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Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Tisha B'Av
Today was Tisha B'Av, the ninth day of Av, which commemorates the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. It is a fast day and the traditional goodbye during the holiday, and for the few days preceding it, is "have an easy fast." On more than one occasion, someone said to me, in all seriousness, "thanks, but maybe the messiah will come and we won't have to fast." Or, "maybe, by next year, the third temple will be built, and we won't have to fast." The first time it was funny, but by the third time, it was kind of spooky. None of these people were ultra-orthodox, but it kind of puts into perspective how religious this city has become, and how quickly that can skew one's perspective.
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Okay, that is bizarre. I have never heard that here (or there).
I will say, though, that I tried to schedule a software install on Tisha b'Av, but the J'selem install guy wasn't working. I said "Huh? All the Jews here work at least part of the day on Tisha B'Av" and he said "No, you should not work." So I said, "Well, maybe in the States, it is permitted b/c otherwise it would be a loss of income for them". And he let me know that according to the Shulchan Aruch, only very poor people, who do not have enough to eat, are permitted to work on Tisha b'Av.
All of which goes to say: don't try to argue with your install guy about the Shulchan Aruch b/c you will lose.
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