Dear friend, I hope all is well and that you had a good week.

The saddest day on the Jewish calendar is the Ninth of Av, "Tisha b'Av" the date on which both our Holy Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed, and exile, persecution and spiritual darkness began. Tisha b'Av starts at sundown on Monday, and lasts till the following nightfall. During this time-period we fast, eschew pleasurable activities and amenities, and lament the destruction of the Holy Temple and our nation's exile.

It is a tradition, however, that Tisha b'Av is also the birthday of our Redeemer. This symbolizes the idea that from the ashes of the destroyed temple will rise an incomparably magnificent edifice; exile will give birth to redemption. Thus Tisha b'Av is also a day of anticipation and hope, for "One who mourns Jerusalem will merit seeing her happiness."

(Scroll down for info on Tisha B'av services)

Is sad bad? Tisha B'av is a day of mourning and sadness. Yet Chassidic teaching differentiates between two types of sorrow: merirut, a constructive grief, and atzvut, a destructive grief.

Merirut is the distress of one who recognizes his failings, while Atzvut is one in despair whose melancholy has drained him of hope and initiative.

The first is a springboard for self-improvement; the second a bottomless pit. The first one weeps, the second's eye's are dry and blank. The first one's heart is in turmoil, the second one is still with apathy and heavy as lead. And what happens when it passes, when they emerge from their respective bouts of grief? The first one springs to action: resolving, planning, taking his first faltering steps to undo the causes of his sorrow. The second one goes to sleep.

TISHA B'AV SERVICES - Monday Night and Tuesday Day, July 15 & 16

Eicha, "Book of Lamentations" Reading Monday Evening - 8:45pm,

Tuesday Mincha Service 7:00pm

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Mendel Mintz