Today is Tisha Ba Av, the ninth day on the Jewish calendar of the month of Av. And today is also a fast day. Today is the solemn day in which we mourn the destruction of our temple. on this day, both the first and second temples were destroyed. The ninth of Av in 1492 was also the last days Jews could convert to Christianity before they would be burned in an auto-de-fe. WWI began on the ninth of av, and that set the stage for the European descent that led to the Holocaust.So we fast. And we hope that through withholding material luxuries such as food and comfortable seating, we will be able to grasp the magnitude of what we are mourning for. This is a day meant to surpass our normal concerns- food, and to try and submerge ourselves in a deeper more spiritual concerns of mourning.