Karaite influence:
Among Karaite Jews there was a sect which emphasized the destruction much more that traditional Jews. They abstained from meat and wine and wore black mourning garments all year long, even on Shabbat. While in the early days of this sect Rabbinic Judaism rejected it vehemently, at a certain point some scholars who had contact with Karaite Jews had to "live up" to their standards in order to show that they care as much about the destruction as the Karaites do. This was especially evident in the 10-11 century in Germany, as Yaacov Gartner writes:
The Mourners of Zion had a significant influence on the development of Tisha BeAv practices, especially on the practices which were meant to turn Tisha BeAv and the days around it into a period of actual mourning.[i]
Indeed, Rabbi Yisakhar Tamar, in his monumental commentary on Talmud Yerushalmi, refers several times to this phenomenon in Germany:
In Rosh HaShana prayers they would add "may this will be the last year of our exile and mourning" - this is a proof that the pious Jews of Germany would mourn for the destruction all year long...[ii] the Mourners of Zion and Jerusalem dressed in black every Shabbat, and so writes the traveler Benjamin of Tudela...[iii]
Rabbi David and his son Rabbi Hillel Altschuler, who lived in 17th and 18th century Prague, write in their commentary Isaiah, Metzudat David, that the guardians of Jerusalem are:
The Mourners of Zion who do nothing else but constant crying and mourning... day and night...
[iv]
It is clear from the phrasing that the two commentators knew personally people who practiced this kind of mourning. Later on, the term Guardians of Zion was adopted by the extremist anti-Zionist Hassidic Jews, also known as Neturay Karta, who refuse to recognize the State of Israel and believe they are still in the thick of exile. It is interesting to note that with the years the notion of Karaite influence over traditional Jews was forgotten and some thought that the Karaites were the imitators. [v]
Medieval Religious Atmosphere
Another element which added to the mourning practices was the influence on Judaism of the two major religions under whose auspices Jews lived, namely Christianity and Islam. Both religions praised the abstinence from worldly pleasures as a means to achieve godliness, and this theology deeply affected Jewish scholars and mystics. Many Jewish practices of abstinence from food, pleasures, and sexual relationships, as well as the addition of many fast days to the Jewish calendar, are a result of this influence. There is no wonder that the already existing mourning practices have been intensified.
Persecutions, Wars, Holocaust
Finally, the main factor in the perpetuation and intensification of mourning and abstinence practices, is no doubt the constant state of fear and uncertainty of Jewish life in exile.
We usually refer to 2,000 years of exile, but as a matter of fact, we have been in exile for over 2,500 years, from the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The Jewish people was subjected to persecutions, pogroms, libels, inquisition, deportations, and ethnic cleansing. Jews were demonized, degraded, and humiliated. Is there any wonder that the feeling of abandonment by God and need for repentance steadily grew with each passing year and new cycle of government-sponsored terror?
This feeling was exacerbated, at least until the 1950's, by the poor state of world health, plagues, famine, and high rate of infant mortality. Of course they have effected non-Jews as well, but the suffering Jews were extremely sensitive and susceptible to interpret them as the punishing hand of God who has abandoned them.
All these phenomena particularly explain the adherence to mourning practices by the parents and grandparents of the current generation. These hard-working people, many of whom were born in the old countries, remembered days of war and existential danger. It was natural for these generations to not only embrace but add to the mourning practices of Tisha BeAv, as they felt uncomfortable enjoying life, and at times even undeserving of it.
Today, more than 70 years after WWII and the atrocities of the Holocaust, we are tasked with finding meaning in abstinence and self-deprivation. The question is what can the rabbis do in order to make the practices of the Nine Days, the week of the fast (שבוע שחל בו), and Tisha BeAv itself, into an experience which has a positive transformational impact on 21st century Judaism?
To be continued...
Rabbi Haim Ovadia
[i]
יעקב גרטנר, כתב עת סיני, פט, קנז-קסד: תפילת נחם, שעת נחמה והקראים: לאבלי ציון הקראים במאות הי'- י"א היתה השפעה גדולה על התפתחותם של מנהגי תשעה באב. הדברים באו לידי ביטוי במיוחד במנהגים הבאים להפוך את תשעה באב והימים הקרובים לו לתקופת אבלות של ממש
[ii]
עלי תמר יומא פרק ג, הלכה א: בתפילת יהי רצון בערב ר"ה, יהי רצון שתהא השנה הזאת סוף לגלותינו ולאבלינו, מכאן שחסידי אשכנז הקדמונים היו מתאבלים על חורבן ביהמ"ק והארץ לא רק בת"ב אלא גם כל השנה כולה היו אבלי ציון וירושלים
[iii]
עלי תמר מועד קטן פרק ג, הלכה ה: משמע דאבלי ציון וירושלים אפילו בשבתות של כל השנה היו לבושים שחורים. וכן הוא במסעות בנימין מטודילא עיין שם
[iv]
מצודת דוד, ישעיהו, סב:ו: אלה השומרים כינוי על אבלי ציון שאין להם עסק אחר כי אם יתמידו בבכי ואבל כשומרי החומות שאינם זזים מן השמירה והוסיף לומר כל היום וכל הלילה כי מנהג שומרי החומות לישן ביום ולא כן המה כי יבכו ויתאבלו ביום ובלילה
[v]
שו"ת היכל יצחק אבן העזר א הקדמה: הם [הקראים] דבקו בציון כמונו, ומהם עמדו בני הכת הידועה בשם אבלי ציון
