Tisha B'Av 2025: The Day of Mourning

The Fast and Restrictions

Tisha B'Av is a full 25-hour fast from sunset to nightfall the following day — no food or water. Like Yom Kippur, additional restrictions apply: no bathing, no leather shoes, no cosmetics, and no marital relations. Unlike Yom Kippur, the mood is one of mourning rather than atonement — worshippers sit on low chairs or the floor.

Book of Lamentations (Eicha)

The Book of Lamentations (Eicha) is chanted in the synagogue on the night of Tisha B'Av, to a haunting traditional melody. The five chapters of Eicha describe the destruction of Jerusalem with raw grief and theological reflection — concluding with a plea for God's restoration: 'Return us to You, O Lord, and we shall return.'

Kinot — Poems of Mourning

The morning service includes kinot — elegies lamenting the Temple's destruction, the Crusader massacres, the expulsion from Spain, and the Holocaust. Some communities add modern kinot for 20th-century tragedies. The recitation can last several hours and is considered one of the most emotionally intense services in the Jewish year.

The Three Weeks

Tisha B'Av is the culmination of 'The Three Weeks' — a period of mourning beginning on 17 Tammuz (when the walls of Jerusalem were breached). The final nine days are especially intense, with prohibitions on meat, wine, bathing for pleasure, and celebrations. Tisha B'Av ends with the anticipation of consolation and redemption.

What are the five calamities that occurred on Tisha B'Av?

Jewish tradition records five national tragedies that all fell on 9 Av: (1) God decreed the Exodus generation would wander the desert 40 years after the sin of the spies, ca. 1312 BCE; (2) the First Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, 586 BCE; (3) the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans, 70 CE; (4) the fortress of Beitar fell in the Bar Kokhba revolt, 135 CE; (5) the Romans ploughed over the Temple Mount. Later tragedies on this date include the expulsion of Jews from England (1290) and Spain (1492), cementing Tisha B'Av as the central day of national mourning in the Jewish calendar.

What happens when Tisha B'Av falls on Shabbat?

When 9 Av coincides with Shabbat, Tisha B'Av is postponed to Sunday 10 Av. The fast begins on Saturday night at the end of Shabbat — later than a normal year. Since Shabbat itself is never publicly mourned, the mourning restrictions (leather shoes, low seating, bathing) do not apply until Shabbat ends. Meat and wine are typically avoided at the final pre-fast Shabbat meal (Seudah HaMafseket). The Eicha reading and kinot take place on Saturday night. This postponement is halachically significant and affects the timing and duration of the fast.

How is Tisha B'Av different from Yom Kippur?

Both Tisha B'Av and Yom Kippur are 25-hour fasts with nearly identical physical restrictions — no food or water, no bathing, no leather shoes, no cosmetics, no marital relations. But the emotional register is entirely different. Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year: a solemn, even uplifting day of atonement when Jews stand before God in prayer, dressed in white, confident that repentance brings forgiveness. Tisha B'Av is the darkest day: a day of raw grief and mourning — worshippers sit on low chairs, the lights are dimmed, the ark curtain may be removed or turned inside out, and the Book of Lamentations is chanted to a haunting melody. On Yom Kippur, Jews are forbidden from wearing leather shoes as a mark of holiness; on Tisha B'Av, it is a mark of mourning. Yom Kippur ends with hope and joy; Tisha B'Av ends with the first notes of eventual consolation — the seven weeks of comfort (Shivah D'Nechemta) begin the following Shabbat.

What is the Seudah HaMafseket — the meal before the Tisha B'Av fast?

The Seudah HaMafseket (סְעוּדָה הַמַּפְסֶקֶת — the separating meal) is the final meal eaten before the Tisha B'Av fast begins at sunset. By halachic custom, this meal is deliberately minimalist and mournful — it recalls the meals eaten by mourners sitting shiva. The traditional food is a hard-boiled egg and bread, eaten while seated on the floor or a low chair. The egg is associated with mourning in Jewish tradition (it is also served at the Passover Seder as a symbol of loss). Some communities add lentil soup. Wine, meat, and fish are avoided. The meal is eaten alone — not in company — and without singing, Torah study, or greeting others. The atmosphere mirrors that of an acute mourner: solitary, subdued, and focused on the impending fast.