Tisha B’Av 2016 begins in the evening of

and ends in the evening of

Tisha B’ Av is a day of fasting, mourning and repenting:

Tisha B’Av (help·info) (lit. “the ninth of Av”) (Hebrew: תשעה באב‎‎ or ט׳ באב) is an annual fast day in Judaism which commemorates the anniversary of a number of disasters in Jewish history, primarily the destruction of both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem.

Tisha B’Av is regarded as the saddest day in the Jewish calendar and it is thus believed to be a day which is destined for tragedy.

When the Israelites accepted the false report of the ten spies, they wept over the false belief that God was setting them up for defeat. The night that the people cried was the ninth of Av, which became a day of weeping and misfortune for all time.

Tisha B’Av falls in July or August in the Western Gregorian calendar.

A day of mourning, fasting restoration and renewal:
 

Tisha B’Av is the 9th of Av which falls on the last day of the 3-weeks of mourning which began from the 17th of Tamuz.

The Book of Lamentations, which mourns the destruction of Jerusalem is read in the synagogue, followed by the recitation of kinnot, liturgical dirges that lament the loss of the Temple and Jerusalem. 

As the day has become associated with remembrance of other major calamities which have befallen the Jewish people, some kinnot also recall events such as the murder of the Ten Martyrs, massacres in numerous medieval Jewish communities during the Crusades and the Holocaust.

Both Temples, where the sacrifices of the God of Israel were offered, faced their destruction coming from the enemies of Israel, during the season of Tamuz and Tisha B’ Av.

This has also became the time frame when the human body (being a member of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit) confronts the negative energies of immorality, false accusation, tempetations of sexual immorality, terror and all the different kinds of temptetations which comes with the month of Tamuz and Av.

The season which commemorates the three weeks of mourning, repentance, and the two day of fasting, posses the spiritual capacity to be able to transform into a season of Joy, restoration and renewal for those who acknowledge the mourning and fasting of the season.