Yom Kippur and Tisha B'Av
(א) יוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים אָסוּר בַּאֲכִילָה וּבִשְׁתִיָּה וּבִרְחִיצָה וּבְסִיכָה וּבִנְעִילַת הַסַּנְדָּל וּבְתַשְׁמִישׁ הַמִּטָּה. וְהַמֶּלֶךְ וְהַכַּלָּה יִרְחֲצוּ אֶת פְּנֵיהֶם, וְהֶחָיָה תִנְעֹל אֶת הַסַּנְדָּל, דִּבְרֵי רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר, וַחֲכָמִים אוֹסְרִין:
(1) On Yom Kippur, it is forbidden to eat, to drink, to wash, to anoint, and to wear leather shoes and to have sexual relations. The King and the bride may wash their faces, and the newly delivered mother may wear leather shoes: the words of Rabbi Eliezer; and the Sages prohibit this.
(א) דברים האסורים עט"ב ובו כ"ה סעיפים:
תשעה באב אסור ברחיצה וסיכה ונעילת הסנדל ותשמיש המיטה ואסור לקרות בתורה נביאים וכתובים ולשנות במשנה ובמדרש ובגמ' בהלכות ובאגדות משום שנאמר פקודי ה' ישרים משמחי לב ותינוקות של בית רבן בטלים בו אבל קורא הוא באיוב ובדברים הרעים שבירמיה ואם יש ביניהם פסוקי נחמה צריך לדלגם:
(1) 1. Tisha b'Av is forbidden for washing, anointing, wearing leather shoes, and marital relations. It is also forbidden to read from the Torah, Nevi'im, and Ksuvim and to learn mishna and midrash and gemara and halacha and aggada, because it says, "The precepts of God are right, gladdening the heart" (Tehillim 19:9). Schoolchildren are idle on it. One may read Iyov and the bad things which are in Yirmiyah, but if there are between them passages of consolation, one must skip them.
Pesach and Tisha B'Av
אש תוקד--יציאה—בצאתי ממצרים, בצאתי מירושלים-גאולה וגלות
Leaving -- Exile and Redemption
"The first day of Pesach is on the same day of the week as the date beginning Tof, i.e. Tisha b'Av", etc. (The first line is spoilt if that day is Shabbat so that the fast has to be postponed to Sunday.) -- "
"Aleph - Tof - Tisha B'Av" - Book Mathematics of the Jewish Calendar
Chanukkah and Tisha B'Av - Timing
As Abigail Pogrebin writes that maybe Tisha B’Av is to “tell us to stop, intentionally, in the brightest possible sunlight, to remember the dark.” (My Jewish Year, p. 272)
There is a great deal of evidence that, in much of the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, the winter solstice was a time for imploring the sunlight to return and celebrating its readiness to do so. In Rome, the 25th of December was the birthday of the Unconquerable Sun. In Persia, at the winter solstice the common people set great bonfires and their rulers sent birds aloft bearing torches of dried grass.
It is a short leap to surmising that the Syrian Greeks may have chosen the 25th of Kislev as a time to desecrate the Temple by making their own sacrifices there precisely because it was a time of solar and lunar darkness, the time of the winter solstice and the waning of the moon.-- Waskow - Hanukkah and the Winter Solstice
Chanukkah and Tisha B'Av - Place and Space
(ד) אָז אֶגְמוֹר בְּשִׁיר מִזְמוֹר חֲנֻכַּת הַמִּזְבֵּחַ.
(4) I will complete with song and psalm the dedication of the altar.
וְאַחַר כֵּן בָּאוּ בָנֶיךָ לִדְבִיר בֵּיתֶךָ. וּפִנּוּ אֶת הֵיכָלֶךָ. וְטִהֲרוּ אֶת מִקְדָּשֶׁךָ. וְהִדְלִיקוּ נֵרות בְּחַצְרות קָדְשֶׁךָ.
And afterward your children came to the Holy of Holies, your House, cleansed Your Temple, purified the site of Your Holiness
(1) Alas! Lonely sits the city Once great with people! She that was great among nations Is become like a widow; The princess among states Is become a thrall.
וּבָאֵשׁ אַתָּה עָתִיד לִבְנותָהּ. כָּאָמוּר וַאֲנִי אֶהְיֶה לָּהּ
And in fire You will rebuild her, as it says, "I will be for her." (Zechariah 2:9)
Rabbi Judith Hauptman writes, “I used to think mourning for the destruction of a building--because that is how Tisha B’Av is always presented--made little sense….Until 9/11”-- My Jewish Year
The Essential Message of Both Days-The Haftarahs
(ו) וַיַּ֜עַן וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֵלַי֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר זֶ֚ה דְּבַר־יְהוָ֔ה אֶל־זְרֻבָּבֶ֖ל לֵאמֹ֑ר לֹ֤א בְחַ֙יִל֙ וְלֹ֣א בְכֹ֔חַ כִּ֣י אִם־בְּרוּחִ֔י אָמַ֖ר יְהוָ֥ה צְבָאֽוֹת׃
(כא) הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ ה' אֵלֶיךָ וְנָשׁוּבָה, אָמְרָה כְּנֶסֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל לִפְנֵי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא רִבּוֹנוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם שֶׁלְךָ הוּא הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ. אָמַר לָהֶם שֶׁלָּכֶם הוּא, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (מלאכי ג, ז): שׁוּבוּ אֵלַי וְאָשׁוּבָה אֲלֵיכֶם, נְאֻם ה', אָמְרָה לְפָנָיו רִבּוֹנוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם שֶׁלְךָ הוּא, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (תהלים פה, ה): שׁוּבֵנוּ אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׁעֵנוּ, לְכָךְ נֶאֱמַר: הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ ה' אֵלֶיךָ וְנָשׁוּבָה
Who is first in returning?