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Tisha B'Av

Illustrative: Jewish men attend a Passover sacrifice reenactment on March 30, 2015, in Jerusalem. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
September 20, 2025, 7:59 am
What do the Third Temple movement and Noahide laws have in common? A far-right vision
In her new book ‘Messianic Zionism in the Digital Age,’ Rachel Z. Feldman documents a growing fringe movement to hasten the messiah’s coming – and its incendiary geopolitical implications
By Rich Tenorio
Haviv Rettig Gur (courtesy) / Illustrative: Jews visit the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City, on Jerusalem Day, May 26, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
August 5, 2025, 10:55 pm
What Matters Now to Haviv Rettig Gur: When Temple Mount prayer is a call to settle Gaza
ToI’s senior analyst on National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s prayer-leading on Tisha B’Av, why World War III didn’t erupt and what the far-right politician hoped to gain
By Amanda Borschel-Dan and Haviv Rettig Gur
Visitors look out at the Western Wall on Tisha B'Av, August 3, 2025 (Zev Stub/Times of Israel)
August 4, 2025, 4:17 am
‘The whole nation needs to feel their pain’: Hostages’ plight looms over Tisha B’Av fast
Amid ongoing war and deepening societal divisions, visitors to Jerusalem’s Western Wall sing, pray, and dream of a better future on saddest day of the Jewish calendar
By Zev Stub
Iris Haim lights candles on the sixth night of the Jewish holiday of Hannukah, during a Knesset ceremony on December 30, 2024 .(Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)
August 3, 2025, 6:50 pm
Slain hostage’s mother says Israel should ‘surrender’ to Hamas to save captives
Iris Haim, who son Yotam was mistakenly killed by the IDF in late 2023, calls for end to war, says Israel needs to choose ‘whether we go to our destruction or revival’
By ToI Staff
Right-wing and left-wing activists protest and clash at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City, ahead of the Jerusalem Day Flag March, May 26, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
August 2, 2025, 8:39 pm
Israelis lament, and cling to, societal divides on a holiday mourning ancient disunity
Increasingly riven by the ongoing war in Gaza, secular and religious, left and right are all mourning on Tisha B’Av – but for vastly different reasons
By Deborah Danan
A group of Jews stands on a balcony overlooking the Moroccan Quarter and the Western Wall, with the Dome of the Rock in the distance behind it. Circa 1920–1933. (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division)
August 2, 2025, 10:27 am
Western Wall, 1929: A Tisha B’av protest is ground zero of the Arab-Israeli conflict
In an excerpt from her new book, ‘Ghosts of a Holy War,’ author and journalist Yardena Schwartz details a pivotal moment in Israel’s pre-state history and its haunting reverberations today
By Yardena Schwartz
Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Kalman Ber in his office in Jerusalem on July 22, 2025. (Rossella Tercatin/Times of Israel)
August 1, 2025, 4:15 pm
In a polarized time, new chief rabbi envisions revamped Rabbinate with a wide embrace
From the Haredi draft to marriage and kashrut, top Ashkenazi cleric Kalman Ber says he believes love, unity and quiet action — rather than public fights — are key to lasting change
By Rossella Tercatin
Yanniv David Levy, a researcher and curator in the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Coin Department, holds a bronze coin minted in the fourth year of the Jewish Great Revolt against the Romans (69-70 CE) found during excavations in the Jerusalem Archaeological Garden – Davidson Center in July 2025. (Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority)
July 31, 2025, 11:14 pm
2,000-year-old ‘Redemption of Zion’ coin reveals turmoil before Jerusalem’s destruction
Bronze coin minted in the fourth year of the Jewish Great Revolt against the Romans found by archaeologists excavating next to the Temple Mount
By Rossella Tercatin
Temple Mount Sifting Project archaeologist Mordechai Ehrlich holds a First Temple period clay sealing reading “Yed[a‛]yah (son of) Asayahu” found in July 2025. (Temple Mount Sifting Project)
July 30, 2025, 5:04 pm
Tiny 2,600-year-old clay sealing inscribed with biblical name found in Temple Mount soil
Minuscule artifact discovered at the Jerusalem-based Temple Mount Sifting Project may reference an official who worked for King Josiah and who appears in II Kings and II Chronicles
By Rossella Tercatin
Author Daniel Taub (courtesy) / Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man pray as they gather for the mourning ritual of Tisha B'Av, in the Old City of Jerusalem, August 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
July 30, 2025, 2:51 pm
What Matters Now to Daniel Taub: Still mourning, Israel is not ripe to talk peace – yet
Ahead of a second wartime Tisha B’Av holiday, the author speaks about a new path for dialogue in his book, ‘Beyond Dispute: Rediscovering the Jewish Art of Constructive Disagreement’
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Jewish men pray during Tisha B'Av, at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, August 13, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
August 13, 2024, 1:42 pm
Daily Briefing Aug. 13: Day 312 – On Tisha B’Av, a lamentable need to be on ‘peak alert’
Military reporter Emanuel Fabian on Hamas claims of murdering a hostage; reporter Canaan Lidor on inner-Jewish struggles over public prayer, a new liturgy of mourning
By ToI Staff
Families and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip gather to mark the Tisha B'Av fast day at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, August 12, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
August 13, 2024, 10:47 am
Divided and facing outside attack, some Jews see echoes of Tisha B’Av everywhere
As threat of Iranian attack looms over Israel and with internal discord bubbling back to the surface, there are those who fear the nation faces fresh tragedy
By Ben Sales
Jewish men pray as they gather for the ritual of Tisha B'Av at the Western Wall, in the Old City of Jerusalem, on August 12, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
August 13, 2024, 10:09 am
Marking poignant Tisha B’Av, Israelis draw parallels to October 7 attacks
Crowds attend prayers at Western Wall, while thousands more gather at Hostages Square to call for captives’ release
By ToI Staff
Adam Hajaj speaks during a rally for hostages in Gaza in Tel Aviv on August 10, 2024. (Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
August 12, 2024, 3:54 pm
October 7 trauma reconnects Israelis with a 2,000-year-old Jewish day of mourning
Thousands of synagogues prepare to feature lamentations about the Hamas atrocities, on Tisha B’Av, a fast day that commemorates historical – and now contemporary – tragedies
By Canaan Lidor
Israeli tanks stand near the Israel-Gaza border as seen from southern Israel, July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
August 12, 2024, 2:18 pm
Army broadens closed zone around Gaza ahead of prayer event by pro-settlement activists
Security sources tell media move is a precaution against possible attack on gathering, intended to mark Tisha B’av fast and raise awareness of desire to rebuild Gaza settlements
By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff
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