Ninth of Av

The setting for the comments is today's Jewish holiday of the Ninth of Av which commemorates, among other tragedies, the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem the year 70 C.E. The editorial is worth quoting at length: The destruction of the Second Temple was not only the ruin of the physical Temple in Jerusalem, it was also the ruin of the national home.

Haaretz: "Beware the Zealots" Howard M. Friedman 2005

According to Yekil's calendar, the eve of the Fast of the Ninth of Av fell on that very day.

In Those Days Steinberg, Jehudah 1915