Weekly Thoughts

7/21/07 – 9^th of Av

Hi all,

A quick 'programming' note: I'll be interviewed on LeSea TV Network Monday morning, 7/23, so if you receive LeSea tune in! I'll be discussing house church and my book, Leaving the Church to Find God.

I like to keep people current when important dates on the Jewish calendar intersect our own (Gregorian calendar), especially if particular dates on the Jewish calendar have over the years demonstrated a common theme. 

If you examine the Bible closely, have a world history book handy (or the Internet) and read some Rabbinical texts you'll find certain anniversary dates in the Jewish calendar have certain types of things happen on them.

The next date to observe is the 9th of Av, which translates to July 24, 2007. (In the Jewish calendar we are in the year 5767)

The reoccurring theme of the 9th of Av is a fast of mourning. The Gregorian calendar doesn't mesh with the Jewish calendar exactly (the 1st of August isn't always the 1st of Av for example), so the 9th of Av falls on various dates on our calendar in July or August. Below is a list of historical events that happened on the 9th of Av:

 

1)    The 12 spies returned with their bad report, resulting in 40 years of wandering the desert. (Numbers 14: 1-10; Ta'anit 29a)

2)    Solomon's temple destroyed by Babylon in 587 BC (various commentaries)

3)    Destruction of the temple by Rome in 70 AD (Josephus, various Jewish sources)

4)    A year later (exactly) the Romans plowed Jerusalem with salt (ditto)

5)    England expels all Jews July 18, 1290

6)    Spain expels all Jews August 2, 1492

7)    World War I begins August 1, 1914

 

Again, the 9th of Av is July 24 of this year, this Tuesday.

Other events on this date include:

1)    The first concentration camp killing of Jews by the Nazis began at Treblinka

2)    Israel withdrew from the West Bank in 2005.

 

I don't get spooky about dates, but at the same time I have a healthy respect for God's anniversary dates, so I keep a watchful eye as they approach. Most 9th of Av's come and go with merely the customary day of fasting and mourning observed in Israel and by Jews world wide. But at the same time just 2 years ago there was an event that has proved bad for Israel, so keep Israel in your prayers.

A short weekly thoughts this week - just something to think about. Here are a couple web sources that may help you in your own understanding: A Gregorian/Jewish calendar conversion, and a Wikepedia entry on the subject.

 

www.hebcal.com/converter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tisha_B'Av

 

Blessings!
John Fenn
www.ifaithhome.org