Canada’s Statement on Tisha B’Av

By COLlive reporter

Canada’s Minister of National Defence and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney, who has close ties to the Jewish community and is a known friend of Israel, issued the following statement on July 24, 2015 to commemorate Tisha B’Av:

“Tomorrow at sundown marks the beginning of Tisha B’av, an annual day of mourning, fasting, and remembrance in the Jewish calendar.

“Falling on the ninth day of the month of Av, Tisha B’av marks the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. More than six centuries later on the same date, the Second Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.

“The date also marks the occurrence of several other tragedies, including the destruction of Jerusalem in 136, the expulsions of the Jewish community of England in 1290 and of Spain in 1492, and the beginning of the mass deportations of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942.

“On Tisha B’av, Jewish communities around the world will fast and pray to remember these historical wrongs on what is considered the ‘saddest day in Jewish history.’

“Tomorrow I will join with the Jewish community in remembering and mourning the oppression, violence, and suffering that the Jewish people have experienced throughout history, and I encourage all Canadians to do the same.”