Tisha B'Av Special - Shai Abramson and IDF Rabbinical Choir Sing "If I Forget Thee O Jerusalem"

There is no day during the year when we can't find an opportunity to laugh, chuckle, guffaw, grin, or maybe just crack a smile.  Without humor, the world would be a much grimmer place.  

Even during the High Holy Days and on fast days, most of us find a moment to share an anecdote or witty comment with friends.  

Today is no exception, but the overall mood is much more sorrowful than any other.  The reason, of course, is that today is Tisha B'Av, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av.

Tisha B’Av is a fast day that commemorates the destruction of the two Temples. It also happens to be the day that many other calamities have befallen the Jewish people, some of which are listed below.

• 587 BCE (3338)- The First Temple is destroyed by the Babylonians, led by Nebuchadnezzar. The Jews are sent into what later became known as the Babylonian Exile.
• 70 CE (3830)- The Second Temple is destroyed by the Romans, led by Titus.
• 135 CE (3895) - The Romans defeat Bar Kochba's last fortress, Betar, and destroy his army. Bar Kochba himself is killed along with more than 100,000 other Jews. The Roman Emperor Hadrian turns Jerusalem into a Roman city.
• 1290 (5050) - King Edward I of England signs an edict expelling all Jews from England.
• 1492 (5252) - The Alhambra Decree takes effect, expelling the Jews from Spain and from all Spanish territories.
• 1914 (5674) - World War I begins when Germany declares war on Russia, setting the stage for World War II and the Holocaust.
• 1940 (5700) - Himmler presents his plan for the "Final Solution" to the Jewish problem to the Nazi Party.
• 1942 (5702) - Nazis begin deporting Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto. 

On Tisha B'Av, Jews gather in darkened synagogues to read Eicha (The Book of Lamentations) and reflect on the tragedies that befell our people through the millennia.

So we won't post any jokes or hilarity today, but instead we're sharing a performance by IDF Chief Cantor Shai Abramson and the IDF Rabbinical Choir of Im Eshkachech Yerushalayim (If I Forget Thee O Jerusalem), the words coming from Psalm 137.

If I forget you, O Yerushalayim, let my right hand wither;

im esh-ka-KHAYKH y’-ru-sha-LA-im tish-KAKH y’-mee-NEE

ה  אִם־אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ יְרוּשָׁלִָם תִּשְׁכַּח יְמִינִי׃

Psalm 137 was written by the rivers of Babylon, where the exiled Jews wailed and lamented the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash. They wondered how they would continue to endure on foreign soil. How could they sing the songs of Hashem, which were supposed to be sung in the Temple, there? Their answer was an oath to never forget Yerushalayim. Today, this psalm is recited at Jewish weddings just before the groom breaks a glass, ensuring that Jerusalem is always at the forefront of our minds and reminding us that no joyous occasion is complete until Yerushalayim is restored to its former glory.

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