Faith & Remembrance: Lessons from Tisha B'Av

The Book of Lamentations contains some of the most consoling words known by many Christians:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lam 3:22–23)

Yet the writer of Lamentations explores two chapters of devastation and grief before declaring the faithfulness of God. Lamentations does not deny suffering, but declares that suffering will not have the final word.

This tension lies at the heart of Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av (July 22 in 2026). Jewish communities mark this holy day with fasting, prayer, and the reading of Lamentations. This day of mourning remembers the destruction of the First and Second Temples, events that brought death, displacement, and exile, as well as the loss of the sacred center of Jewish worship and communal life.

In more recent times, Tisha B’Av has incorporated memories of persecution, expulsions, and massacres that occurred on or near the Ninth of Av. Together they declare that human lives are precious, hatred has consequences, and forgetting makes repetition of human-induced tragedies easier.

Modern life encourages us to hurry past sorrow. Tisha B’Av asks us to face what has been lost, remember those who suffered, and allow grief to do its necessary work.

Western Christianity often treats grief as private, but Tisha B’Av offers a communal pattern: people fast, sit low to the ground, and read words of lament together. Remembrance becomes more than an idea.

The day is also concerned with more than what others have done to the Jewish people. Jewish tradition connects the destruction of the First Temple with idolatry and injustice, and the fall of the Second Temple with sinat chinam—baseless hatred. Tisha B’Av therefore becomes an occasion for communal self-examination. The question, then, is not only “What have I done?” but also “What have we become?”

What Christians can learn

 For followers of Yeshua, Tisha B’Av is not a divinely instituted Christian observance. We can, however, learn from the care with which Jewish communities have read and embodied Scripture across generations. The day highlights communal repentance: God calls not only righteous individuals but a holy people among whom he chooses to dwell.

For Christians, remembrance must also include humility. Jewish suffering has sometimes been caused or enabled by those who carried the name of Christ. As we remember, we ask where silence, prejudice, or theological arrogance have allowed hatred to flourish.

This day is deeply relevant to CMJ Israel, where our vision is to build communities of faith—in congregations, homes, schools, guest houses and ministry centers, and through networks of prayer and support around the world. We must ask ourselves what kind of people we are becoming. Are we learning to confess and repent together? Do our communities resist contempt and division? Do they make the holiness, love, and presence of God visible?

Tisha B’Av remembers destruction while looking toward restoration. The psalmist promises, “Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy” (Psalm 126:5), while Isaiah speaks of the One who gives his people “a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning” (Isaiah 61:3).

These promises do not erase the ruins; rather, they declare that God can bring life from them. So we ask: Do we mourn only what has been taken from us, or also the harm we have done and the suffering we have failed to see? Are we becoming the kind of people among whom God is pleased to dwell?

May remembrance lead us to repentance, repentance to renewed community, and grief to hope in the unfailing mercy of God.

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