Bible Gateway Blog

Tisha B’Av – a day of fasting and prayer for the Jewish community, begins the evening of August 10th and ends on the 11th.

This period of mourning commemorates the many tragedies suffered throughout Jewish history on this day, including the destruction of Solomon’s temple by the Babylonian Empire and the Second Temple by the Roman Empire in Jerusalem.

Throughout the course of Jewish history, this day has been marked by other tragedies: the final revolt against the Romans was crushed in AD 135; the expulsion of the Jews from Spain was decreed in 1492; and in 1942, on this day, the Nazis began deporting Jews from Poland’s Warsaw Ghetto to the death camps.

The Old Testament of the Bible is filled with outcries of grief, from Lamentations to the Psalms. But in Matthew 5:4, at the beginning of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, he says,

Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.

Comfort in Sorrow is a series of seven free email devotions exploring the depths of tragedy, and what we can do to transform darkness into light.

Meditate on how hope emerges from sorrow when you sign up to receive the brief 7-day free email devotional by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, Comfort in Sorrow. Also included in each day’s devotional is a different Hebrew word-of-the-day; a fun way to learn new Hebrew concepts.

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