Today is the day where Jews all over the world commemorate the destruction of the First and Second Temples, as well as a long list of catastrophes that by some "peculiar" accident of history all happened around or on the 9th of Av on the Hebrew calendar. (The 1492 expulsion from Spain, 1942 deportations from the Warsaw ghetto to Treblinka,...)
It is marked by a day-long fast and several other observances, including the reading of the Book of Lamentations in the synagogue. Mass prayers are held at the Western Wall in Jerusalem --- the retaining wall of the Temple Mount. (The mount itself is off-limits for reasons of both security and Jewish law --- it is strictly forbidden for a Jew to set foot in the Holy of Holies, and as its location is no longer known with certainty, the whole area was placed off-limits.)
I did not go to synagogue as I have too much work to do (it's a "yom bechira" or "optional day off" in Israel, besides being a "yom bechi ra" [lit.: "day of awful crying/sadness"]), but I am fasting like every year since I reconnected to my Jewish roots.
Today is also the last day before the Gaza Disengagement. Needless to say, the "national-religious camp" is making a lot of the proximity between the dates. Originally the Disengagement was to have taken place a week or two earlier, but it was eventually decided to postpone it until after Tisha be-Av. This may or may not have been a smart move. My gut instinct would have been to either stick with the original date, or move it an additional few days. Then again, I am no psychologist, and giving the settlers a chance to, as it were, grieve for their lost homes first may be a smart move psychologically.
Some elements are still in denial, and hope that some last-minute miracle will spike the whole thing. Police in the capital are in the highest state of preparedness, fearing some extremist might try to commit some revolting "auto da fe".
Meanwhile, the NYT (blech) has an interactive map of the Gaza settlements, with satellite pictures. Whatever your views on the NYT (mine are well-known), this is a useful resource. (Hat tip: the Channel 10 morning news show which I woke up to.)
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