Teshuva on Tisha B'av

(1) There are days that all the people of Israel observe as fasts on account of the tragic events which occurred on them, the purpose being to appeal to the hearts and to lay open the paths of repentance. This serves as a reminder of our evil doings, and the deeds of our fathers which were like ours now, resulting in the afflictions endured by them and by us. By remembering these things we are likely to repent and do right, as it is written: "They shall confess their sins and the sins of their fathers…" (Leviticus 26:40).

(3) The ninth of Av, on which five things happened: it was decreed in the wilderness that the people of Israel were not to enter the promised land; the Temple was destroyed both the first time and the second time, and a great city named Betar was captured. It was inhabited by tens of thousands of Jews. They had a great ruler, thought by all of them, including great scholars, to be King Messiah. But he fell into the hands of [the Roman] pagans, who killed them all, a calamity as great as the destruction of the Temple. On that day, the ninth of Av, predestined for Israel's reverses, the wicked Turnus Rufus plowed up the Temple site and its surroundings, in fulfillment of the prophetic utterance: "Zion shall be plowed up like a field" (Jeremiah 26:18).

(4) We omit Tachanun on Tisha b'Av (as well as Selichos), and we don't say Nefilas Apayim, because it is called a festival. Rema: and we read from the Torah "When you birth children" (Deuteronomy 4:25) and from the Haftorah in Jeremiah "I will make an end of them" (Jeremiah 8:13), and all the Kaddishim that are said after Eicha until they leave the synagogue the following day do not include "Tiskabal".

(2) On the night of Tisha b'Av we pray ma'ariv and say Eicha and kinnos

(32) Thus they spread calumnies among the Israelites about the land they had scouted, saying, “The country that we traversed and scouted is one that devours its settlers. All the people that we saw in it are men of great size; (33) we saw the Nephilim there—the Anakites are part of the Nephilim—and we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them.” (1) The whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night.

And it is further written: “And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried and the people wept that night” (Numbers 14:1). Rabba said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: That night was the night of the Ninth of Av. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to them: You wept needlessly that night, and I will therefore establish for you a true tragedy over which there will be weeping in future generations.

(42) But the LORD said to me, “Warn them: Do not go up and do not fight, since I am not in your midst; else you will be routed by your enemies.” (43) I spoke to you, but you would not listen; you flouted the LORD’s command and willfully marched into the hill country. (44) Then the Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you like so many bees and chased you, and they crushed you at Hormah in Seir. (45) Again you wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not heed your cry or give ear to you.

(11) Torah scholars should not greet each other on the Ninth of Av. Rather they sit sadly and sigh like mourners. And if an ignorant person greeted them, they may return his greeting with a soft voice and a serious demeanor.

(21) Take us back, O LORD, and we will come back; renew our days like antiquity.

(7) From the very days of your fathers you have turned away from My laws and have not observed them. Turn back to Me, and I will turn back to you—said the LORD of Hosts. But you ask, “How shall we turn back?”

(1) The LORD showed me two baskets of figs, placed in front of the Temple of the LORD. This was after King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon had exiled King Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim of Judah, and the officials of Judah, and the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. (2) One basket contained very good figs, like first-ripened figs, and the other basket contained very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten. (3) And the LORD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I answered, “Figs—the good ones are very good, and the bad ones very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.” (4) Then the word of the LORD came to me: (5) Thus said the LORD, the God of Israel: As with these good figs, so will I single out for good the Judean exiles whom I have driven out from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. (6) I will look upon them favorably, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not overthrow them; I will plant them and not uproot them. (7) And I will give them the understanding to acknowledge Me, for I am the LORD. And they shall be My people and I will be their God, when they turn back to Me with all their heart.

Regarding those who were already in Babylon, Hashem said that they already endured the suffering that was due to them, so they should not anticipate further destruction or upheaval; rather, there will only be rebuilding and re-establishing when they return to Jerusalem to the second Beis HaMikdash. [This is why they are designated as the good figs.]