The tenth of Av

When do the prohibitions relating to the mourning for the destruction of the Bet ha-Mikdash end?

The Mishnah (Ta'anit 4:7) records that during the week of Tisha B'av, one is forbidden to wash one's clothing or to cut one's hair, but one is permitted to do these actions on Thursday out of respect for Shabbat. This implies that the restrictions are no longer in effect on either the eighth of Av when Tisha B'av is on a Friday, which cannot occur now according to our calendar, or on the tenth of Av, when Tisha B’av is on the other days of the week.

The Talmud (Ta'anit 29b) quotes three opinions as to when the restrictions of mourning for Tisha B’av applied. One, R. Yehuda maintains that one is not to cut one's hair or wash clothing the entire month of Av, and also Rav Papa states that the prohibition of going to court with a non-Jew applies for the whole month of Av. Two, R. Meir maintains that the prohibition are from Rosh Chodesh Av until (including) Tisha B'av, and three, R. Shimon ben Gamliel states the prohibitions are for the week of Tisha B'av, which appears to be the same view as the Mishnah. The Talmud (Ta'anit 30a) quotes Rava that we follow R. Meir and R. Shimon ben Gamliel to be lenient, which means the prohibitions only begin during the week of Tisha B'av and they end immediately after the fast. The principle seems to be that the mourning of Tisha B'av is secondary to Shabbat, and hence there is no mourning that extends into Shabbat.

The Rambam (Laws of fasting, 5:6) and the Shulchan Arukh (Orah Chayyim, 551:3,4) follow Rava, and rule that the prohibitions of washing clothes and cutting hair is from Sunday of the week of Tisha B'av until the end of Tisha B'av. The Rambam makes no reference to the 10th of Av, and it seems that for him that it was just a regular day. However, another tradition developed amongst Ashkenazim.

The view that the 10th day of Av is a day of mourning is most strongly expressed in the Yerushalmi (Ta'anit 4:6), which records that R. Yehoshua b. Levi and R. Avin fasted on both the 9th and the 10th of Av, and that R. Levi fasted on the 9th and the night of the 10th of Av. Furthermore, the Yerushalmi (also in Bavli, Megillah 5b) quotes that Rebbi (the first Yehuda ha-Nasi or his grandson?) wanted to uproot Tisha B'av. Tosafot (Megillah 5b, u-bikesh ka-pakor) is bothered by such a thought, and they suggest that either Rebbi wanted to remove some of the prohibitions of Tisha B'av or he wanted to move the fast day to the 10th of Av instead of the 9th of Av. Tosafot brings a proof for this latter possibility since the Talmud (Bavli, Ta'anit 29a) quotes R. Yochanon (I believe the Amora, 180-279, Galilee, and not R. Yochanon ben Zakkai) that had he been alive in the generation that established the fast day of Tisha B'av he would have picked the tenth instead of the ninth. One interesting common denominator of the opinions that desire to commemorate the 10th of Av is that they all come from people in Israel and not Bavel.

What is the significance of the 10th of Av? With regard to the first Bet ha-Mikdash, Kings II 25:8,9 records that it was destroyed on the 7th of Av, but the book of Jeremiah 52:10 records that it was destroyed on the 10th of Av. The Talmud (Ta’anit 29a) reconciles these opinions that on the seventh the Babylonians entered the sanctuary, began destroying the Bet ha-Mikdash and the destruction ended on the 10th. Thus, it appears that the observance of the 10th of Av as a fast day is due to the fact that the Bet ha-Mikdash was also destroyed on the 10th. Yet, if the basis for observing the 10th day as a day of mourning for the Bet ha-Mikdash is from the destruction of the first Bet ha-Mikdash, then one would not have expected different customs from people in Israel than in Bavel.

Maybe instead it was the destruction of the second Bet ha-Mikdash that prompted the view that the 10th of Av should also be a day of mourning for the destruction of the Bet ha-Mikdash. The Talmud (Bavli, Ta'anit 29a) asks how do we know that the second Bet ha-Mikdash was destroyed on the 9th of Av and it answers that this was an appropriate day since the 9th of Av is an ill-fated day. This is a non-definitive answer. A different source is that Josephus (The Jewish War, 6, 4, 5) writes that the second Bet ha-Mikdash was destroyed on the 10th of Av. Could it be that there was a tradition in Israel that believed that really the second Bet ha-Mikdash was destroyed on the 10th of Av and this was the reason for viewing the day as a day of mourning? It is interesting that Encyclopedia Judaica (1971, 10:147) writes with regard to R. Yochanon that he transmitted much historical information from the period of the second Bet ha-Mikdash including "many traditions concerning the destruction of the second Bet ha-Mikdash."

The opinions of the Yerushalmi that view the 10th of Av as a day of mourning continued in the Middle Ages in Ashkenazi Jewry. The Maharil (1365-1427, Germany, quoted in the Bet Yosef Orah Chayyim 558) writes that when Tisha B'av is moved from Shabbat to Sunday, then those who fast two days, the 9th and the 10th of Av, do not have to fast on the 11th of Av (Monday), but they should not eat meat or drink wine on Sunday night, the night following Tisha B'av. We see that some people fasted two days as recorded in the Yerushalmi, and this is not so surprising due to the close connection between the customs of Israel of the first millennium to Medieval Ashkenazi Jewry. To the best of my knowledge this custom is no longer adhered to, but at least until the 17th century there is evidence that some people maintained the custom because the Magen Avraham (1637-1683, 558:2) quotes the Shelah (1565-1630) that those people who fast on the 10th of Av should read Eichah!

The second stage of the development of the custom of mourning on the 10th day of Av is from the Tur (1275-1340, Germany and Spain, Orah Chayyim 558). The Tur writes that we are too weak to fast for two consecutive days, but in order to have some measure of affliction on the 10th of Av, one should abstain from eating meat and drinking wine on the 10th of Av. The Shulchan Arukh (1488, Spain – 1575, Safet, 558:1) accepted the opinion of the Tur, which he calls a correct custom. The Rama (1525 or 1530-1572) also follows the Tur, but he writes that the restriction on eating meat and drinking wine is only until midday of the 10th, unless Tisha B'av is pushed off to the 10th and then one should just not eat meat or drink wine on the night following Tisha B'av. This ruling lessens the prohibition as recorded by the Tur and the Shulchan Arukh since it reduces the time that the prohibition is applicable. The Taz (1586-1667, 558:1) writes that this custom (not eating meat until midday or not eating meat at night?) had just been accepted forty years ago prior to when he wrote his comments, but before that people ate meat on the night following Tisha B'av. Thus, it appears that until the 17th century, the accepted practice was that people washed their clothes, cut their hairs and ate meat immediately after the fast, but a few people did not eat meat on the 10th of Av.

The final and third stage with regard to the development of the 10th day as a day of mourning is that R. Solomon Luria (1510-1574) ruled that the restrictions of not bathing, cutting one's hair or washing clothes extended to the tenth of Av just like custom of not eating meat. The Taz (above) notes that book of Minhagim (R. Isaac Tirna (?), 15th century) ruled that the restrictions were not applicable to the 10th of Av. Also, the Mishnah Brurah (1838-1933) in his commentary Biur Halacha (558) writes that it seems to him that these restrictions should not apply to the 10th of Av, but since they have already been accepted, he does not want to rule against other authorities who accepted these restrictions. Thus, the restrictions against cutting one's hair and washing one's clothes on the 10th of Av were accepted by the Ashkenazim, see Aruch Hashulchan (1829-1908, 558:2) and Mishnah Brurah (558:3). With regard to Sefardim, R. Chayyim David Ha-Levi ( 1924-1998, Kitzur Shulchan Arukh 98:6) writes that some people do not eat meat all day on the tenth, some do not eat until midday and some eat immediately after the fast, but he makes no mention of any prohibitions of not cutting one's hair or washing one's clothes on the tenth of Av.

When Tisha B'av is on Thursday, the Magen Avraham (558:1) writes that it is obvious that one can wash clothes and have haircuts on the tenth out of respect for Shabbat. The question is does the Magen Avraham refer to Friday morning or to Thursday night after the fast? Tosafot (Ta'anit 30a, Travayhu) writes that when Tisha B'av is on Thursday, it is permitted to wash clothing and have haircuts after midday on Tisha B'av, and a person should not wait until Friday since one needs to prepare for Shabbat. This Tosafot is quite surprising, but it just follows the rule of the Mishnah and the Talmud that Shabbat takes precedence over Tisha B'av. While I am unaware of anybody today who relies on this Tosafot with regard to Tisha B'av itself, but from Tosafot we see that immediately after the fast one can wash clothing and have haircuts when Tisha B'av is on Thursday, see R. Shimon Eider, 1978, p. 32. However, one would not be permitted to eat meat on the tenth of Av since that it not needed for the preparations for Shabbat.

In conclusion, we see that initially the people who mourned on the 10th of Av viewed it as a continuation of the mourning for Tisha B'av, but then the mourning on the day changed from being comparable to Tisha B'av to being comparable to the days prior to Tisha B'av, where one cannot eat meat, nor drink wine, nor wash clothes, etc. This means that nowadays the mourning on the 10th of Av is anticlimactic after the fasting on Tisha B'av.

Bibliography:

Eider, Shimon, (d. 2007) 1978, A summary of halachos of the three weeks, Lakewood, NJ.