witch-of-the-diaspora:

Pictured above is one of the ravens of Masada, in Israel.

Today is Tisha B’Av, the ultimate day of mourning in the Jewish calendar. It’s a cursed day, set in the blazing maw of summer. On this day, over the millennia, the following has happened to the People of Israel:

1. The destruction of the first Temple in Jerusalem, built by King Solomon, was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians in 587 BCE. Thus began the initial exile of the Jews from their homeland.

2. The second Temple in Jerusalem, rebuilt by Nehemia and Ezra, was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. Jerusalem was razed, and the Jewish people were scattered, exiled once more. This was the beginning of the Diaspora.

3. The Jewish revolt of Bar Kokhbah in 132 CE against the Romans was crushed. Roman commander, Turnus Rufus, plowed the site of the destroyed second Temple and the immediate area around it.

4. The fall of the desert fortress of Masada – the last Jewish stronghold left after the Roman invasion of Israel. The Jews of Masada committed mass suicide, preferring honourable death to being captured and enslaved.

5. The first Crusade began on Tish B’Av in 1096. 10,000 Jews were killed in the first month, obliterating Jewish communities in France and the Rhineland. The total number of Jewish lives taken by the end of the first crusade was 1.2 million.

6. The Jews of England were expelled on Tish B’Av in 1290.

7. The Jews of France were expelled on Tish B’Av in 1306.

8. The Jews of Spain were expelled on Tish B’Av in 1492.

9. On Tish B’Av in 1941, SS Commander Heinrich Himmler received the formal approval from the Nazi Party to commence the ‘Final Solution’, resulting in the capture and slaughter of nearly 50% of the world’s Jews.

10. On Tish B’Av in 1942, the liquidation and deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka death camp took place.