Things You Didn't Know About the Month of Av

In the Torah, it is called the fifth month, as it is the fifth when counting the months from Nisan. The month of Av is referred to as "Menachem Av", since in this month we hope for consolation after all that has befallen the people of Israel. Some suggest it hints at Menachem Av (comforter of Av), which are acronyms for the way the Book of Lamentations is written, where the scroll is composed in alphabetical order, and Hashem is expected to comfort the letters of the alphabet as used in the Book of Lamentations. Others derive from it the acrostic Ab Adom u'Bavel - referring to Edom and Babylon, the two kingdoms that destroyed the First and Second Temples, as mentioned in "By the rivers of Babylon": "Daughter of Babylon, devastated" and "Remember Hashem against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem".

The zodiac sign of the month is Leo. Rosh Chodesh Av is one day, but the month of Av is a full 30 days. As Tisha B'Av occurs in this month and is called a festival, as stated in the Book of Lamentations: "He has summoned a festival against me", Hashem is destined to turn it into joy and happiness. Rosh Chodesh Av is a fast for the righteous, as it is the day of the death of Aaron the priest, as it says: "And Aaron the priest went up the mountain by the word of Hashem... in the fifth month on the first of the month" (Numbers 33:38). Even though it is Rosh Chodesh, some fast on it, and if they don't, there is some mourning observed because of Aaron's passing.

Five events occurred in the month of Av:

• Decreed on our ancestors in the desert that they would not enter the land

• Destruction of the First Temple

• Destruction of the Second Temple

• The major city "Beitar" was captured

• The wicked Turnus Rufus plowed the temple, and Jerusalem was plowed, as it is written: "Zion will be plowed a field". The sages said the land was destroyed because of - the First Temple was destroyed due to three sins that Israel committed in that generation: idolatry, immorality, and bloodshed, and they did not leave a place where idolatry wasn't practiced. The land was not destroyed until it went through seven courts of idol sin, desecrated the Shabbat, annulled the Torah study of children from the house of their master, and canceled the recitation of Shema morning and evening, and they had no shame from each other. The Second Temple was destroyed due to needless hatred, not admonishing each other, disgracing the wise, equating young and old, losing men of faith, applying their laws strictly without leniency. The First Temple's destruction in the days of Zedekiah the king was in the year 3338, and the destruction of the Second Temple in the days of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai was in the year 3828, both on Tisha B'Av.

As stated in Jeremiah 52: "And in the fifth month on the tenth of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard came before the king of Babylon in Jerusalem, and he burned the House of Hashem and the house of the king and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great man's house, he burned with fire and all the city walls were broken down by the Chaldeans with the captain of the guard, and so on." From the first destruction, congregations of young priests gathered, the keys to the temple in their hands, climbed to the temple roof, and said before Him: "O Lord of the world, since we did not merit to be faithful treasurers, let these keys be handed to You", and they threw them upward, and a hand-like phenomenon appeared and took them from them, and they jumped and fell, etc." (Taanit 29). Four hundred and ninety years after the First Temple's destruction, the Second Temple was also destroyed, as mentioned earlier, on Tisha B'Av. Said Rabbi Yochanan: "What is meant by: 'Happy is the man who fears always, but he who hardens his heart falls into evil'? (Proverbs 28:14) - Due to Kamsa and Bar Kamsa, Jerusalem was destroyed, due to a rooster and a hen, the king's mountain was laid waste, due to a wagon wheel nail, Beitar was destroyed.

In the Book of Lamentations, the prophet Jeremiah laments: "She weeps bitterly in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks" - two weepings for two destructions. On the night the Temple was burned, etc. Every Hashem's fearer should grieve for the destruction of Jerusalem. This is how the law goes, especially in the days of mourning, they added various prohibitions emphasizing the heavy mourning over the lost glory, desecrated splendor, shattered splendour, and loss of our sanctuary's remnant. Over all this Israel mourns, yet at the same time, it anticipates and hopes that soon the day will come, and the Temple will rise gloriously in Jerusalem, the holy city. In the Book of Lamentations, it is said: "Your iniquity, daughter of Zion, is complete, He will no longer exile you." On this Rashi says: "You were afflicted for all your sins, He will not again exile you from the exile of Edom and so on", and as the Book of Lamentations ends, read on Tisha B'Av: "Bring us back to You, Hashem, and we shall return, renew our days as of old", and soon, speedily in our days, amen. In the scripts of the Haggadah, it is remembered: "Rebuild Your house soon in our days soon". Rabbi Naftali of Ropshitz explains we ask that the Temple be built according to the speed-gauged standards of our days, not according to Hashem's speed, as expounded in the Gemara, which is a thousand years: "For a thousand years in Your sight are like a day gone by".

The Shabbat following Tisha B'Av is famously known as Shabbat Nachamu, named after the haftorah read on this Shabbat: "Comfort, comfort my people". This haftorah is the first of the seven haftorahs of consolation read in the seven weeks following Tisha B'Av. These seven haftorahs contain one hundred and forty verses of consolation, corresponding to the one hundred and forty-four admonishing verses written in the Torah. Tu B'Av - a day observed with some festivity, with no recitation of Tachanun, not even in the Mincha before it. The groom on his wedding day does not fast. This day witnessed several joyous events: The plague upon those in the wilderness ceased, as stated in the Midrash Lamentations that the decree: "In this wilderness, they will consume!" did not happen, and on 15 Av, the remaining 15,000 who also dug their graves and entered them on the night of Tisha B'Av, were surprised by the cancellation of the decree, survived and celebrated the 15th of Av as a day of joy. Restrictions on tribes from inter-marriages were annulled. This was after two restrictions: one from Moses' days, where a daughter inheriting property could only marry within her tribe, and the second in the days of the concubine in Gibeah, where Israel took an oath stating: "Not to give their daughters to Benjamin as a wife".

These two prohibitions heavily affected Israel, especially impacting Israel's daughters, so there was great joy on the day the prohibitions were lifted. The day Hoshea son of Elah broke down the barriers. When Jeroboam son of Nebat tore the kingdom of Israel away from Jerusalem, he set up two calves, one in Dan and one in Be'er Sheva, and brought Israel there to worship idols, preventing many Israelites from reaching Jerusalem and the Temple by setting up roadblocks and guards on all paths leading to Jerusalem, so they would not ascend and worship Hashem, and bow to the king of Judah in Jerusalem. These barriers stood until the end of the Kingdom of Israel when the king Hoshea son of Elah, who reigned, removed them, permitting everyone wishing to ascend to Jerusalem. And that day was the fifteenth of Av, and the joy was great. The day cutting of wood for the altar ceased - during the times that Ezra and Nehemiah returned from Babylon and built the Second Temple and its altar and restored its structures, they found the land desolate, all its trees uprooted by enemies.

Since bringing wood for the altar was considered a great and significant offering to the House of Hashem, the volunteers who provided wood offered their lives to all dangers, bringing their offerings from afar at fixed times carrying them with song and joy, and the last day of wood-cutting for the altar was annually on the fifteenth of Av. Until then, the trees were dry and bug-free. The day the dead of Beitar were brought to proper burials. After Hadrian destroyed Beitar, he ruthlessly killed many and refused them burial, leaving them spread out hand and foot in his vineyard, fenced all around, intending to enjoy the view of the brave dead heroes. Eventually, a new king arose, permitting the burial of the dead, and all of Israel gathered, tended to the dead, and brought them to burial, and that day was the fifteenth of Av. About the fifteenth of Av, it is said in the Talmud (Taanit 31): Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel said: "There were no better days for Israel than the fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur, when the daughters of Jerusalem would go out in borrowed white dresses, so as not to embarrass anyone without, and the daughters of Jerusalem would go out and dance in the vineyards, saying: 'Young man, lift up your eyes and see what you choose for yourself? Don't set your eyes on beauty, set your eyes on family. 'Charm is deceptive and beauty fades; a woman who fears Hashem is to be praised', and there is no joy like the joy of marriage and the establishment of homes in Israel. Wishing you a good and blessed month!