Fasting Days

Israel's fast days are memory with teeth. Four of them trace the destruction of Jerusalem—the breach of its walls, the burning of the temple, the murder of a governor, the beginning of a siege—and one recalls a nation on the edge of annihilation. Together they teach how a people grieves.

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Jewish 101: Jewish Fast Days

Beyond Yom Kippur lie the fasts that carry Israel's memory. Discover the days that mourn Jerusalem's fall, from the Ninth of Av to the Fast of Esther.

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Tisha B'av (9th of Av)

Both temples fell on this date, centuries apart. Tisha B'Av is the deepest day of grief in the Jewish year: a full fast, the book of Lamentations read aloud in the dark, and a people sitting on the floor. It mourns everything that was lost—and refuses to stop hoping.