Surprising Facts about Tisha b’Av, the Ninth of Av

PIKESVILLE, Maryland — All Jewish biblical holidays and most Jewish non-biblical holy days are associated with the number seven. The non-biblical holy day Tisha b’Av, a fast day, is one of the exceptions.  Tisha B’Av starts tonight (Monday) and ends Tuesday night.

The number seven

 

The number seven is connected to Jewish holidays and practices in over a hundred instances. Seven has a religious implication in Judaism.[1] It reminds Jews of the essential Jewish concept of seven: the seven days of creation, which are stressed at the beginning of the Bible and in the Ten Commandments. It recalls three basic teachings: there is a God, God created the world, and God communicated commands.

For example, the Sabbath is on the seventh day, Passover and Sukkot are seven-day holidays, and the seventh week after Passover is celebrated as Shavuot. There are seven biblical holidays: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, Passover, Shavuot, and the New Moon. The Jewish holidays mentioned in the Bible total seventy days, seven times ten.

The seventh month is so significant that it is the only month with four holidays: the Fast of Atonements, called Yom Hakippurim in the Torah, the Day of the Trumpet, called Yom Teruah, Sukkot, and Shemini Atzeret. The Fast of Atonements, later called Yom Kippur, is on the tenth day of the seventh month, seven plus three (three).[2] Three is often added to seven).[3]

The seventh year is the sabbatical year when fields have a Sabbath and must rest from being plowed. The seventh sabbatical year is the Jubilee Year, during which, among other things, fields return to their owners. The Jewish lunar calendar, about ten days shorter than the solar calendar, is made to conform to the solar calendar by adding a leap month seven times in a nineteen-year cycle.

There are four non-biblical Jewish fast days. The Fast of Gedalia occurs on the third of Tishrei, the seventh month. The fast of Asarah b’Tevet is on the tenth, again seven plus three. The fast of Shiva Asar b’Tammuz is on the seventeenth, which is seven and ten.[4] The fast of Tisha b’Av is an exception.

Tisha b’Av

 

The fast of Tisha b’Av commemorates the destruction of the first and second temples. The Babylonians destroyed the first temple on the seventh of the month of Av, according to II Kings 25:8–9, and the tenth of Av, according to Jeremiah 3:12, in 586 BCE. Tosefta Ta’anit 4:10 and the Babylonian Talmud, Ta’anit 29a, explain the discrepancy: the outer walls were demolished on the seventh and the temple on the tenth. In any event, we again see the numbers seven and ten.[5]

According to the historian and Jewish general Josephus, the Romans destroyed the second temple on the tenth of Av in 70 C.E.[6] Josephus was present at the event. However, several centuries later, the Babylonian Talmud, Ta’anit 29a, gives the date as the ninth of Av. Thus, according to Josephus, we have at least another seven (three plus seven).

Why did the rabbis say the destruction of the first and second temples occurred on the ninth of Av when evidence shows they were not destroyed on the ninth?

It is possible that the rabbis did not want to use seven because this number is associated with completeness, with the Sabbath, and with joy, and the rabbis did not want to use seven and give the impression that Judaism was destroyed and that there is joy connected to the event. Eight may not have been chosen since eight was seen as a symbol of a new beginning, and the Temple destruction ended an era.[7]

Similarly, ten may have seemed inappropriate because, as we indicated earlier, it comprises seven and three, the two numbers connected with completeness.

It is also possible that the rabbis did not want to have the fast of Av on the tenth because the tenth would remind the Jew of the other fast of the tenth, Yom Kippur, and they didn’t want Jews to compare both days. The fast of Av is considered an enormous and total calamity. On the other hand, Yom Kippur and its predecessor, Yom Hakippurim, have positive elements. During the temple days, the afternoon of Yom Hakippurim was a happy time when young boys and girls would meet and dance. On Yom Kippur, one can seek forgiveness for past misdeeds.

It is generally accepted that the second temple in Jerusalem, built in 516 BCE, was destroyed in 70 CE under the leadership of the Roman general Titus (39-81 CE), the son of the Roman emperor Vespasian. This may be untrue. As embarrassing as it is, it may have been by the advice of a Jewish general, Tiberius Alexander (10– 70 CE).

Professor Jacob L. Wright, in his 2024 book The History of the Citizen Soldier, argues that Tiberius Alexander was the most eminent and powerful Jew of his time. Wright cites several ancient sources and describes Alexander’s involvement in destroying the temple.

Tiberius Alexander was a Jewish Roman general, a friend of Emperor Vespasian, and even served as a procurator of Judea, the name Israel had at that time, in 40-48 CE. He was the nephew of the famed Egyptian Jewish philosopher Philo (25 BCE – c. 50 CE).

Titus was the head of the Roman army but inexperienced in warfare. His father, Vespasian, chose the Jewish-Egyptian-Roman general Tiberius Alexander to assist his thirty-year-old inexperienced son in the war against Judea. Tiberius Alexander served as Titus’ counselor and chief of staff, in essence, as second in command.

According to the Jewish historian Josephus, in his history “Wars,” who lived at that time, both Titus and Alexander were vehemently opposed to the temple’s destruction. They only wanted to destroy the Judean kingdom and control Judea. Josephus claims a lone Roman soldier destroyed the temple. Only in the fourth century did historian Sulpicius Severus state that Titus ordered the destruction.

The preceding history reveals that all that we think we know may not be true because there is no certainty as to what transpired in the past. It also reveals that while Jews over-represent people who helped civilization, as shown by their large number of Nobel Prizes, they were also participants in harming fellow Jews.

[1] The number seven, a figure of mystery and wonder, was perceived by the pagans as a fundamental element of creation, ubiquitous in the world. They observed seven celestial bodies distinct from stars and believed that the human body was composed of seven parts: a head, two hands, two feet, and the upper and lower parts of the middle area.

[2] Three appears frequently in the Torah, such as Abraham traveling three days toward Mount Moriah to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham ibn Ezra explains that three is associated with seven and is approximately half of seven; seven indicates completeness, and three indicates a smaller completeness.

[4] For a more complete description of the use of seven and three in Judaism and other ancient cultures with more than a hundred examples, see my book Maimonides and the Biblical Prophets.

 

[5] Ten is seen as seven plus three.

[6] Wars 6:249–250.

[7] Seven is a symbol of completeness, and eight denotes the beginning of something new. A male child is circumcised on the eighth day after completing seven days of life. Similarly, the holiday of Shemini Atzeret occurs after the completion of the seven days of Sukkot. The rabbis conceive it as a renewal of a relationship with God.

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Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin is a retired brigadier general in the US Army Chaplain Corps and the author of more than 50 books.