What happened on Tisha B'Av?

Tisha B’Av means the ninth of Av. Mishnah Taanit 4:6 associates this date with five calamities: the decree that the wilderness generation would not enter the Land, the destruction of the First Temple, the destruction of the Second Temple, the capture of Beitar, and the ploughing of Jerusalem. It is therefore a day of communal mourning, not just an anniversary of one destroyed building.

The fast begins on the evening before the 9th of Av. Eating must finish while it is still day, and twilight is already prohibited (Shulchan Aruch, OC 553:2). If the date falls on Shabbat, the fast is postponed until after Shabbat (OC 550:3), so the observed fast then begins on the evening before the 10th.

Eating and drinking, washing, anointing, leather footwear, and marital relations are prohibited (OC 550:1; 553:2; 554:1). Ordinary Torah study is restricted because it brings joy; sorrowful texts such as Lamentations are permitted (OC 554:1–2). Both Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities observe these central restrictions, though their kinot and associated customs differ.

A Beit Din may ask how Tisha B’Av differs from Yom Kippur: one centres on mourning national destruction; the other on atonement. A common mistake is treating every fast as beginning in the morning. Unlike the shorter fasts, Tisha B’Av includes the previous evening and night (OC 553:2).