However, some Jewish organizations may be closed or have restricted opening hours. The Romans destroyed the Second Temple by burning it in 70 CE and this marked the start of a long exile period for Jewish people. These are two of five sad events or calamities that occurred on the ninth day of the month of Av.
The other three were when:. It is the culmination of a three-week period of mourning. Weddings and other parties are generally not permitted and people refrain from cutting their hair during this period. It is customary to refrain from activities such as eating meat or drinking wine except on the Shabbat from the first to the ninth day of Av.
In the Jewish diaspora—Jewish communities outside of Israel—an extra day is usually added to religious observances, with the exception of Yom Kippur , which lasts only one day worldwide, and Rosh Hashana , which is celebrated over two days in both Israel and the diaspora. This custom has its roots in ancient times when the beginning of the months in the Jewish calendar still relied on the sighting of the crescent Moon following a New Moon.
Visiting cemeteries on this day is encouraged, as if to heighten the sadness. Some parts of the Bible or Talmud are allowed, like Job or Jeremiah , or sections of the Talmud or Midrash that discuss the destruction of Jerusalem. In the synagogue , the lights are dimmed and the ornamental parokhet covering is removed from the ark as a sign of mourning before the evening service.
Congregants remove their leather shoes and do not greet each other. Megillat Eicha the Scroll of Lamentations —which is a lament for the destruction of the First Temple — is chanted during the Maariv service, along with several kinot , elegies or dirges written at different periods of Jewish history.
The kinot speak of the suffering and pain of Jewish tragedy through the ages. An extended set of kinot are traditionally recited during the morning service, and some communities repeat the chanting of Eicha in the morning as well. The traditional Torah reading is Deuteronomy and the Haftarah is Jeremiah , which is chanted to the same tune as Lamentations the night before.
Many Orthodox Jewish people do not cut their hair or hold weddings during this period. They also do not eat meat, drink wine or go to concerts during the nine days before Tisha B' Av.
Tisha B' Av is a day of mourning, fasting and prayer. There are five main prohibitions, which are:.
It is not allowed to study the Torah, except for sad texts. Old prayer books and Torahs may be buried. Some restrictions, such as not eating meat or drinking wine, continue until noon on the day after Tisha B' Av.
It is customary to sit on the floor or low stools and to sleep on the floor or without a pillow on Tisha B' Av. Some Jewish followers may spend most of the day reading or chanting kinnot kinnos , kinoth , qinot , qinoth. Kinnot are mourning poems or poems describing sad events such as the destruction of the Second Temple, the crusades, and the holocaust.
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