This past Sunday Jewish communities around the world observed the “holiday” of the 9th of Av with a fast, in order to commemorate the destruction of both the First and Second Temples (about 656 years apart from eachother, but on the same day).  This religious observance is considered one of the saddest and unluckiest days of the Jewish year, as many other unfortunate events have occurred on this date as well.

I never really knew the history of this day until Rabbi Dave’s “Living Judasim” class this year, but I never felt the gravity and importance of it until its observance in Casablanca.  My friend, Ben, is one of my most religious friends (he works on the Hill and wears a kippah everday, for crying out loud lol) and he recently commented on a post of mine:

“What’s Tisha B’Av like there? Your jaw wiring analogy is interesting in that over here, I forgot that it was today, but in Morocco, where perhaps people are more aware of the pain of exile, is it more noticed?”

He hit the nail on the head, and actually highlighted the exact questions I was asking myself throughout the week leading up to the 9th of Av.  First, a little on the Jewish Moroccan observation of the “holiday:”

In Morocco, the week preceeding the day is marked by general sadness, gravity and mourning; for instance, I was driving around with some of my friends pne night and mentioned not having been to a bar or nightclub in Casablanca yet.  They told me they would love to take me, but after 9 of Av because they try to respect the period of mourning for the Temples in the week leading up to the 9th.  I, obviously, was surprised because I had never experienced a group of 21-year-olds giving up a week of “summer fun” to respect the customs (not laws, it is just customary in their culture) of the holiday.  Furthermore, the Jews in Morocco stop eating meat throughout the entire week, and even do not kiss eachother hello on the actual day in synagogue (a 2-cheek kiss is the customary greeting not only amongst friends, but for almost anyone they see as entering synagogue).  In temple, many of the men were sitting on the floor, I am assuming for the same reasons we sit on low chairs during a shiva.  And, the service ended with havdallah.

Granted, I have never before been to synagogue on 9 of Av, but this day in temple was much different than the Shabbat services I have attended the last two weeks.  I was really taken aback by the generally and genuinely solemn and mournful behavior of the Jews in Casablanca.  So, as the anthropologist that I am trying to be,  I wondered “why does this holiday seem to have such an important resonance in this culture, yet in America, even my religious Ben friend let it slip his mind?” (I don’t think you are a bad person, I’m just making a point).  Is it because the Jewish Moroccans are just generally more religious, and all of the holidays here are observed more intensely than in America (Shabbat included)?  Or, do they have some sort of special connection to the holiday that has been “lost in translation” to American Jews?

The truth is, I did not find an answer.  Sorry to be anticlimactic, but because I have not been here during any other holidays yet and no one here can give me a “correct” answer to that question, I cannot pinpoint a reason.  However, I hypothesize that it is a combination of factors; yes, the community here is more religious and for that reason almost everyone fasts and observes the day.  But, I think there is a deeper historical significance to it.  Ben surmised that the Jews here are “more aware of the pain of exile,” but I would revise that to say they are “more aware of the pain of THEIR exile.”

All Jewish communities, aside for the very few that remained continuously in Eretz Israel, somehow ended up in their respective homelands as a result of the exile after the destruction of either Temple, so why the differences in observation of this holiday among the Diaspora?  I believe it has to do with the history and characteristic of the community.  Jewish communities have lived in very close quarters (mellah in Arabic) for centuries in Morocco and the rest of the Arab world and therefore generally preserved not only the religious but the customary practices of their ancestors.  You may say, “Yea, so did all of the Ashkenazi Jews;” however, I believe that the differences we observe today are a result of the Holocaust.  For American Jews, the Holocaust is the “pain of THEIR exile” not only because it occurred in recent history, but also because many American Jews descended from Ashkenazim whose religious practices, culture, and customs were upended by the Holocaust.  Perhaps, that is where and how the 9th of Av lost its importance for American Jews, particularly in the shadows of the greatest destruction of Jews in our long and tumultuous history.

Let me drive the point home even further: Moroccan Jews were protected from the Nazi and Vichy wrath by their beloved king; therefore, the exile, pain and destruction they know is the one they have been observing for centuries: the 9th of Av.

Let the argument-break down begin…