(א) וַֽיְהִי֙ בִּשְׁנַ֣ת אַרְבַּ֔ע לְדָרְיָ֖וֶשׁ הַמֶּ֑לֶךְ הָיָ֨ה דְבַר־ה' אֶל־זְכַרְיָ֗ה בְּאַרְבָּעָ֛ה לַחֹ֥דֶשׁ הַתְּשִׁעִ֖י בְּכִסְלֵֽו׃ (ב) וַיִּשְׁלַח֙ בֵּֽית־אֵ֔ל שַׂר־אֶ֕צֶר וְרֶ֥גֶם מֶ֖לֶךְ וַֽאֲנָשָׁ֑יו לְחַלּ֖וֹת אֶת־פְּנֵ֥י ה'׃ (ג) לֵאמֹ֗ר אֶל־הַכֹּֽהֲנִים֙ אֲשֶׁר֙ לְבֵית־ה' צְבָא֔וֹת וְאֶל־הַנְּבִיאִ֖ים לֵאמֹ֑ר הַֽאֶבְכֶּה֙ בַּחֹ֣דֶשׁ הַחֲמִשִׁ֔י הִנָּזֵ֕ר כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשִׂ֔יתִי זֶ֖ה כַּמֶּ֥ה שָׁנִֽים׃ {ס} (ד) וַיְהִ֛י דְּבַר־ה' צְבָא֖וֹת אֵלַ֥י לֵאמֹֽר׃ (ה) אֱמֹר֙ אֶל־כׇּל־עַ֣ם הָאָ֔רֶץ וְאֶל־הַכֹּהֲנִ֖ים לֵאמֹ֑ר כִּֽי־צַמְתֶּ֨ם וְסָפ֜וֹד בַּחֲמִישִׁ֣י וּבַשְּׁבִיעִ֗י וְזֶה֙ שִׁבְעִ֣ים שָׁנָ֔ה הֲצ֥וֹם צַמְתֻּ֖נִי אָֽנִי׃ (ו) וְכִ֥י תֹאכְל֖וּ וְכִ֣י תִשְׁתּ֑וּ הֲל֤וֹא אַתֶּם֙ הָאֹ֣כְלִ֔ים וְאַתֶּ֖ם הַשֹּׁתִֽים׃ (ז) הֲל֣וֹא אֶת־הַדְּבָרִ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֨ר קָרָ֤א ה' בְּיַד֙ הַנְּבִיאִ֣ים הָרִֽאשֹׁנִ֔ים בִּהְי֤וֹת יְרוּשָׁלַ֙͏ִם֙ יֹשֶׁ֣בֶת וּשְׁלֵוָ֔ה וְעָרֶ֖יהָ סְבִיבֹתֶ֑יהָ וְהַנֶּ֥גֶב וְהַשְּׁפֵלָ֖ה יֹשֵֽׁב׃ {פ} (ח) וַֽיְהִי֙ דְּבַר־ה' אֶל־זְכַרְיָ֖ה לֵאמֹֽר׃ (ט) כֹּ֥ה אָמַ֛ר ה' צְבָא֖וֹת לֵאמֹ֑ר מִשְׁפַּ֤ט אֱמֶת֙ שְׁפֹ֔טוּ וְחֶ֣סֶד וְרַֽחֲמִ֔ים עֲשׂ֖וּ אִ֥ישׁ אֶת־אָחִֽיו׃ (י) וְאַלְמָנָ֧ה וְיָת֛וֹם גֵּ֥ר וְעָנִ֖י אַֽל־תַּעֲשֹׁ֑קוּ וְרָעַת֙ אִ֣ישׁ אָחִ֔יו אַֽל־תַּחְשְׁב֖וּ בִּלְבַבְכֶֽם׃
(1) In the fourth year of King Darius, on the fourth day of the ninth month, Kislev, the word of GOD came to Zechariah— (2) when Bethel-sharezer and Regem-melech and his men sent to entreat the favor of GOD, (3) [and] to address this inquiry to the priests of the House of GOD and to the prophets: “Shall I weep and practice abstinence in the fifth month, as I have been doing all these years?” (4) Thereupon the word of GOD of Hosts came to me: (5) Say to all the people of the land and to the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh months all these seventy years, did you fast for my benefit? (6) And when you eat and drink, who but you does the eating, and who but you does the drinking? (7) Look, this is the message that GOD proclaimed through the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem and the towns about her were peopled and tranquil, when the Negeb and the Shephelah were peopled. (8) And the word of GOD to Zechariah continued: (9) Thus said GOD of Hosts: Execute true justice; deal loyally and compassionately with one another. (10) Do not defraud the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor; and do not plot evil against one another.—
(ג) כֹּ֚ה אָמַ֣ר ה' שַׁ֚בְתִּי אֶל־צִיּ֔וֹן וְשָׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּת֣וֹךְ יְרֽוּשָׁלָ֑͏ִם וְנִקְרְאָ֤ה יְרוּשָׁלַ֙͏ִם֙ עִ֣יר הָֽאֱמֶ֔ת וְהַר־ה' צְבָא֖וֹת הַ֥ר הַקֹּֽדֶשׁ׃ (ד) כֹּ֤ה אָמַר֙ ה' צְבָא֔וֹת עֹ֤ד יֵֽשְׁבוּ֙ זְקֵנִ֣ים וּזְקֵנ֔וֹת בִּרְחֹב֖וֹת יְרוּשָׁלָ֑͏ִם וְאִ֧ישׁ מִשְׁעַנְתּ֛וֹ בְּיָד֖וֹ מֵרֹ֥ב יָמִֽים׃ (ה) וּרְחֹב֤וֹת הָעִיר֙ יִמָּ֣לְא֔וּ יְלָדִ֖ים וִֽילָד֑וֹת מְשַׂחֲקִ֖ים בִּרְחֹֽבֹתֶֽיהָ׃ {פ} (ו) כֹּ֤ה אָמַר֙ ה' צְבָא֔וֹת כִּ֣י יִפָּלֵ֗א בְּעֵינֵי֙ שְׁאֵרִית֙ הָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה בַּיָּמִ֖ים הָהֵ֑ם גַּם־בְּעֵינַי֙ יִפָּלֵ֔א נְאֻ֖ם ה' צְבָאֽוֹת׃ {פ} (ז) כֹּ֤ה אָמַר֙ ה' צְבָא֔וֹת הִנְנִ֥י מוֹשִׁ֛יעַ אֶת־עַמִּ֖י מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִזְרָ֑ח וּמֵאֶ֖רֶץ מְב֥וֹא הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ׃ (ח) וְהֵבֵאתִ֣י אֹתָ֔ם וְשָׁכְנ֖וּ בְּת֣וֹךְ יְרוּשָׁלָ֑͏ִם וְהָיוּ־לִ֣י לְעָ֗ם וַֽאֲנִי֙ אֶהְיֶ֤ה לָהֶם֙ לֵֽאלֹקִ֔ים בֶּאֱמֶ֖ת וּבִצְדָקָֽה׃ {פ}
(3) Thus said GOD: I have returned to Zion, and I will dwell in Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be called the City of Faithfulness, and the mount of GOD of Hosts the Holy Mount. (4) Thus said GOD of Hosts: There shall yet be elderly men and women in the squares of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their great age. (5) And the squares of the city shall be crowded with boys and girls playing in the squares. (6) Thus said GOD of Hosts: Though it will seem impossible to the remnant of this people in those days, shall it also be impossible to Me?—declares GOD of Hosts. (7) Thus said GOD of Hosts: I will rescue My people from the lands of the east and from the lands of the west, (8) and I will bring them home to dwell in Jerusalem. They shall be My people, and I will be their God—in truth and sincerity.
8:3: Radak: So said the Lord – And Jerusalem will be called the city of truth as He promised “The remnant of Israel shall neither commit injustice nor speak lies…” (Tzefaniah 3:13) The same is true for all of the land of Israel, but the verse specified Jerusalem because she is the head of the kingdom. And furthermore because of the mountain of the Lord, the holy mountain which will no longer be profaned by strangers.
Malbim: ‘So said the Lord: I will return to Zion,’ My intention is to return to Zion in order that My Presence be established there as it was before.
(טז) אֵ֥לֶּה הַדְּבָרִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֣ר תַּֽעֲשׂ֑וּ דַּבְּר֤וּ אֱמֶת֙ אִ֣ישׁ אֶת־רֵעֵ֔הוּ אֱמֶת֙ וּמִשְׁפַּ֣ט שָׁל֔וֹם שִׁפְט֖וּ בְּשַׁעֲרֵיכֶֽם׃ (יז) וְאִ֣ישׁ ׀ אֶת־רָעַ֣ת רֵעֵ֗הוּ אַֽל־תַּחְשְׁבוּ֙ בִּלְבַבְכֶ֔ם וּשְׁבֻ֥עַת שֶׁ֖קֶר אַֽל־תֶּאֱהָ֑בוּ כִּ֧י אֶת־כׇּל־אֵ֛לֶּה אֲשֶׁ֥ר שָׂנֵ֖אתִי נְאֻם־ה'׃ {פ} (יח) וַיְהִ֛י דְּבַר־ה' צְבָא֖וֹת אֵלַ֥י לֵאמֹֽר׃ (יט) כֹּֽה־אָמַ֞ר ה' צְבָא֗וֹת צ֣וֹם הָרְבִיעִ֡י וְצ֣וֹם הַחֲמִישִׁי֩ וְצ֨וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֜י וְצ֣וֹם הָעֲשִׂירִ֗י יִהְיֶ֤ה לְבֵית־יְהוּדָה֙ לְשָׂשׂ֣וֹן וּלְשִׂמְחָ֔ה וּֽלְמֹעֲדִ֖ים טוֹבִ֑ים וְהָאֱמֶ֥ת וְהַשָּׁל֖וֹם אֱהָֽבוּ׃ {פ}
(16) These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to one another, render true and perfect justice in your gates. (17) Not a single one of you shall contrive evil against another; and do not love perjury, because all those are things that I hate—declares GOD. (18) And the word of GOD of Hosts came to me, saying, (19) Thus said GOD of Hosts: The fast of the 4th month, the fast of the 5th month, the fast of the 7th month, and the fast of the 10th month shall become occasions for joy and gladness, happy festivals for the House of Judah; but you must love truth and peace.
Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin, Should we Continue to Fast on Tisha B’av and other Fasts which Commemorate the Temple’s Destruction? (2010), quoting Yehezkel Kaufmann, Toledot Ha’emunah Hayisraelit, Volume IV, Book 1, Jerusalem, 1972, pp. 266-268:
[I]t would be an error to think that Zekhariah answers the question of the messengers and issues a halakhic ruling. His words contain no halakhic ruling, neither in 7:5-6 nor in 8:19. The question of the delegation and its discussion merely served as a background to elicit his prophecy… Zekhariah, in responding to the question of the fasts, begins with a true evaluation of this question and explains the true nature of this fateful question: sin, punishment, the requirement of repentance… Zekhariah does not answer the question of the Babylonian delegation at all. [Verses] 18-19 are not a halakhic injunction to abolish the fasts, but an eschatological promise that, if Israel will repent, the fasts will be abolished and transformed into holidays.
(ו) חֲמִשָּׁה דְבָרִים אֵרְעוּ אֶת אֲבוֹתֵינוּ בְּשִׁבְעָה עָשָׂר בְּתַמּוּז וַחֲמִשָּׁה בְּתִשְׁעָה בְאָב. ... בְּתִשְׁעָה בְאָב נִגְזַר עַל אֲבוֹתֵינוּ שֶׁלֹּא יִכָּנְסוּ לָאָרֶץ, וְחָרַב הַבַּיִת בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה וּבַשְּׁנִיָּה, וְנִלְכְּדָה בֵיתָר, וְנֶחְרְשָׁה הָעִיר. מִשֶּׁנִּכְנַס אָב, מְמַעֲטִין בְּשִׂמְחָה:
(6) Five calamitous matters occurred to our forefathers on the 17th of Tammuz, and five others happened on the 9th of Av. ... On the 9th of Av it was decreed upon our ancestors that they would all die in the wilderness and not enter Eretz Yisrael (spies report); and the Temple was destroyed the first time, and the second time; and Beitar was captured (Bar Kochba revolt); and the city of Jerusalem was plowed, as a sign that it would never be rebuilt. Not only does one fast on the 9th of Av, but from when the month of Av begins, one decreases acts of rejoicing.
דְּאָמַר רַב חָנָא בַּר בִּיזְנָא אָמַר רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן חֲסִידָא, מַאי דִּכְתִיב: ״כֹּה אָמַר ה׳ צְבָאוֹת צוֹם הָרְבִיעִי וְצוֹם הַחֲמִישִׁי וְצוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי וְצוֹם הָעֲשִׂירִי יִהְיֶה לְבֵית יְהוּדָה לְשָׂשׂוֹן וּלְשִׂמְחָה״. קָרֵי לְהוּ ״צוֹם״, וְקָרֵי לְהוּ ״שָׂשׂוֹן וְשִׂמְחָה״! בִּזְמַן שֶׁיֵּשׁ שָׁלוֹם — יִהְיוּ לְשָׂשׂוֹן וּלְשִׂמְחָה, אֵין שָׁלוֹם — צוֹם. אָמַר רַב פָּפָּא, הָכִי קָאָמַר: בִּזְמַן שֶׁיֵּשׁ שָׁלוֹם — יִהְיוּ לְשָׂשׂוֹן וּלְשִׂמְחָה, יֵשׁ שְׁמָד — צוֹם, אֵין שְׁמָד וְאֵין שָׁלוֹם — רָצוּ מִתְעַנִּין, רָצוּ אֵין מִתְעַנִּין. אִי הָכִי, תִּשְׁעָה בְּאָב נָמֵי? אָמַר רַב פָּפָּא: שָׁאנֵי תִּשְׁעָה בְּאָב, הוֹאִיל וְהוּכְפְּלוּ בּוֹ צָרוֹת. דְּאָמַר מָר: בְּתִשְׁעָה בְּאָב חָרַב הַבַּיִת בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה וּבַשְּׁנִיָּה, וְנִלְכְּדָה בֵּיתָר, וְנֶחֶרְשָׁה הָעִיר.
As Rav Ḥana bar Bizna said that Rabbi Shimon Ḥasida said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “Thus said the Lord of hosts: The fast of the 4th month, and the fast of the 5th, and fast of the 7th, and the fast of the 10th, shall become times of joy and gladness, to the house of Judah” (Zech. 8:19). It calls them days of “fast” and it calls them “times of joy and gladness.” How so? When there is peace, they will be times of joy and gladness (on which eulogies and fasting are forbidden); but when there is no peace, they are days of fasting. Rav Pappa said that this is what it is saying: When there is peace, these days will be times of joy and gladness; when there is persecution for the Jewish people, they are days of fasting; and when there is no persecution but still no peace, If people wish, they fast, and if they wish, they do not fast. (Since there is no absolute obligation to fast, messengers are not sent out to announce these months.) The Gemara asks: If so, the 9th of Av should also be like the other fast days. Why do messengers go out for the month of Av? Rav Pappa said: The 9th of Av is different, since the calamities that day were multiplied. As the Master said: On the 9th of Av the Temple was destroyed, both the first one and the second one; Beitar was captured; and the city of Jerusalem was plowed over by the enemies of the Jewish people.
שיש שלום - שאין יד העובדי כוכבים תקיפה על ישראל:
That there is peace - that there is no attack on (or domination of) Israel at the hand of idol worshippers.
בזמן שיש שלום יהיו לששון ולשמחה. פירוש בזמן שיש שלום, שישראל שרוין על אדמתן.
When there is peace there will be joy and happiness. Meaning when there is peace, that Israel occupies their land.
כי בזמן שיהא שלום כלומר שישראל שרויין על אדמתם ובית המקדש קיים יהיו לששון ולשמחה
Because as long as there is peace, that is, when Israel occupies their land and the Temple exists, they will be happy and joyful.
יֵשׁ שָׁם יָמִים שֶׁכָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל מִתְעַנִּים בָּהֶם מִפְּנֵי הַצָּרוֹת שֶׁאֵרְעוּ בָּהֶן כְּדֵי לְעוֹרֵר הַלְּבָבוֹת לִפְתֹּחַ דַּרְכֵי הַתְּשׁוּבָה וְיִהְיֶה זֶה זִכָּרוֹן לְמַעֲשֵׂינוּ הָרָעִים וּמַעֲשֵׂה אֲבוֹתֵינוּ שֶׁהָיָה כְּמַעֲשֵׂינוּ עַתָּה עַד שֶׁגָּרַם לָהֶם וְלָנוּ אוֹתָן הַצָּרוֹת. שֶׁבְּזִכְרוֹן דְּבָרִים אֵלּוּ נָשׁוּב לְהֵיטִיב שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (ויקרא כו, מ) "וְהִתְוַדּוּ אֶת עֲוֹנָם וְאֶת עֲוֹן אֲבֹתָם" וְגוֹ':
There are days when the entire Jewish people fast because of the calamities that occurred to them then, to arouse [their] hearts and initiate [them in] paths of repentance. This will serve as a reminder of our wicked conduct and that of our ancestors, which resembles our present conduct, and thus brought these calamities upon them and upon us. By reminding ourselves of these matters, we will repent and improve, as [Lev. 26:40] states: "And they will confess their sin and the sin of their ancestors."
(יט) כָּל הַצּוֹמוֹת הָאֵלּוּ עֲתִידִים לִבָּטֵל לִימוֹת הַמָּשִׁיחַ. וְלֹא עוֹד אֶלָּא שֶׁהֵם עֲתִידִים לִהְיוֹת יוֹם טוֹב וִימֵי שָׂשׂוֹן וְשִׂמְחָה שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (זכריה ח יט)
(19) All these fasts will be nullified in the Messianic era and, indeed ultimately, they will be transformed into holidays and days of rejoicing and celebration, as [Zech. 8:19] states.
אמרו משום אביי אין שמחה בא אלא בתשעה באב לפי שקבעו אבל בזמן הזה ועתיד לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא לעשותו יום טוב שנאמר והפכתי אבלם לששון ונחמתים ושמחתים מיגונם (ירמיה ל"א י"ג):
They said in the name of Abaye: joy only comes on the ninth of Av, because they mandated mourning then in this time and in the future the Holy One will make it into a holiday, as it says “…and I will turn their mourning into joy and will comfort them and make them rejoice from their sorrow.” (Jer. 31:12)
Rabbi David Hartman, as recounted in 2015 by Rabbi David Wolkenfeld, of ASBI Congregation:
In August, 1967, just two months after the Six Day War, Rabbi David Hartman walked into the Montreal shul where he served as rabbi. He saw the congregation seated on the floor, reciting kinot, mournful dirges composed for this mournful day and he said to his congregation, “Jews are happy, Jews are dancing today in Yerushalayim.” And he left shul, took his family to the Laurentian Mountains, and enjoyed a picnic lunch. But see below.
Rabbi Haskell Lookstein retells a shiur given by the Rav, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, on June 26, 1968 (The Koren Mesorat HaRav Kinot: The Lookstein Edition (2011) [xxviii-xxix]:
The Rav asked: How can one mourn for events that occurred 2,000 and 2,500 years ago? Tisha B’Av marks the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem in 586 BCE and 70 CE. They are historic events, long gone from memory. How are we able to sit shiva on Tisha B’Av, night and morning, for events that occurred twenty centuries ago?
Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, Change and Renewal (2011) [361]:
At the time of the establishment of the State of lsrael, and even more so after the Six Day War, voices were raised in public calling for the cancellation - or downgrading - of the fast days commemorating the destruction of the Temple and all that it entailed. ...
When the euphoria in the aftermath of the Six Day War subsided, such calls sounded less convincing. Still, a profoundly problematic aspect of the fast days, and especially of Tisha B'Av, was brought to light. To what extent does this day of fasting and remembrance still have meaning for us?
Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg, The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays (2011) [300-303]:
Tisha B’Av cannot be unaffected by the miracle of Israel and the reunification of Jerusalem. ... While it is too early to claim that [Zechariah's] messianic fulfillment is here, the process of redemption now underway is discernible. The three-week mourning of Tisha B’Av should be balanced by awareness of the approach of redemption.
It is incongruous for people in the diaspora to mourn excessively for the ancient loss of Israel. Past generations wept and prayed for the return because they could not go up to Israel. Today, if you are depressed over being in exile, a few hundred dollars for a ticket on El Al will end your state of misery. Simple traditionalism in observance of Tisha B’Av mocks the genuine agony of our ancestors.
What happens to Tisha B’Av in an age of fundamental reorientation, when the tide of Jewish history turns from exile to rootedness, from sorrow to increasing rejoicing? Is there still meaning to days of remembered grief and defeat?
Rabbi Isaac Klein, A Guide To Jewish Religious Practice (1979) [247-248]:
It is a tragic coincidence that since the time of the Mishnah, many other calamitous events in Jewish history have occured on the ninth of Av. On Tish’ah Be’av in 1290, King Edward I signed the edict compelling his Jewish subjects to leave in England. The expulsion from Spain occurred on the same day in 1492. Tish’ah Be’av also marked the outbreak of World War I, beginning a long period of suffering for the Jewish people. Not only did this period witness the pogroms and massacres perpetrated against the Jews of Russia, Poland, and other countries of Eastern Europe, but it was also the prelude to World War II and the savage destruction of six million Jews.
Since the reestablishment of the Jewish state, it has been maintained in some quarters that Tish’ah Be’av and the other fasts connected with the destruction of Jerusalem have lost their meaning and should be discontinued. ... Though the fasts are a challenge for “renew our days as of old,” the events commemorated by Tish’ah Be’av cannot be undone, and it is necessary to remember them, whether to establish continuity with our past, or, as Maimonides suggested, as a constant stimulus for repentance and good deeds.
Prof. Jonathan D. Sarna, A Time To Every Purpose: Letters To A Young Jew (2008) [82-84]:
[We] recall on Tishah be-Av the self-destructive behavior that, according to tradition, brought about the Temple's destruction, particularly the baseless hatred of Jews for one another. ... [T]he entire Jewish community was torn by factionalism and partisan rivalries. By the time the Roman general Titus arrived to put down the rebellion, the Jewish community was too divided to unite. The result was disaster.
Much can be learned from that disaster about the dangers of zealotry, factionalism, and baseless hatred. Still, two thousand years later, mourning the destruction of the Temple and the suspension of animal sacrifices is far from easy. You would not be alone if you wonder why we should still bother. Would anybody seek to restore Temple rituals and animal sacrifices? Some Jews, it turns out, absolutely would. …
Other Jews, though, think that Judaism is much better off without a central Temple and animal sacrifices. ... The move from temple sacrifices to synagogue prayer and from centralization to decentralization made it easier, according to this view, for the Jewish people to influence humanity as a whole. …
It certainly seemed strange [in the early 1970s] to intone prayers that described Jerusalem as "the city that is in mourning and in ruins, despised and desolate," when in fact, Jerusalem was in the midst of a building boom and its Jewish population was burgeoning.
Yet through the years, as hopes for peace receded, factionalism among Jews grew, and suicide bombings and attacks on Jews in Jerusalem and around the world multiplied, Tishah be-Av has become more meaningful to me than ever. I look upon it as an annual reminder of destruction and renewal, of persecutions and martyrdom, of the dangers of baseless hatred and senseless death, and of commitment to life. It has become a day to reflect on the state of the Jewish people, past, present, and future.
Rabbi Haskell Lookstein retells a shiur given by the Rav, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, on June 26, 1968. The Rav gave three answers, according to R. Lookstein, summarized by Rabbi David Wolkenfeld, of ASBI Congregation, in 2015:
First, every Jew must see [oneself] as though [they] personally left Egypt. We don’t rejoice on Pesach because our ancestors left Egypt centuries ago. We rejoice on Pesach because we left Egypt. [Same with Shavuot and Sukkot.] We don’t mourn on Tisha b’Av because of what happened to our ancestors. We mourn on Tisha b’Av out of a full identification with the tragic destruction of Yerushalayim and the devastation of her people.
Second, the Rav taught [based on Rambam’s finding] that Tisha b’Av was observed while the Second Temple stood. The anniversary of the destruction of the first temple was commemorated while the Second Temple existed. This is striking. How could they mourn a destruction when the Temple stood in their midst? They were haunted by the fear that it could happen again. And even when we are at our strongest, our history teaches us that there is reason to be fearful for what may yet come to be.
Finally, Tisha b’Av is about so much more than commemorating the destruction of the first and second temples. Tisha b’Av is the day when tragic episodes from throughout Jewish history are commemorated. It’s not the temple per se and its not the desolation of Yerushalayim per se that is the animating force of our mourning. The day is about connecting to the tragic strand of Jewish history, mourning the heavy costs of keeping Judaism alive, and taking responsibility to redirect the future.
(https://images.shulcloud.com/626/uploads/Sermons/The%20Vision%20of%20Yeshayahu-%20Parashat%20Devarim%205775.pdf)
(A detailed description of the Rav's shiur is found in the introduction to The Koren Mesorat HaRav Kinot: The Lookstein Edition (2011) [xxviii-xxxii])
Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, Change and Renewal (2011) [362-363] :
During the six years of the Holocaust, all the tragedies of the hurban, in all their terrible ferocity, reappeared upon the very body of the Jewish People - the humiliation, the torture, and the cruel destruction of the whole Jewish world in Europe, and above all, systematic and total extermination unparalleled in all of history. ... All the ancient images, all the lamentations of generations gone by, once again became a living reality. Once again, we sensed Jewish distinctness and all the pain that it entails, the hurban in all its significance.
All of this cries out to us to be remembered and not forgotten – if not every day of the year, at least on the day designated for this purpose. And there is no day on the Jewish calendar that can express all of this like Tisha B'Av, the remembrance day of national mourning, which, in all its customs and in its whole essence, has become like a day of private mourning.
Remembering the Holocaust on Tisha B'Av would likely arouse and intensify the feeling of mourning on this day among our contemporaries by lending relevance to the mourning over Jewish suffering in all generations.
Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg, The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays (2011) [300-303]:
[The Holocaust should not be incorporated into Tisha B’Av.] The Holocaust was an event so overwhelming that it calls for its own special day and framework in order to be authentically encompassed. Those who see the Holocaust incorporated into classical interpretation of punishment for sins wish to fuse its memory with that of other past destructions. But the very idea that this catastrophe was inflicted as divine punishment is both morally and religiously wounding. … The goal is not to “save” Tisha B’Av; it is to encounter, apply, and struggle with the implications of the Holocaust.
But Tisha B’Av should be taken seriously in its own right. With the loss of the land of Israel, the whole tone of Judaism became more somber and sorrowful. One simple indicator was that before the exile all the holidays were days of rejoicing. There were no extended periods of sorrow in the biblical calendar. Throughout the rabbinic period, whole periods of grief and mourning were added to the sacred calendar, as if the cosmos were in mourning. As Exodus and the conquest of the land had created an ever-expanding beachhead of liberation, so the exile reflected a shrinking of the liberated areas.
… With the rebirth of Israel we must recognize that the concrete tragedy that Tisha B’Av commemorates is being overcome. While exile is not yet over (Israel remains vulnerable and Jews in Russia, Syria, and Ethiopia are still too much at the mercy of oppressors), liberation has grown. … The wound of exile is being healed. As it heals, so the day and period around it must be healed and gradually turned into renewed joy.
Premature abandonment of Tisha B’Av runs the risk of insensitivity to suffering and of Jews becoming unselfconscious sovereigns and conquerors. On the other hand, …
After two millenia, the tide of history has shifted decisively as the sector of joy and redemption expands. It is a mitzvah to liberate even more days in the Jewish calendar from the grip of grief. … With joy, one must give and receive the testimony in our time that God is faithful to God’s promise.
Rabbi David Hartman, as recounted in 2015 by Rabbi David Wolkenfeld, of ASBI Congregation:
Rabbi David Hartman told the story of his first Tisha B’Av after the Six Day War many times over the following decades after he left the shul and moved to Yerushalayim to establish the Machon, the institute named in honor of his parents. One year, when he told this story, one of the members of the audience piped up and asked, “what did you do the following year?” The following year, he went to shul and recited kinot with everyone else.
(https://images.shulcloud.com/626/uploads/Sermons/The%20Vision%20of%20Yeshayahu-%20Parashat%20Devarim%205775.pdf)