Tisha B’Av

May we all experience a peaceful Shabbat and an easy, meaningful fast.

Comments

  1. You too. Would you mind adding my blog to your blogroll, and I will do the same?

  2. My mistake: you are already in my blogroll; how about reciprocating?

  3. why is it ONLY on a fast day I’m actually very hungry in the morning??
    Did everyone read Rabbi Riskin’s column in last Friday’s Jlm Post?? We mourn not because we lost the Temple, but why we lost the Temple, “sensitize our souls to the specter of defeat and the senseless hatred that caused it, lest we fall into a similar trap.”
    My question is yes, fasting is supposed to make us more spiritual, but does it really do that for you? It just makes me uncomfortable and think more about my body.
    What am I missing here?

  4. mother in israel says

    Klara, I also find it challenging to make Tisha B’Av meaningful today Our shiur group met, and that helped. Thanks, BB, for the suggestions.
    A lot of women find fasting during nursing than during pregnancy. And nursing an active, older baby, who consumes more calories, can be harder than nursing a younger one. I’m glad it went so well.

  5. mother in israel says

    BB: By breaking up the fights, you are teaching your kids about the dangers of sinat chinam,no?

  6. This is not a response to Klara but I just wanted to let MiI know that being 8 months pregnant and fasting was easier than nursing and fasting-for me at least. I got a heter that once I don’t feel well I can eat. It didn’t happen. I actually felt really good, had more energy than usual for a fast day, and was able to rest and take care of the kiddies b/c my hubby helped out a lot. Hope everyone else out there had an easy fast.
    As a response to Klara, yea I see what you’re saying. I do that spiritual stuff when the kids are asleep. I read the Artscroll Tisha b’Av book to help keep me focussed. This year I also read over the book of Iyov. This was all in between breaking up the kids fights etc. Most other Tisha b’avs I would go on the Aish Hatorah website. They have tons of reading material and a really good virtual Kotel Tunnel Tours tour. It’s worth it to go through it now if you have never done it. That’s the meaningful part.

  7. mother in israel says

    Abbi, so you’re saying that you managed in the end? How long did it take for him to feel satisfied again?
    My comments are getting published erratically again. Klara, I feel fasting adds to the observance. 9 Av is harder for many reasons. BB, thanks for your suggestions.

  8. I’m nursing a 2.5 month old, who eats every 2.5 hours and does not take a bottle (he used to take one so nicely, then a skipped a few weeks and now it’s a no go). I was fine all day, until the last two hours. Then I started to feel really sick and dizzy and my milk was really down to a trickle ( i was surprised i’d have any; but since mr. picky is used to a torrent, the trickle wasn’t up to his standards and he was on and off.) finally, i gave up, put him in the swing and let my husband deal with the girls, who were fine pretty much the whole day (thanks to Hop and the olympics on TV).
    As for not feeling “spiritual”: i think since i’ve given birth to my first, it’s been hard to keep up with spiritual matters in general; i have nice memories of Tisha B’av in camp, which was a very intense experience complete with torch lit processions through the woods, etc. if I can make it to eicha and give a cogent explanation of the day to my five year old, i feel like i’ve fulfilled my spiritual duties…

  9. I hate being in chutz for Tisha B’Av, it’s especially painful, less meaningful, but more painful. Next year, G-d willing, we’ll all be in Yerushalayim. Or maybe Petach Tikvah, for a few days đŸ™‚

  10. Of course every time I had to break up my kids fights it would come with some sort of comment about how the beit hamikdash was destroyed because of sinat chinam and how we should be extra specially nice on this day.
    MiI I don’t know what age you referred to when you said that it’s harder to nurse an older baby but I always found it much harder to nurse an infant. My son nursed every two hours for a half hour each time. Now that was really draining. Once they were introduced to solids I could always count on that to supplement with. They weren’t only dependant on my milk which, like Abbi said, usually decreases in supply by the end of a fast.

  11. He basically skipped his 7pm feeding, and ate a regular feed at 9, a bit more at 10:30, and was down for the night till 3:45. I was really surprised, I thought he’d be up a lot more making up for the day, because I felt like he ate less in general, but I guess i was wrong. Today was a normal day as well.
    I think I just have a particularly strong milk supply. I would a imagine a woman who has more supply trouble could really be felled by a fast like that.

  12. He basically skipped his 7pm feeding, and ate a regular feed at 9, a bit more at 10:30, and was down for the night till 3:45. I was really surprised, I thought he’d be up a lot more making up for the day, because I felt like he ate less in general, but I guess i was wrong. Today was a normal day as well.
    I think I just have a particularly strong milk supply. I would a imagine a woman who has more supply trouble could really be felled by a fast like that.

  13. mother in israel says

    BB, I did mean an older baby who may be on solids, say 10-11 months. Many are dependent enough on breastmilk that fasting is hard. And even if not, the physical care they require uses up more energy, regardless of the nursing.
    TD, hope it wasn’t as hot there as it was here. Although we are definitely having a mild summer, with humidity below the unbearable level and some coolness in the evenings.
    Abbi, is he generally fussy in the evening? Fortunately most mothers make more than enough milk. Even Rav Cherlow said that circumstances might exempt a woman from fasting. I think that any mother with borderline supply, or one who knows that she doesn’t fast well in general, should ask a question.