Tisha B’Av is one of the most somber occasions on the Jewish calendar. Widely considered to be the saddest day of the Jewish year, the day of mourning sees observers fasting to commemorate historic tragedies, including the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem, crimes against the Jewish people by the ancient Romans and even more recent incidents like the Holocaust.
For some in the modern day, it can be difficult to fully connect with these tragedies that happened so long ago. But in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel in 2023, the day of mourning has taken on a new meaning for some.
Notably, in the past, some Zionist figures have included Israel’s 2005 departure from the Gaza Strip among the many tragedies commemorated on Tisha B’Av. Over 8,000 settlers left the area following the disengagement, which was proposed by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2003. Since disengagement took place close to the holiday, some mark it among the incidents remembered on Tisha B’Av.
However, its place among the tragedies of Tisha B’Av has been debated — there was no major loss of Jewish life, and while the disengagement faced some resistance, there was popular support for it at the time. In an interview for Israeli news site Kipa, Rabbi Shlomo Aviner forbade the mourning of the disengagement on Tisha B’Av, saying that it caused political division on a day meant for unified mourning.
But the Oct. 7 attack has been widely cited as the largest attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust. According to the Center for Strategic & International Studies’ Transnational Threats Project, it was the third-deadliest terror attack in history — just behind the 2014 Tikrit Attack in Iraq and 9/11.
While it may be easy for some to connect this tragedy to Tisha B’Av, others may still struggle. Rabbi Kushi Schusterman of Harford Chabad suggests that Tisha B’Av should not be an occasion for solitary mourning, but for community and helping others through their own complicated feelings.
“We have to take some responsibility and ownership for others’ challenges and experiences, and make sure that we’re encouraging others who might not be as connected with their faith to engage with Tisha B’Av in a meaningful and relevant way,” Schusterman explained.
He added that this year’s Simchat Torah will likely be an important moment for discussing Oct. 7, because the attacks occurred on Simchat Torah.
But Tisha B’Av is not only an important day of mourning — it’s an opportunity for self-reflection and healing. Beth Israel Congregation in Owings Mills is hosting a rather unique event for the occasion: a service featuring an address from Heather Miller Rubens, executive director of the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies. Rubens will be speaking about the importance of holding constructive, meaningful dialogue, even among those who have dissenting political or ideological opinions.
Beth Israel’s Rabbi Rachel Safman cited how the Jewish people were warned about the danger of social divides in the wake of the Temple’s destruction.
“The way our scholars chose to frame the destruction of the Temple was not to look at these horrible things others have done to us … but to turn the lens inward and ask how we render ourselves vulnerable to such catastrophes through internal divisions,” Safman explained. “It’s not denying that we have external enemies, but about how we can make ourselves stronger.”
This idea is more important now than ever before, as the events of Oct. 7, the Israel-Hamas war and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza have led to more discussion about Israel and the Jewish people. Safman noted that having these kinds of conversations is an important step in the process of healing from such a traumatic, community-wide event.
“I think a lot of us are scared by the same things, but they manifest in different ways and different actions across different people,” she said. “If I’m able to hear that some of our goals and fears are the same, even if our positions and political alliances are different … that makes my vision of who we are as a country, as a society and where we’re headed a lot less frightening than it is in the absence of those conversations.”
