Anyone who has spent an entire morning in a shul or Orthodox summer camp knows that the mood of Tisha B’av changes perceptibly at midday, or “chatzos.” Numerous restrictions or practices of mourning are eased upon the arrival of (halachic) midday. Perhaps most notably, the custom to sit on the ground for kinnos is limited to the first half of the day (Shulchan Aruch O.C. 559:3); the custom is to wait until Mincha to don one’s tallis and tefillin (ibid. 555:1) and to only recite the paragraph of Tiskabel in Kaddish at Mincha (ibid. 559:4). Additional leniencies include permitting cooking for after the fast, (ibid. 559:10) and, according to the Rama, working in general (ibid. 554:22). Additionally, a mourner who is in his week of shiva is similarly permitted to attend shul on Tisha B’av morning, because everyone attending is also in a state of “mourning,” but this is not true of attending Mincha (ibid. 559:3).

The practice of lightening some of the restrictions of Tisha B’av is mentioned by some of the most ancient, post-Talmudic sources. A responsum of Rav Hai Gaon (Babylonia, 939–1038)1 discusses a custom that developed in Egypt to permit wearing leather shoes after midday. In order to defend this seemingly incorrect practice, it was suggested that perhaps one could apply a rule that is relevant to other laws of mourning: miktzas hayom ke-kulo, part of the day can count as a whole day.2 Therefore, the questioner thought, perhaps fulfilling the practices of mourning for only part of the day of Tisha B’av is sufficient as if one had done so all day. However, Rav Hai disagrees with this analysis. The tragedy of Tisha B’av, he writes, is such that it would have been worthy of many days of mourning, but we simply cannot do so. Instead, the rabbis have instituted one full day of mourning, and therefore those prohibitions associated with mourning remain in full force for the entire day.  

Although Rav Hai Gaon is discussing the rabbinically mandated prohibitions, and not those customs of mourning which have developed throughout the years (such as sitting on the floor), the idea of easing any expressions of mourning during the afternoon of Tisha B’av appears to run counter to the spirit of Rav Hai Gaon’s responsa.3 If the Sages declared a day of mourning, how could we be lenient before the day is over? Other sources, therefore, have tried to justify the common practice of lessening the sense of mourning on Tisha B’av afternoon. One such justification, expressed by Rabbeinu David bar Levi (13th century Narbonne),4 is that we are worried that mourning fully for the entire day, year after year, has the potential to lead one to a feeling of hopelessness and to give up on the belief in our ultimate redemption. In order to counter this potential for despondency, some communities allowed for easing a few of the practices of mourning so as to create a “remembrance for the redeemer and comforter,” just as we have a commemoration of the destruction. A student of Maharam of Rothenberg, the author of the Tanya Rabbasi, notes that the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy are read only at Mincha of Tisha B’av, and explains simply that “the afternoon of Tisha B’av is a time of consoling.” The reason for this, however, is left unexplained: why, of all times, is Tisha B’av afternoon the most appropriate time to be consoled and reminded of the eventual redemption? Especially considering Rav Hai Gaon’s remarks, it would seem that the opposite should be true!

The simplest answer may just be that we don’t want to fall into despair, as mentioned. Alternatively, the same line of thought provided to explain why our custom developed to recite the “Nachem” prayer only during Mincha of Tisha B’av may be applied here. Noting that it was only on Tisha B’av afternoon that the Temple began to burn down (Taanis 29a), many5 have understood that until the afternoon, the tragedy of the day has not yet been finalized, and so it is impossible to be comforted, just as someone who lost a relative is initially preoccupied with the burial, and only after the burial can accept condolences. Quoting the Vilna Gaon,6 the Mishnah Berurah (555:3) provides another answer to this question, based upon a midrash (Eichah Rabbah, Parsha 4) that writes that due to their sins, the very existence of the Jewish people hung in the balance on Tisha B’av, but God decided to spare us and instead burn down His temple. Easing the mourning on Tisha B’av afternoon, then, is an expression of relief. 

However, there may be a deeper reason as to why it would be so important to display a measure of comfort specifically during our day of mourning. The Sefer Hamichtam noted that dwelling too much on the tragedies of Tisha B’av has the danger to lead to despair, but the entire day and its history also presents us with a theological difficulty. The nighttime and morning of Tisha B’av are devoted to asking rhetorically, “eichah,” how can it be, how can it be that God seems to have abandoned His temple, His city, and His people? Perhaps the second half of Tisha B’av is meant to answer this painful question. Rabbeinu Yonah (Shaarei Teshuvah 2:5) writes:

ויש על הבוטח בשם להוחיל במעוף צוקתו, כי יהיה החושך סבת האורה ... אלמלא נפלתי לא קמתי, אלמלא ישבתי בחושך לא היה אור לי.

Whomever believes in God must anticipate, in the flight of his anguish, that the darkness will itself be the reason for the light . . . that if I had not fallen, I would not have gotten up; if I had not sat in the darkness, I would not have had light.

 In other words, it is precisely because of and through the tragedy that God will provide us with our ultimate redemption, and as believers in God’s providence and benevolence we must believe that the destruction was somehow necessary for rebuilding. 

In listing the five tragedies that occurred on Tisha B’av, the Rambam writes (Hilchos Taanis 5:3):

ותשעה באב חמשה דברים אירעו בו... ובו ביום המוכן לפורענות חרש טורנוסרופוס הרשע את ההיכל ואת סביביו לקיים מה שנאמר ציון שדה תחרש

The Ninth of Av had five things occur on it . . . and on that day which was destined for calamity, the wicked Turnusrufus plowed over the Temple and its environs, in fulfillment of the verse, “Zion will be plowed over like a field” (Micha 3:12).

The formulation of the fifth tragedy, that Zion was “plowed over like a field,” is contextualized by the Rambam as occurring “on that day,” as if to emphasize that perhaps this particular tragedy is most emblematic of the nature of Tisha B’av. The catastrophes of Tisha B’av, in all their enormity, fulfill the words of our prophets and are surely part of God’s plan. Metaphorically speaking, Zion has been “plowed,” destroyed only in order to prepare for the sowing of new seeds.7 May we see the sprouting of those seeds speedily in our days.

Notes

1 Quoted in Otzar Ha-Geonim, Taanis pg. 48 and referenced by Shibolei HaLeket no. 272.

2 See Mo’ed Kattan 29b. It is for this reason that the current practice is for mourners to end the seventh day of shiva shortly after Shachris, instead of spending the entire seventh day sitting shiva.

3 However, the Ritz Gaies in Hilchos Tisha B’av quotes from Rav Hai Gaon that one should not change the custom that some communities developed to remove the coverings from the Torah on Tisha B’av morning but to return them for Mincha. Apparently, despite his strong stance regarding the laws of mourning, Rav Hai Gaon himself does not disapprove of ceasing to practice the customs of mourning after midday.

4 In Sefer Hamichtam to Rif on Taanis 30a.

5 See Ritva (Teshuvah #63), R. Yosef Karo (Beis Yosef, O.C. 553), and Bach (ibid.).

6 Cf. the Ari z”l in Shaar Ha-Kavanos, Derushei Chag Ha-Shavuos 1.

7 R. Yitzchak Pinchas Goldwasser, Lesason U-Lesimcha pp. 108–109; see there for further elaboration.