Meeting the Tisha B'Av Challenge: Being Serious and Funny at Once

Today is Tisha B'Av -- the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av, the saddest day of the year in the Jewish calendar. It marks the day when the Holy Temples were destroyed, and, over the years it was also adopted as the day to commemorate other tragedies that occurred on the same day.

So the question is what to post on a day like this. In previous years we explored Jewish history, particularly with regard to Jerusalem, and reflected on the destruction of the Temples.

But in keeping with our belief that no day, no matter how serious it is, should pass without a light moment, today we're sharing a lesson in how to put on tefillin spoken to the beat of an a cappella rap. Incidentally, the tefillin, or phylacteries, worn on weekdays for the Shacharit morning service, are worn on Tisha B'Av in the afternoon Mincha Service.

Our thanks go out to the Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs (FMJC) for producing and posting this video on YouTube. 

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)