9 Av

Today, 8-5-14, is 9 Av... here are some historical events in Av...

Events for Av in Biblical History

Here is a list of events that took place during the history of the world in the month of Av:

1st:

  • Aaron dies in the 40th year of exodus at 123 years old.
  • Ezra returned to Israel.
  • Some time in Av:
    • Speculation that this was the month of the spies going into the promised land and returning with an evil report.
    • Zedekiah was taken to Babylon
    • Jeremiah had a run-in with a false prophet and Jeremiah said he, the false prophet, would die that year.
    • Zechariah was told to keep the fasting of the 5th month.
9th:

  • Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians and Zedekiah was taken and the city burned.
10th:

  • The temple was burning.
  • Certain of the Jewish elders went to Jeremiah to enquire of the Lord. The Lord responded that He wouldn't be enquired by them while in exile.

This is a list of secular events that happened on the 9th day of the Jewish month of Av to the Jews. All these are verifiable in the history books.

  • The Jewish Commentary, the Mishna, records that the people believed the evil report of the spies and mourned all night in fear. They turned against Moses and the two faithful spies, Joshua and Caleb (the only two from Egypt that entered the Promised Land). (Ta'anit 29a says it happened on the 9 of Av, Numbers 14:1-10 just records the curse from the Lord and the revolt against Moses and not the date.) This event started their 40-year wandering in the desert.
  • Destruction of the first temple, 29 July 587 BC (9 Av 3174), actually from seventh of Av to tenth because the fire continued.
  • Destruction of the second temple, 4 Aug 70 AD (9 Av 3830), exactly 656 years to the day since the destruction of the first temple.
  • The Roman army plowed Jerusalem with salt in 25 July 71 AD (9 Av 3831)
  • The destruction of Simeon Bar Kochba's army in 5 Aug 135 AD (9 Av 3895)
  • The First Crusade, declared by Pope Urban II, began when his preaching throughout France, in July 1095 (Av 4855), stirred up the populace. This ignited violence against the Jews and some have deemed this as the first holocaust. Though this evil occurred, the number of Jews killed before the Crusades reaches Jerusalem are not recorded, but accounts added up can lead one to believe that the number could reach five to ten thousand.
  • Edward I of England expelled all of the Jews in 18 July 1290 AD (9 Av 5050)
“Pressured by his barons, the Church and possibly his mother, he announced the expulsion of all the Jews. By November 1, approximately 4,000 had fled, mostly to France. The Jews had to pay their own passage. They were allowed to take movables (i.e. clothing). A number of Jews were robbed and cast overboard during the voyage by the ship captains. The Jews did not return to England until 1659. This was the first national expulsion of the Jews. (England was one of the only centralized and national monarchies of that time.)”

  • 10 Av 5066 “1306 July 22, PHILIP THE FAIR (France) Expelled the Jews from his lands after arresting all of them (on the day after the 9th of Av) and confiscating their property. Most Jews went to the next Duchy. Gradually, they were allowed to drift back.”
  • Spain, by the Alhambra Decree, expelled all of the Jews by 31 July 1492. On the 1 August 1492 AD, the day before 9th of Av (9 Av 5252), the Jews who didn’t leave were being round up and forced into Catholicism.
  • World War I: France to Germany and Germany to Russia declared war, 1 August 1914 (9 Av 5674)
  • Russia mobilized for World War I and launched persecutions against the Jews in Eastern Russia three days before 9 Av 5674. Of the population, 13% were Jewish and considered traitors and spies and were taken hostage in order to prevent spying. Finally, in 1915 they were forced to leave Galicia, Austria, and banned Yiddish.
  • On 22 July 1942, the Germans began a systematic liquidation of the Ghetto, deporting Jews to extermination camps at the rate of six to ten thousand per day. Deportation started on 8 Av. Over 64,000 Jews were transported to Treblinka in July. By autumn there were only 40,000 Jews left in Warsaw. Just to top it off, 500 mental patients were killed on this day in Kobierzyn (Poland).
  • Warsaw Ghetto Cleansed - 9 Av 5703. By early 1943, the Jews refused to cooperate with the Germans and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began. Renewed attempts to start deportations were answered with reprisals.
  • From July 16 (8 Av 5754) through July 22, 1994, pieces of an object designated as Comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with Jupiter. This is the first collision of two solar system bodies ever to be observed, and the effects of the comet impacts on Jupiter's atmosphere have been simply spectacular and beyond expectations. Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 consisted of at least 21 discernable fragments with diameters estimated at up to two kilometers. (9 Av 5754) Signs in the heavens.

Two events on a given day is 1 in 365 days. 3 events on the same day is 1 X 365 X 365 = 133,225
Hence, the odds on these fourteen events happening to the same people, the same country, over the centuries on the same day is 1 chance in 15.318 billion times a billion times a billion or:
15,318,685,820,000,000,000,000,000,000!!!!!
(365 raised to the 11th power = 1.53186582 x 10 to the 28th power.)
A 1 in 20 is a notable event!!!!
 
Do you attend a shul or synagogue, Abdicate? If so, what does your community usually do on the evening of the 9th of Av? Just curious. :)
 
Two events on a given day is 1 in 365 days. 3 events on the same day is 1 X 365 X 365 = 133,225
Hence, the odds on these fourteen events happening to the same people, the same country, over the centuries on the same day is 1 chance in 15.318 billion times a billion times a billion or:
15,318,685,820,000,000,000,000,000,000!!!!!
(365 raised to the 11th power = 1.53186582 x 10 to the 28th power.)
A 1 in 20 is a notable event!!!!
Really fascinating stuff!

I think your method of calculating odds is skewed though. The 1 in 365 ratio assumes only one significant event can happen per year and that significant event happens to fall on the same day repeatedly. In this case we're picking a date and then checking each year to see if an event falls on that date. To get a true sense of how unusual Av 9 is I think you would have to do the same for every day of the year and then rank the days according to which is the most eventful. Which would be a really interesting read! You could write another book!
 
Really fascinating stuff!

I think your method of calculating odds is skewed though. The 1 in 365 ratio assumes only one significant event can happen per year and that significant event happens to fall on the same day repeatedly. In this case we're picking a date and then checking each year to see if an event falls on that date. To get a true sense of how unusual Av 9 is I think you would have to do the same for every day of the year and then rank the days according to which is the most eventful. Which would be a really interesting read! You could write another book!
Yea, you don't grasp the significance of these events happening to the same people on the same day on a calendar that only exists for those people and is never on the exact number of days apart from year to year.
 
Back
Top