The Month of Av
“They left Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, on the border of Edom. At Yahweh's command A’aron the priest went up Mount Hor, where he died on the first day of the fifth month of the fortieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. A’aron was a hundred and twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor. (Numbers 33:37-39)”
Thus reads the Scriptural reference for "Chodesh Av" (the Month of Av).
The month of Av is the fifth of the twelve months of the Scriptural calendar.
"Return us to You, O Yahweh, and we will return; Renew our days as of old! (Lamentations 5:21)"
A’aron is described in “Pirkei Avot” (Path of our Fathers) as the one who exemplified the characteristic of "loving peace and pursuing peace, loving people, and bringing them closer to the Torah."
A’aron the Priest went up to Hor on the first of the fifth month and he died there in the fortieth year after the Children of Israel had left Egypt signaling that this month would be a month of tragedy throughout Israelite history.
The sign of the month of Av is Aryeh, the Lion. In light of the tragedies of Av one is reminded of the Scripture: “Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding, [Yahweh] dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help. (Lamentations 3:10, 11)”
Yahweh has stood aside in this month, and let the "lions & bears" of history victimize us, to teach us where we would be without His divine protection.
"The lion [Nebuchadnezzar, who is referred to in the Scriptures as a lion--Jeremiah 4:7] came on the month of the lion [Av] and destroyed the lion [the Temple, which is referred to in the Bible, especially with regard to the alter, as a lion], in order that the lion [Yahweh, of Whom is said 'the lion roars, who shall not fear'--Amos 3:8] come on the month of the lion and rebuild the lion." (Yalkut Shimoni, Yermiyahu, 259)
Returning to Yahweh is the only help in the times of trouble. “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. (1 Peter 5:7-9)”
The gematria numerical value of Aryeh (lion)= 216 the same as the grace of gevurah ("judgment").
הירא 1+200+10 +5 = 216 Aryeh
הרובג 3+2+6+200+5 = 216 gevurah
We long for the day that HaSatan and his demons will be cast into the pit.
"The wolf will live with the sheep, and the leopard will lie down with the kid; and a calf, a young lion and a young sheep will walk together, and a young child will lead them. A cow and a bear will graze and their young will lie down together; and the lion, like cattle, will eat hay. A nursing child will play by a viper's hole; and a newly weaned child will stretch his hand towards an adder's lair. They will neither injure nor destroy in all of my holy mountain; for the earth will be as filled with knowledge of Yahweh as water covering the sea bed." (Isaiah 11:6-9)
Dates to Remember in the Month of Av:
Some time in Av:
Zedekiah was taken to Babylon.
“Then [Nebuchadnezzar] put out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon, where he put him in prison till the day of his death. (Jeremiah 52:11)”
Jeremiah had a run-in with the false prophet, Hananiah ben Azzur and he prophesied Hananiah’s death that year.
Av 1 - Commemorates the death of A’aron ben Levi, the High Priest , brother of Moses.
- Ezra returned to Israel. Ezra 7:8-9
Av 9 - Commemorates the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BCE and by the Romans in 70 CE.
- The Roman army plowed Jerusalem with salt 71 CE.
- The destruction of Simeon Bar Kochba's army, 135 CE.
- Pope Urban II declared the 1st Crusade killing 10,000 Jews in first month of Crusade, totally obliterating whole Jewish communities in Rhineland and France, 1095.
- The last 500 Jews in England were martyred when the nobles surrounded the York Synagogue, nailing it shut and then set fire to it, 1190.
- After letting them back in, England expelled all of the Jews in 1290.
- Spain expelled all of the Jews in 1492.
- World War I was declared 1914.
- Russia launched persecutions against the Jews in Eastern Russia 1914.
- Hitler signed the “Final Solution” sealing the fate of 6 million Jews, 1938.
- Nazi Germany began a systematic liquidation of the Jews to extermination camps at the rate of six to ten thousand per day, 1942.
- the expulsion of the Jews from Gush Katif on 2005 to the 9th of Av.
(Two events on a given day is 1 in 365 days. 3 events on the same day is 1 X 365 X 365 = 133,225 Hence, the odds on these twelve events happening to the same people, the same country, over the centuries on the same day is 1 chance in 15.318 billion times a billion times a billion or: 15,318,685,820,000,000,000,000,000,000!!!!! 365 raised to the 11th power = 1.53186582 x 10 to the 28th power.)
Av 10 - Certain Jewish elders went to Jeremiah to enquire of Yahweh, Who responded that He wouldn't be enquired by them while in exile.
- Nebuzaradan the commander of the Babylonian imperial guard set fire to Jerusalem.
(Jeremiah 52:12, 13)
15th of Av, 574 BCE, King Hosea ben Eilah reopened the roads to Jerusalem. As you remember, when the Northern Tribes of Israel seceded from Judah, King Jeroboam ben Nebat set up roadblocks to prevent his citizens from making the three pilgrimage feast to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. These were finally removed more than 200 years later by King Hosea ben Eilah, the last king of the Northern Kingdom.
Av 18 - Commemorates the time when a branch of the Temple Menorah was damaged in the days of King Ahaz alluded to in Isaiah 42:3: “A cracked branch he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice.”
Used with Kind permission from Rabbi Rob Miller
