While a famous Rabbinic teaching connects the joyous, raucous holiday of Purim to Yom Kippur, a time of physical restraint and spiritual sincerity, no such connection is made with the other great Fast on the Jewish calendar: Tisha B’Av. The salient reason is that fasting on Yom Kippur is ultimately an expression of joy and faith while Tisha B’Av is the only day on which not only food is forbidden but any trappings of joy, even Torah study or uplifting prayer itself. In fact, in direct contrast with the exhortation
A Purim Lament
A Purim Lament
A Purim Lament
While a famous Rabbinic teaching connects the joyous, raucous holiday of Purim to Yom Kippur, a time of physical restraint and spiritual sincerity, no such connection is made with the other great Fast on the Jewish calendar: Tisha B’Av. The salient reason is that fasting on Yom Kippur is ultimately an expression of joy and faith while Tisha B’Av is the only day on which not only food is forbidden but any trappings of joy, even Torah study or uplifting prayer itself. In fact, in direct contrast with the exhortation