5 Things Happened on Tisha B'av

Jamie has my notes, so I decided to turn to my handy-dandy Bronfman source-book to look for something related to Tisha B'av. On the subject of Bronfman, before I go into my central post, I would like to share with you all how I spent my past Tisha B'av. Here's an excerpt from my journal I wrote on July 16, 2013 (Tisha B'av):

"...we went to a place overlooking the old city and read Eicha. It's kind of crazy how I've never gone and heard Eicha before... It seems like a pretty interesting book. Before reading Eicha we had a discussion about history v. memory and about 5 different ways of looking at Tisha B'av. It was a pretty neat discussion. .."

Okay, so that wasn't too insightful. I don't really remember the whole conversation exactly, but it was all about what matters more: what actually happened or how we remember what happened? What do you think? Eicha isn't a historical recounting of what happening. It's all about Yerushalayim's reaction to what happened. Seeing as how Eicha is the text we read every Tisha B'av, does that mean that it matters more how we feel about what happens? From a psychological perspective, I would also make the argument that one's appraisal of a situation is more forceful than the event itself. Thoughts? Another cool thing to note about Tisha B'av this summer is that Jews who hadn't even heard of Tisha B'av before- better yet fasted on it- were mixed together with Jews who had been fasting since they were young and fasted that year for the first time. One of the messages of Eicha is that we have a stronger voice when we speak as one, large, connected community. Looking back, I realize the significance of a pluralistic group of Jewish youth celebrating Tisha Ba'av together and reading Eicha on the grass overlooking to kotel. This is Tisha B'av as it should be. Anyways, I digress..

Maimonides, in the Mishne Torah halacha gimel, states that there are 5 things that happened on Tisha B'av. First, this was when "it was decreed upon Israel in the desert that they would not enter the Land." Then the Temple was destroyed on this date twice. 4- This was the date that the large city of Betar, in which there were thousands of Israelites,  was captured by the romans ("and there was great sorrow like the destruction of the Temple"). Lastly, on that very day, "the evil Tornosrofos ploughed up the Tmeple and its surrounding area in order to fulfill the verse, 'and Zion will be ploughed as a field.'" Why are so many bad things happening on this ill-fated date? We're not supposed to believe in 'cursed dates' (I think...), but this sure does seemed like a doomed date, don't you think? Do you think there is added significance to Tisha B'av that so many different things happened on this one date? 

For me, Tisha B'av is as much about looking towards the future as it is reflecting about the past. The past is done, and there's nothing more we can do about it. Are we really mourning the loss of the Temple on Tisha B'av? Or are we thinking about our past mistakes as a nation and wondering how we will be better this time around? How do you make your Tisha B'av meaningful?