THE 9TH OF AV

Today's homework assignment.  See why this date is so important in the history of Israel (both in the New World and in the Old World).  What events have occurred on this date in our modern narrative?:

Titus attacks just after Passover in the year 70 CE, battering the city with his catapults which propel a rain of stone, iron and fire onto the population. By then, the city defenders are weakened from hunger and perhaps even more so from internal strife. Even so, it takes Titus two months of intense fighting before he is able to breach the outer city walls reach the Temple Mount.
The date for this event is 17th of the Hebrew month of Tammuz(1) . To this day, religious Jews fast on the 17th of Tammuz in commemoration of this event.
Roman historian, Deo Cassius, reports:

Though a breach was made in the wall by means of engines, nevertheless the capture of the place did not immediately follow even then. On the contrary, the defenders killed great numbers [of Romans] who tried to crowd through the opening and they also set fire to some of the buildings nearby, hoping thus to check the further progress of the Romans. Nevertheless, the soldiers, because of their superstition, did not immediately rush in but at last, under compulsion from Titus, they made their way inside. Then the Jews defended themselves much more vigorously than before, as if they had discovered a piece of rare good fortune in being able to fight near the Temple and fall in its defense.

A horrific slaughter ensues with the Romans taking the city, literally house-by-house. One of the excavations that gives testimony to the destruction is the famous "Burnt House" which is open to visitors in Old City Jerusalem today. Here the skeletal remains of a woman's arm were found where she died on the doorstep of her house, with a spear still lying nearby.
Despite the determined resistance of the Jewish defenders Titus slowly works his way to the Temple Mount. Now a duel to the death ensues, and finally, five months after the Romans had begun this attack Titus orders the Second Temple razed to the ground. The day is the 9th of Av, the very same day on which the First Temple was destroyed.
Deo Cassius again:

The populace was stationed below in the court and the elders on the steps and the priests in the Sanctuary itself. And though they were but a handful fighting against a far superior force, they were not conquered until part of the Temple was set on fire. Then they met their death willingly, some throwing themselves on the swords of the Romans, some slaying one another, others taking their own lives and still others leaping into the flames. And it seemed to everybody and especially to them that so far from being destruction, it was victory and salvation and happiness to them that they perished along with the Temple.

All of the neighboring countryside is denuded of whatever trees remained from the siege to create the giant bonfire to burn the buildings of the Temple to the ground. The intense heat from the fire causes the moisture in the limestone to expand and it explodes like popcorn, producing a chain reaction of destruction. In a day's time, the magnificent Temple is nothing but rubble.
Josephus describes the destruction of the Temple:

While the holy house (The Temple) was on fire, everything was plundered that came to hand, and ten thousand of those that were caught were slain; nor was there a commiseration of any age...but children and old men...and priests, were all slain in the same manner... The flame was also carried a long way, and made an echo, together with the groans of those who were slain... one would have thought the whole city would have been on fire. Nor can one imagine anything greater and more terrible than this noise. (2)

History as Destiny
The destruction of the Second Temple is one of the most important events in the history of the Jewish people, and certainly one of the most depressing.
It is a sign that God has withdrawn from (though certainly not abandoned) the Jews. Although the Jews will survive ― in accordance with the promise that they will be an "eternal nation" ― the special relationship with God they enjoyed while the Temple stood is gone.
Sadly, this period of time, perhaps more than any other reflects the maxim that Jewish past is Jewish future, that Jewish history is Jewish destiny.
There's no period of time that more closely reflects what is going on today in Israel and among the Jewish people worldwide. We are still living in the consequences of the destruction of the Second Temple, spiritually and physically. And the same problems we had then are the same problems we have now.
States the Talmud (Yoma 9b): "Why was the Second Temple destroyed? Because of sinat chinam, senseless hatred of one Jew for another."
What is the antidote to this problem which is so rampant in the Jewish world today? The answer is ahavat chinam, the Jews have to learn to love their fellow Jews.
There's no hope for the Jewish people until all learn how to communicate with each other, and respect each other, regardless of differences.
God has no patience for Jews fighting each other. It's extremely important to study this period of time carefully because there are many valuable lessons that we can learn about the pitfalls that need to be avoided.
"Judea Captured"
Before setting fire to the Temple, the Romans removed anything of value. Then they harnessed a group of Jewish slaves to take these priceless artifacts to Rome. Their arrival in Rome is memorialized in engravings of the Arch of Titus, still standing there today near the Forum which depicts the Triumph or victory parade held by victorious legions to celebrate their victory and display the spoils of war.
It was the tradition in the Roman Jewish community that Jews would never walk under that arch. On the night of May 14, 1948, when Israel was declared a state, the Jews of Rome had a triumphant parade and marched under the arch. Their message: "Rome is gone, we're still around. Victory is ours."
But at the time it was a horrible disaster. Hundreds of thousands of people died, many more were enslaved. There were so many Jews flooding the slave market after the Great Revolt that you could buy a Jewish slave for less than the price of a horse. Israel was in despair.(3)

 Here is a link showing the date of the 9th of Av during the next couple of critical years:

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/671903/jewish/When-is-the-Ninth-of-Av-in-2013-2014-2015-2016-and-2017.htm