Melville H. Nahin, 33°
Grand Master, Grand Lodge of California
1924 San Ysidro Drive
Beverly Hills, California 90210–4925

Traditionally, Tishah B'Av is a day of tragedy for Jews and a day of remembrance for all of us.

The Jewish calendar is divided into twelve lunar months, and during leap year a thirteenth month is added. The month of Av is generally during our corresponding month of July, and the ninth day of that month has been a day of tragedy in Jewish history. The greatest misfortunes of the long and eventful story of the Jewish people have occurred on this date. This does not count the Holocaust, the greatest slaughter of any nation or people.

The ninth day of Av, to which those of the Jewish faith refer to as Tishah B'Av, is observed by fasting, prayer, and lamentation after sundown on the evening before the holy day and during the following day until the following sundown. Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, and Tishah B'Av are the two most important fast days in the Jewish religion.

Tradition tells us that the Israelites who had escaped from Egyptian bondage were doomed on this date to wander in the desert for 40 years. Legend also has it that the scouts Moses sent to explore Canaan brought back discouraging reports on that date.
However the first real tragedy to take place on this date, the ninth of Av, was the destruction by the Babylonians in 568 B.C. of the Temple of Solomon, which is also important as a symbol in Freemasonry. With the burning of the Temple, the first Hebrew commonwealth came to an end. Thousands lost their lives, were sold as slaves, or were exiled. As written in the Old Testament, "By the rivers of Babylon sat we down, yea and wept, when we remember thee, oh Zion."

Seven years later, the Temple was rebuilt with the permission of Emperor Cyrus the Great of Persia who had conquered Babylon. In our Scottish Rite Degrees, we recount these tales in the 15th and 16th Degrees. Upon their return, for about 500 years, the Jews lived as a nation in Palestine.

Then came the next overwhelming national tragedy. The second Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Roman Emperor Titus, and Jerusalem was burned to the ground. Again, this occurred on Tishah B'Av. Sixty years after the destruction of the Temple by Titus, the Jewish people, under the leadership of Rabbi Akiba and Bar Cochba, made their final effort to regain their independence. For three years, they waged a hopeless struggle against mighty Rome.

They and their followers made a last stand in the City of Bethar, and on Tishah B'Av in the year 130 A.D., the Romans captured the city. A year later, once more on the ninth of Av, the Romans captured Jerusalem. And yet again, a year later, once more on the same date, Jerusalem was plowed under by the Romans, and a Roman city was built upon its ruins. Ever since then, until the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, the Jews were dispersed throughout the world without a country or government of their own.

History also tells us that Jews were expelled from Spain on Tishah B'Av in 1492 during the Inquisition. Paradoxically, the same day, August 2, 1492, Columbus set sail for his discovery of the New World. On Tishah B'Av in 1914, Russia ordered the mobilization of its army. This was the decisive act in bringing about World War, which cost so many lives, brought about the Russian Revolution, and changed the face of the world for all time.

During Tishah B'Av, no food or drink passes the lips of a person of the Orthodox Jewish faith. On the evening of that day, Orthodox Jews gather in the synagogues, and Orthodox Temples are lit with candlelight only. The people sit as mourners on the floor or on low benches, having previously eaten a meal consisting of eggs and pinches of ashes. Their shoes are off. Their heads are bent over the Book of Lamentations. The lead singer, called a Cantor, chants a melody that seems to come out of the very heart of the Jewish people: "Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches; pour out thy heart like water before the face of the Lord."

We Masons can empathize with people of the Jewish faith, for we have learned that where there is tyranny, there is no Masonry and that where there is no freedom, there can be no strong Masonic Lodge. We, too, have shared the history of the people of the Book, for upon their history lies the history of our Western World. A day of tragedy for them is a day of remembrance for all of us.

Melville H. Nahin is an attorney in Los Angeles, a Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of California (1998–99), Past Venerable Master of Los Angeles Valley, present Chairman of Los Angeles Scottish Rite Childhood Language Disorders Clinic, Past Master Ionic Lodge No. 520 and Southern California Research Lodge, and Chairman of the Board of Governors Shriners Hospitals for Children–Los Angeles Unit.