Tisha B'av – mourning the loss of the temple

On the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av, Tisha Be'Av (Hebrew), Jews all over the world mourn the destruction of the two Holy Temples. The First Temple built by King Solomon was destroyed by Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BCE and the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. Jews were dispersed and exiled all over the world for almost the next 2,000 years. Other tragic events are also tied to this date; God told the Children of Israel that the oldest generation would not enter the Land, the city of Betar was captured and thousands of Jews were killed in 135 CE, the Roman emperor built a pagan temple on the site of the Holy Temple and rebuilt Jerusalem as a pagan city in 136 CE, Jewish expulsion from Spain in 1492 began on Tisha Be'Av, World War I began and the beginning of the deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka death camp.

Tisha Be'Av is a day of fast, of prayer, of reflection, and of reading the Book of Lamentations. Thousands of Jews from all over Israel visit the last remnant of the Temple – The Western Wall (also called The Wailing Wall) and exhibit symbols of mourning. They sit on the ground or on low stools not wearing leather shoes, not washing or bathing and refraining from any display of physical affection.