Taanit 30b (ל:) — the Talmud in English

They would bring him

dry bread

[dried]

with salt,

and

he would

sit

between the oven and the stove

[which is a disgraceful place]—and eat his bread,

and drink a pitcher

[a type of vessel]

of water, and

subject himself to such suffering that he

appeared like one whose dead was lying before him.

The Rama [section 552] “quotation:

We learned there

[we learned there, in tractate Berakhot]:

In a place where they were accustomed to perform work on Tisha B’Av—

they perform it.

In a place where they were accustomed not to perform

work on Tisha B’Av—

they do not perform it.

And everywhere,

whether the local custom is so or not,

Torah scholars refrain from work.

This does not mean that they refrain from their learning, since everyone is prohibited from studying Torah on Tisha B’Av. Rather, they refrain from their work. And so Rashi wrote in tractate Pesaḥim [54b].

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: A person should always make himself like a Torah scholar,

even if he is not one, and refrain from work on Tisha B’Av; this does not constitute arrogance.

It was taught likewise

[we likewise learned in a beraita, in accordance with the Mishna]

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: A person should always make himself like a Torah scholar, so that he will afflict himself .

That is, it is permitted and appropriate for a person to make himself like a Torah scholar in matters such as these, which do not bring him pleasure or honor, but rather suffering.

And refraining from work is suffering ; therefore it is appropriate for every person to conduct himself in this matter like Torah scholars.

It was taught in another beraita

[we learned in another beraita]:

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: Anyone who eats and drinks on Tisha B’Av,

the matter is as serious

as though he ate and drank on Yom Kippur,

, namely:

since eating and drinking on it are prohibited by Torah law, and one who eats and drinks on it is liable to karet.

Rabbi Akiva says: Anyone who performs work

“quotation:

on Tisha B’Av—

“quotation:

will never see a sign of blessing

from that work

forever.

Terumat HaDeshen [part I, section 153] the expression wrote that a distinction must be made between the prohibition of work on Tisha B’Av and the prohibition of work during Ḥol HaMoed. During Ḥol HaMoed, when the prohibition of work is due to the requirement to rest, the Sages permitted all ordinary work that is not laborious, as well as anything done for the sake of the festival’s joy. This is not so with refraining from work on Tisha B’Av, which is due to affliction; therefore every type of work is prohibited, whether laborious or not. Even ordinary work, if it takes some time and one enjoys doing it, should not be performed on Tisha B’Av, because in doing so one thereby ceases to be afflicted. But work that does not take time, such as lighting candles, tying, and untying, is obviously permitted on Tisha B’Av. See there. y because the affliction is thereby nullified. But labors that do not take time, such as lighting candles and The wording “quotation:

And the Sages say: Anyone who performs work on Tisha B’Av and does not mourn Jerusalem—

“quotation:

will not see her rejoicing

in the future, when the Messiah comes.

As it is stated: “Rejoice with Jerusalem and exult in her, all who love her;

rejoice with her in joy, all who mourn for her.”

Thus we learn that only those who mourn Jerusalem out of their love for her will merit rejoicing with her when she is rebuilt speedily in our days.

From here they said: Whoever mourns Jerusalem—

will merit and see her rejoicing.

But whoever does not mourn Jerusalem—

will not see her rejoicing.

It was taught likewise: Anyone who eats meat and drinks wine on the

evening

the

of Tisha B’Av,

at the final meal before the fast ,

with regard to him the verse states: “Their iniquities shall be upon their bones” .

So Rashi wrote. For it is impossible to explain that this refers to one who eats on Tisha B’Av itself, since we said above that it is like eating on Yom Kippur. Moreover, this prohibition is not specifically related to meat and wine. Maharatz Ḥayyut. The Ritva explains that this means that their bones will not be revived in the future resurrection of the dead that will take place with the rebuilding of the Temple, for those who died in exile and awaited salvation. Regarding them the verse states [Daniel 12]: “quotation:

We learned in our Mishna:

Rabbi Yehuda obligates one to overturn

the bed.

But the Sages did not agree with him.

It was taught: They said to him,

the Sages

to Rabbi Yehuda: According to your view,

since one does not sleep on beds but on the ground, women

who are pregnant

[literally, pregnant women]

and nursing women,

who cannot lie on the ground—

what will become of them?

He said to them: I too said

that one is obligated to overturn the bed only

for

one who

can

do so. But women, who cannot do so, are not obligated.

It was taught likewise:

In truth, Rabbi Yehuda and the Sages did not disagree on this matter, regarding whether one is obligated to overturn the bed on which he normally sleeps and lie on the ground.

For

Rabbi Yehuda concedes to the Sages with regard to one who cannot

sleep on the ground, that he need not do so.

And the Sages concede to Rabbi Yehuda with regard to one who can

sleep on the ground, that he must conduct himself in this manner.

Rather,

what is the difference between them,

in what did Rabbi Yehuda and the Sages disagree?

There is a difference between them:

They disagree on this matter: Must one overturn also

the other

beds

in the house,

on which no one sleeps, or not?

As it was taught: When they said

that one must

overturn the bed, it is not only his bed that he overturns; rather, all the beds

he overturns, all of them.

This is Rabbi Yehuda’s position. But the Sages disagree on this matter and maintain that one overturns only his own bed, and not the other beds in the house.

Rava said: The halakha is in accordance with the tanna of our Mishna

[the halakha is like our tanna], who taught that Rabbi Yehuda and the Sages disagreed regarding the fundamental obligation to overturn the bed. Rabbi Yehuda maintains that one must overturn the bed on which he normally sleeps,

but the Sages did not agree with him at all,

and their view is that one need not overturn any beds. And the halakha follows their view: one need not overturn anything.

We learned in our Mishna:

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: There were no days as festive for Israel as the fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur.

The Gemara asks:

Granted, as for Yom Kippur,

it is understandable that it is a festival for Israel

because it contains

[there is in it]

forgiveness and pardon,

for it is the

day on which the second Tablets were given

[the latter ones] to Israel , and forgiveness and pardon were granted to Israel.

Therefore, because it is a day of forgiveness and pardon, the fast of Yom Kippur was established on that day, on the tenth of Tishrei, to make known that the Holy One, blessed be He, had forgiven and pardoned, and regretted the evil that He had said He would do to His people .

But as for the fifteenth of Av, what is it?

[Why was this day established as a festival?] What is special about this day?

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel:

This was

the day on which the tribes were permitted to intermarry.

For the Torah states: “And every daughter who possesses an inheritance from the tribes of the children of Israel shall be a wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father, and no inheritance shall pass from one tribe of the children of Israel to another tribe, for the children of Israel shall cleave each man to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers, and so forth.”

That is, daughters who inherited their father’s inheritance [when he had no son] had to marry specifically men from their father’s tribe. They were forbidden to marry men from another tribe, so that an inheritance would not pass from one tribe to another.

The Sages arose and permitted the matter, saying that daughters who inherited an inheritance were permitted to marry men from another tribe. This occurred on the fifteenth of Av. What did they expound

[what did the Sages expound] that led them to permit the matter?

They expounded as follows: It is written:

This is what they derived: It is written:

“This is the matter that the Lord commanded concerning the daughters of Zelophehad,

but only into the family of the tribe of their father shall they be wives, and so forth.” It follows that

this matter,

that daughters who inherit an inheritance must marry only men from their own tribe,

shall not apply—

except in this generation,

the generation of the wilderness.

The Gemara brings another opinion concerning our subject: What was the special joy of the fifteenth of Av, on account of which this day was established as a festival?

Rav Yosef said in the name of Rav Naḥman:

The day

of the fifteenth of Av was the day

on which it became permitted

for

the tribe of Benjamin to enter the congregation.

For in the incident of the concubine at Gibeah [recounted in the Book of Judges, chapter 20], Israel prohibited all the tribes from giving their daughters to men from the tribe of Benjamin.

As it is stated: “And the men of Israel swore at Mizpah, saying: No man among us

[among us]

the passage

shall give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.”

What did they expound

[what did the Sages expound] that led them to permit marriage to men from Benjamin?

Rav said:

For the verse says: “No man

among us

shall give his daughter, and so forth.” Thus the children of Israel said: None of us will give his daughter to the children of Benjamin. But the prohibition applied specifically to each one of us,

and not

to anyone

among our children

who would come after us.

The Gemara brings another opinion concerning our subject.

Rabba bar bar Ḥana said

in the name of

Rabbi Yoḥanan:

The fifteenth of Av was

the day on which the dead of the wilderness had all perished.

That is, on this day the decree that the Holy One, blessed be He, had decreed upon Israel following the incident of the spies—that they would all die in the wilderness—came to an end.

For we find in a midrash that throughout all forty years that Israel was in the wilderness, on the eve of every Tisha B’Av, a herald would announce: Go out and dig! Each Israelite would go out and dig a grave for himself and sleep in it all night, lest he die before digging one and not be buried.

The next morning the herald would again go out and announce: Let the living separate from the dead!

Anyone who still possessed a living soul would emerge from his grave. The rest, who had died, remained buried in their graves.

In the fortieth year they did the same again. In the morning, when the herald announced: Let the living separate from the dead! everyone emerged alive from the graves.

When Israel saw this, they were perplexed and said: Perhaps we miscalculated the month, and this day is not Tisha B’Av! Therefore they continued to lie in the graves for several more days, until the day on which the moon is full, which is the fifteenth of Av. By then it was clear to them that Tisha B’Av had passed.

Once they saw that the ninth of Av had certainly passed, and nevertheless none of them had died, they knew that the calculation of the month was correct; rather, the forty years of the decree had already been completed. And they arose and designated that day as a festival .

For the Master said: Before the generation of the wilderness had entirely died out [

before the death of those who had been decreed to die in the wilderness had been completed]—

there was no

speech becoming uniquely associated with the Holy One, blessed be He

addressed to Moses

with affection .

As it is stated: "And it was when all the men of war

died—

"that the Lord spoke to me".

This indicates that only now did Moses say:

speech was addressed to me,

uniquely and with affection. But until now, before the decree concerning the generation of the wilderness had been completed, speech had not become uniquely associated with Moses.

The Gemara brings another opinion concerning our subject.

Ulla said:

The fifteenth of Av was the

day on which he abolished

the

roadblocks

that

Hoshea ben Elah

[guards]

that Jeroboam ben Nebat had stationed along the roads,

in order

to prevent Israel from going up for the pilgrimage.