Tisha B'av - T'shuvah or Aveilus?

 originally posted July 20, 2012

The Rambam and the Mishnah Brurah both suggest that fast days are for Teshuvah, and that apparently includes Tisha b'Av

Yet IIRC the Rav once contrasted the 5 innuyim on YK with those on 9 Av during one of his marathon Kinnot at Maimonides.


In summary:

Y"K the theme is T'shuvah
9 Av the theme is AVEILUT

I elaborate that as follows, based upon the structure of our liturgy:

We say no tachanun
We say no vidduy
We say no S'lichot [although apparently Rav Amram Gaon DID have s'lichot]

Instead we sit like Aveilim and recite Kinnot.

-------------------

I only heard the Rav 3 times on 9 Av, so I cannot rightfully claim the mantle of a spokesman on the Rav's Sheetot.

Contrary to what I heard, it seems that the zeitgeist nowadays is to make "one size fit all"

Pick your bogeyman,
• lashon hara
• talking in shul,
• davening w/o kavvanah
• etc.

And then take that and darshen THE single solution to all of life's woes

Here are my 2 cents

Tisha b'Av is mostly about mourning loss and really not about fixing anything.

When, Chas v'Shalom, a parent dies of EG heart disease, do we get up at the Funeral and preach good diet and exercise to make sure it never happens again!? Instead, we give a hesped over our loss of our beloved relative.

IMHO we have succeeded in distracting ourselves from the Tachlit of the day, viz. Mourning our collective catastrophes.

Shalom and Regards,
RRW