Tisha B'Av () is an annual ta'anit (fast day) in Rabbinic Judaism. (Karaite Judaism fasts on the 7th and 10th of Av.) The day commemorates a number of disasters in Jewish history, above all the destruction of both of the great temples in Jerusalem: Solomon's Temple, destroyed by the Neo-Babylonian Empire (in 587 BCE), and the Second Temple, destroyed by the Roman Empire (in 70 CE).
The Three Weeks, a period of Jewish communal sorrow, begins on the Seventeenth of Tammuz and ends on Tisha B'Av, a day regarded as "the saddest day in the Jewish calendar", mourning the loss of the two temples.Jonathan Sacks. "The Three Weeks and Tisha B'Av", RabbiSacks.org. Accessed June 28, 2026. "The period known as the Three Weeks (also known in Hebrew as Bein ha-Metzarim – 'Between the Straits/days of distress') is the saddest period in the Jewish calendar. Customs of mourning are observed during this time to commemorate the destruction of the First and Second Temples.... Tisha B'Av: This is the saddest day in the Jewish calendar, when the destruction of both the First and Second Temples is commemorated.... The First Temple, built by King Shlomo, was destroyed by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BCE, and the population of the Kingdom of Judah was sent into exile. The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, scattering the people of Judea and signifying the beginning of a two-thousand-year exile."Shurpin, Yehuda. 'What You Need to Know About the 'Three Weeks'", Chabad.org. Accessed June 28, 2026. "The Three Weeks, beginning on the 17th of Tammuz and concluding with the 9th of Av (Tisha B’Av), are a solemn period of mourning that commemorates a series of tragic events in Jewish history, primarily the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem." It is categorized as a day destined for tragedy. Tisha b'Av falls in July or August in the Gregorian calendar.
Observances of the day include five prohibitions, most notable of which is a 25-hour fast. The Book of Lamentations, which mourns the destruction of Jerusalem, is read in synagogue, followed by the recitation of kinnot, liturgical dirges that lament the Israelites’ 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 kinnot also recall events such as the murder of the Ten Martyrs by the Romans; expulsions from England, Spain, and elsewhere; massacres of numerous medieval Jewish communities by Crusaders; the Holocaust; and the October 7 attacks.
History
Five calamities
According to the Mishnah, Taanit 4:6, five specific events occurred on the ninth of Av that warrant fasting: 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 Israelites to cry, panic and despair of ever entering the "Promised Land". For this, they were punished by God so that their generation would not enter the land.See ; . The midrash quotes God as saying about this event, "You cried before me pointlessly, I will fix for you [this day as a day of] crying for the generations",Numbers Rabbah 16:20 alluding to the future misfortunes which occurred on the same date. The First Temple built by King Solomon was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar II in the 587 BCE Siege of Jerusalem, and the population of the Kingdom of Judah was sent into the Babylonian captivity. According to the Hebrew Bible, the First Temple's destruction began on the 7th of Av (2 Kings 25:8) and continued until the 10th (Jeremiah 52:12). According to the Talmud, Ta'anit 29a, the actual destruction of the Temple began on the Ninth of Av, and it continued to burn throughout the Tenth of Av. The Second Temple, built by Zerubbabel and renovated by Herod the Great, was destroyed by the Romans on 9 Av in 70 CE, scattering the people of Judea and commencing the greatest Jewish diaspora. The Romans subsequently crushed the Bar Kokhba revolt and destroyed the city of Betar, killing over 500,000 Jewish civilians (approximately 580,000) on 9 Av in 135 CE. Following the Bar Kokhba revolt, Roman commander Quintus Tineius Rufus plowed the site of the Temple in Jerusalem and the surrounding area.
Other calamities Over time, Tisha b'Av has evolved into a Jewish day of mourning, not only for these events, but also for subsequent tragedies that occurred on or near the 9th of Av. References to some of these events appear in liturgy composed for Tisha b'Av (see below). Note that dates prior to 1582 are in the Julian calendar, not the Gregorian calendar.
The First Crusade officially commenced on 15 August 1096 (Av 24, AM 4856), and began with the Rhineland massacres targeting Jews as "resident aliens", killing 10,000 Jews in its first month and annihilating Jewish communities in France and the Rhineland. The Jews were expelled from England on 18 July 1290 (Av 9, AM 5050). The Jews were expelled from France on 22 July 1306 (Av 10, AM 5066). The Alhambra Decree by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain expelled Jews from Spanish-ruled territories on 31 July 1492 (Av 7, AM 5252).. Note that 31 July is the Julian calendar date; corrected for the Gregorian calendar it would be 10 August. Germany entered World War I on 1–2 August 1914 (Av 9–10, AM 5674), which caused massive upheaval in European Jewry and whose aftermath led to World War II and the Holocaust. On 31 July 1941 (Av 7, AM 5701) Reinhard Heydrich, architect of the Holocaust, receives the order from Nazi leadership to "mak[e] all necessary preparations with regard to organisational and financial matters for bringing about a Total Solution of the Jewish Question." This order will culminate in the murder of approximately one-third of world's Jewish population.
On 23 July 1942 (Av 9, AM 5702), the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp began. The AMIA bombing on the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, killed 85 and injured 300 on 18 July 1994 (10 Av, AM 5754).
While the Holocaust spanned a number of years, religious communities use Tisha b'Av to mourn its 6,000,000 Jewish victims, either in addition to or instead of the secular Holocaust memorial days such as Yom HaShoah. On Tisha b'Av, communities that otherwise do not modify the traditional prayer liturgy have added the recitation of special kinnot related to the Holocaust.Similarly, within Religious Zionist communities, the 2005 Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip is mourned on Tisha b'Av as well, a practice supported by Religious Zionist rabbis like Yaakov Ariel and Dov Lior. Kinnot have been composed about the withdrawal, and the connection to Tisha b'Av was emphasized in ten-year anniversary commemorations. Although the disengagement operation had been delayed specifically to avoid coinciding with The Three Weeks and Tisha b'Av, the timing lent itself to symbolic interpretation both by Religious Zionists and by wider Jewish culture. However, even within Religious Zionism, Chaim Navon holds that the disengagement did not rise to the level of a calamity and Shlomo Aviner has written that mourning the disengagement on Tisha b'Av is forbidden because it incites political division. Yona Metzger, then Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, ruled in 2006 that the disengagement was a tragedy but mourning rituals should not be integrated into Tisha b'Av, while Howard Jachter, a prominent Orthodox scholar who is a member of the Rabbinical Council of America, permits it in narrow fashion.
Kinnot regarding the October 7 attacks have also been added to the Tisha B'Av liturgy.
Related observances 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 Romans; and the Third of Tishrei, known as the Fast of Gedalia, the day Gedaliah was assassinated in the time of the Neo-Babylonian Empire following the destruction of the First Temple. The period from the Seventeenth of Tammuz leading up to Tisha b'Av is known as The Three Weeks, while the period from the First of Av leading up to Tisha b'Av is known as The Nine Days.
Laws and customs
Tisha b'Av falls in July or August in the Gregorian calendar. When Tisha b'Av falls on Shabbat, it then is ( "delayed"). Thus the observance of Tisha b'Av can take place on the following day (that is, Sunday). This last occurred in 2022, and will next occur in 2029. No mourning can intrude upon the Sabbath. Normally, Sabbath eating and drinking end just before sunset Saturday evening rather than nightfall.
This fast lasts just over 25 hours, beginning at sunset on the preceding evening, lasting until nightfall the next day. Pleasurable activities are forbidden.
Main prohibitions Tisha b'Av bears a stringent nature alike that of Yom Kippur. The length of a fast that lasts over 25 hours, beginning before sunset on the eve of Tisha b'Av and ends at nightfall the following day, Tisha b'Av mandates the following five prohibitions:Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 650:2
No eating or drinking; No washing or bathing; No application of creams or oils; No wearing of (leather) shoes; No marital (sexual) relations.
These restrictions are waived in the case of health issues. A competent posek, a rabbi who decides Jewish Law, must be consulted. Those who are ill will be allowed to eat and drink. On other fast days, almost any medical condition can justify breaking the fast; in practice, consultation with a rabbi is best. Ritual hand washing up to the knuckles is permitted. Washing to cleanse dirt or mud from one's body is also permitted.
Additional customs
Torah study is forbidden on Tisha b'Av (as it is considered an enjoyable activity), except for the study of distressing texts in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) such as the Book of Lamentations, the Book of Job, and portions of Jeremiah, as well as chapters of the Talmud that discuss the laws of mourning and those that discuss the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.
In synagogue, prior to the commencement of the evening services, the parochet, which normally covers and adorns the Torah ark, is removed or drawn aside until the Mincha prayer service. Spanish and Portuguese Jews, who do not hang a curtain in front of the ark during the rest of the year, place a black curtain over the ark for Tisha b'Av. The use of black as well as the sadness of the day has led to the day to be referred to as the Black Fast.
According to Moses Isserles, it is customary to sit on low stools or on the floor, as is done during shiva (the first week of mourning), from the meal immediately before the fast (the seudah hamafseket) until midday (chatzot hayom) of the fast itself. It is customary to eat a hard-boiled egg dipped in ashes and a piece of bread dipped into ashes during this pre-fast meal. The Beit Yosef rules that the custom to sit low to the ground extends past mid-day until one prays Mincha (the afternoon prayer).
The custom is to dim the lighting and to read the kinnot by candlelight. Some sleep on the floor or modify their normal sleeping routine, for instance, by sleeping without a pillow (or with one fewer pillow than usual). People refrain from greeting each other or sending gifts on this day. Old siddurim and Torah scrolls are often buried on this day.
The custom is not to put on tefillin nor tallit for Shacharit. Men wear only tallit katan without a blessing. At mincha, tzitzit and tefilin are worn, with proper blessings before donning them.
End of fast The laws of Tisha b'Av as observed by Orthodox Jews are recorded in Orach Chayim 552–557.