourns the destruction of Jerusalem is read in the synagogue,
· followed by the recitation of stories, liturgical dirges that lament the loss of the Temples and Jerusalem.
· As the day has become associated with remembrance of other major calamities which have befallen the Jewish people, some stories also recall events such as the murder of the Ten Martyrs by the Romans, massacres in numerous medieval Jewish communities during the Crusades and The Holocaust.
B. The Twelve Spies
1. According to Rabbinic tradition the sin of the Ten Spies (besides Joshua and Caleb) produced the annual fast day on the 9th of Av.
2. When the Israelites accepted the false report that the land of Canaan (Israel) would be "impossible" to conquer, the people wept over the false belief that God was setting them up for defeat. The night that the people cried was the ninth of Av, which became a day of weeping and misfortune for all time.
C. Destruction of the Temple
1. Excavated stones from the Western Wall of the Temple Mount (Jerusalem, Israel), knocked onto the street below by Roman battering rams in 70 AD
2. The fast commemorates the destruction of the Jewish First Temple and the Second Temple,] both of which occurred on the 9th of the Hebrew month of Av, about 655 years apart.
3. In connection with the fall of Jerusalem, three other fast-days were established at the same time as the Ninth Day of Av:
· these were the Tenth of Tevet, when the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians began;
· the Seventeenth of Tammuz, when the first breach was made in the wall by the Babylonians;
· Third of Tishrei, known as the Fast of Gedaliah, the day when Gedaliah was assassinated in the time of the Babylonians following the destruction of the First Temple.
· The three weeks leading up to Tisha B'Av are known as The Three Weeks, while the nine days leading up to Tisha B'Av are known as The Nine Days.
D. Calamities
1. five specific events occurred on the ninth of Av that warrant fasting:
2. The Twelve Spies sent by Moses to observe the land of Canaan returned from their mission. Only two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, brought a positive report, while the others spoke disparagingly about the land.
· The majority report caused the Children of Israel to cry, panic and despair of ever entering the "Promised Land". For this, they were punished by God that their generation would not enter the land. Because of the Israelites' lack of faith, God decreed that for all generations this date would become a day of crying and misfortune for their descendants. (See Numbers 13; Numbers 14).
3. The First Temple built by King Solomon and the Kingdom of Judah destroyed by the Babylonians led by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 BCE after a two-year siege and the Judeans were sent into the Babylonian exile. According to the Talmud , the actual destruction of the First Temple began on the Ninth of Av and the Temple continued to burn throughout the Tenth of Av.
4. The Second Temple built by Ezra and Nehemiah was destroyed by the Romans in August 70 A.D., scattering the people of Judea and commencing the Jewish exile from the Holy Land that continues to this day.
· The Romans subsequently crushed Bar Kokhba's revolt and destroyed the city of Betar, killing over 500,000 Jewish civilians (approximately 580,000) on August 4, 135 CE (Av 9, AM 3895).
· Following the Bar Kokhba revolt, Roman commander Turnus Rufus plowed the site of the Temple in Jerusalem and the surrounding area, in 135 CE.
5. The First Crusade officially commenced on August 15, 1096 (Av 24, AM 4856), killing 10,000 Jews in its first month and destroying Jewish communities in France and the Rhineland.
6. The Jews were expelled from England on July 18, 1290 (Av 9, AM 5050).
7. The Jews were expelled from France on July 22, 1306 (Av 10, AM 5066).
8. The Jews were expelled from Spain on July 31, 1492 (Av 7, AM 5252).
9. Germany entered World War I on August 1–2, 1914 (Av 9-10, AM 5674), which caused massive upheaval in European Jewry and whose aftermath led to the Holocaust.
10. On August 2, 1941 (Av 9, AM 5701), SS commander Heinrich Himmler formally received approval from the Nazi Party for "The Final Solution." As a result, the Holocaust began during which almost one third of the world's Jewish population perished.
11. On July 23, 1942 (Av 9, AM 5702), began the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto, en route to Treblinka
12. Most religious communities use The 9th of Av to mourn the 6,000,000 Jews who perished in the Holocaust
E. Holocaust
1. Group Deaths
· European Jews 5,600,000 to 6,250,000
· Soviet prisoners of war 3,000,000
· Polish Catholics 3,000,000
· Serbians 700,000
· Germans (political, religious, and Resistance) 80,000
· Germans (handicapped) 70,000
· Homosexuals 12,000
· Jehovah’s Witnesses 2500