Minister of Education Reports

Tisha B'Av

TISHA B'AV began at sunset on the 17 of July in this the year of our Lord 2002..

This is a good time for praying as do many Jewish people for the coming of King Messiah. Perhaps you have never read Psalm 83 aloud at your family time in an evening.  I encourage parents to gather their children and do this as a family prayer time. Unmarried people should not neglect spiritual exercises that will help them to be strong in the Lord. Hopefully you have some Christian friends that you could share such a moment with, but if not, the lighting of a candle helps to provide a sense of warmth and comfort to the heart. As a person who has had to spend many a day away from family as a soldier I can assure you that it is important to do things that help your spirit and your morale.

Why is Tisha B'Av a fast day? On this day five national calamities in Israel's history occurred: When the Children of Israel accepted the negative report of the twelve spies and chose not to enter the Promised Land it was on this day. On this day the Solomon's Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, 100,000 Jews were slaughtered and millions more exiled. On this day, The Second Temple, Herod's, was destroyed by the Romans, led by Titus, some two million Jews died, and another one million were exiled some six hundred years after the first. The false Messiah Bar Kochba's revolt was crushed by Roman Emperor Hadrian on this day as well. And, I could go on and on. For instance Pope Urban II declared the First Crusade on this day which resulted in the deaths of tend of thousands of Jews as innocent bystanders. The Spanish Inquisition culminated with the expulsion of Jews from Spain on Tisha B'Av in 1492. World War One broke out on Tisha B'Av in 1914 when Russia declared war on Germany. German resentment from the war set the stage for the Holocaust. On Tisha B'Av, deportation of Jews began from the Warsaw Ghetto.

Tisha B'Av should hold significance not just for the Jewish people but for all of us. The face so many terrible events have happened in history on this day cannot be coincidental and today the threat of terrorism is worldwide. It is a good day to pray for the soon return of our Lord Jesus Christ and for the salvation of loved ones and the Jewish people.