Ruth Matar and Nadia Matar are co-chairwomen of Women in Green, a grassroots women's movement dedicated to the security and Jewish heritage of historic Israel.
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Tens of thousands of Jews from Jerusalem, from all over Israel, and from the Diaspora, will be observing the ancient custom of walking around the Walls of the Old City on the night of Tisha B'Av. Last year there were over 100,000 participants in this Walk. This year Tisha B'Av will be on Saturday night, July 28, 2001. At 21:00, evening prayers will begin, followed by the reading of the Book of Lamentations. At approximately at 22:00 the Walk will commence.

On Tisha B'Av the Jews mourn the destruction of Jerusalem and the First and Second Temples, which occurred here in Jerusalem and on our Temple Mount thousands of years ago. At a brief ceremony at the Lions Gate, the distinguished Rabbi Mordechai Elon will put in perspective for us the meaning in our times of the observance of Tisha B'Av by the Jewish People. The renowned archeologist Dr. Gabi Barkai will speak about the current attempt by the Moslems, who presently control the Temple Mount, to destroy evidence of the prior existence of the Jewish Temples that were on this Jewish holy site. Yehuda Etzion will also briefly address the audience. Rabbi Shalom Gold will give an appropriate Dvar Torah in English.

In the 19th century, French General Napoleon Bonaparte landed in Acre on the night of Tisha B'Av. He inquired why the Jews that he saw all about him were in a state of bereavement. It was explained to him that it was the night of Tisha B'Av, and that the Jews were mourning the loss of the destruction of their Temples that occurred thousand of years ago. Napoleon thereupon astutely observed that "any people that still feel strongly about events that occurred to them thousands of years ago, will surely survive as a people, and persevere."

At this time when the People of Israel are in a state of disarray and are threatened from within and without, Tisha B'Av has a special significance. It will be a show of faith by those participating in the Walk that they do indeed mourn the destruction of the First and Second Temples. By joining in this Walk are they also expressing their determination that the Third Temple will be rebuilt on the Temple Mount in the very near future? Amen, Selah!

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