JD: What's the historic background of Tisha B'Av?
WM: In our Judaism we have a heavy duty day on the 9th of Av. Like the fast day of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the full 24 hours of no water, no food, most of the time saying prayers. It's because the fact that the Temples were lost which were like the jewel in the crown, the highlight of Jewish relationship between land, people, and God in Jerusalem which was the Temple. We continue to fast because we are a people with a very long memory.
JD: And all of these activities, praying at the different gates around the Temple Mount, reading the book of Lamentations, and of course fasting, creating a desire in the Jewish people for the rebuilding of the next Temple, correct?
WM: Absolutely. Although there is a story that we do not know if it is true or not. But I'll tell the tale to you and our listeners Jimmy. Napoleon was walking around one night in Paris and he heard this bewailing and crying coming from a corner building, he walked in and saw Jews sitting on the floor. He asked someone of authority what are you doing on the floor reading from the Bible the book of Lamentations and crying. They said well our Temple was destroyed. And he said when did it happen? I didn't hear about it. They said it happened a thousand years ago or so. Napoleon said a thousand years ago, twelve hundred years ago. A people that mourns in such a way the loss of the Temple which of course for us also means a loss of political sovereignty will yet regain both the Temple and its political sovereignty. So whether or not the story is true or not Jimmy as we know it does have a cornel of truth and Tisha B'Av was also a contributory factor in bringing Jews back to Zion.
JD: Winkie Medad and his report on the prayerful desire for the rebuilding of a Temple in Jerusalem.
We report this information because it is setting the stage for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled.
For 2,000 years Jews have been praying for their Temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem. Each year on Tisha B'Av the prayer is for a Temple to stand on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem by next Tisha B'Av. Truth be known that Temple could be built very soon because every preparation has been made to build that Temple.
