Tisha B'Av

(The ninth day of the 5th month - the month of Av.)

The following are the events said by the Jews to have occurred on this day in their history.

It was decreed that the Israelites, after leaving Egypt, would wander in the desert for 40 years, until a new generation would be ready to enter the Promised Land.

Solomon's temple was destroyed.

Herod's temple was destroyed.

The fortress headquarters of Simon bar Kokhba, fell to the Romans in 135 C.E. (ending the bar Kokhba rebellion.)

Hadrian, the Roman [emperor] and ruler of Jerusalem, in 136 C.E., established a heathen temple [in Jerusalem] and rebuilt Jerusalem as a pagan city.

The Edict of Expulsion of the Jews from England was signed by King Edward I in 1290.

Ferdinand and Isabella decreed this to be the official date of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. Led by Isaac Abarbanel, 300,000 Jews began to leave Spain on that date. Columbus set out on his first voyage of discovery on the day after Tisha B'Av (after delaying his sailing by one day). [The Spanish Inquisition]

The following is taken from "Judaism 101" [jewfaq.org/holidayd.htm] - "The Alhambra Decree, issued March 31, 1492, ordered all Jews to leave Spain by the end of July 1492. July 31, 1492 was Tisha B'Av. Note that if you use a Jewish calendar converter to check this, it may show July 31 as the 27th of Tammuz. If so, the converter has failed to take into account the Gregorian Reformation, which skipped 11 days on the calendar. If you add the 11 missing days and convert August 11 instead of July 31, you will see that "August 11" 1492 is 9 Av."

World War I began August 1, 1914