“For there our captors asked us for words of song…” (Psalms 137:3) At the time (of the Temple's destruction), the nations of the world said to them: Stand up and sing before idols just as you would sing in the Holy Temple. They replied: If we had sung songs in our place, we would not have been exiles. And now how could we sing songs before idols?!

... Immediately [the nations] arose and killed heaps and heaps of them, and even though many of them were killed Israel rejoiced that they did not sing songs before the idols, as it says “…and our tormentors [asked of us] mirth…” (ibid.) At that moment the Holy One swore a whole oath to Israel. He said of Himself, so to speak, if I do not keep my oath, as it says “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget [its skill].” (Psalms 137:5) At the moment Israel was exiled, the Holy One took His hand and placed it behind Him, just as it says “He has withdrawn His right hand from the enemy…” (Lamentations 2:3) The Holy One, so to speak, did not return it to its place. And so too the Holy One said to Israel: I will forget My right hand which I placed behind Me if I do not fulfill my oath to you and not forget you among the nations. “May my tongue cling to my palate, if I do not remember you, if I do not bring up Jerusalem at the beginning of my joy.” (Psalms 137:6) In the future the Holy One will return to Jerusalem all of her joy, as it says “And the redeemed of Zion shall return, and they shall come to Zion with song, with joy of days of yore shall be upon their heads…” (Isaiah 35:10) And anyone who mourns for Jerusalem in this world will rejoice with her in the time to come, as it says “Rejoice with Jerusalem and exult in her all those who love her: rejoice with her a rejoicing, all who mourn over her.” (Isaiah 66:10)

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.” (Jeremiah 31:12)

The Lord in my midst has rejected All my heroes; He has proclaimed a set time (mo'ed) against me To crush my young men. As in a press the Lord has trodden the maiden Judah.

(4) People don't say Tachanun [or selichot] on Tisha b'Av, and they don't fall on their faces (in abasement), because it is called a festival (mo'ed).

It is written: "A psalm of Asaph. O God, heathens have entered Your domain (Psalm 79:1)": This verse should not have said "psalm", but rather a "lament" of Asaph, a "mourning song" of Asaph, an "elegy" of Asaph, so why does it say "a psalm of Asaph"? Rather it is a parable about a king who made a huppah for his son and its foundation and its wall and its decoration, and his son went out and did evil debauchery, and so the king went up to the huppah and tore up the curtains and smashed the supports and his tutor went and made a flute of the support and was playing music. They said to him: "The king overturned his son's huppah and you are sitting playing music?" and he said to them: "I am playing music because he overturned his son's huppah and did not "pour out his anger" on his son. So they said to Asaph: "The Holy One, blessed be He, has destroyed the Temple and you are sitting and playing music?" and he said to them: "I am playing music because the Holy One, blessed be He, "poured out his anger" on wood and stone and did not "pour out his anger" on Israel. See! It is written: "He kindled a fire in Zion which consumed its foundations".

On Tisha b'Av, one must recall the nature of its founding event [in the prayer] "Have mercy, our G-d, on the mourners of Zion..." ... My father wrote, "All my days, I have been baffled as to why we [wait to] say this prayer in the afternoon service..." ... It seems to me that the reason for [delaying this prayer till later] is that the fire that consumed the Temple burned till the evening, so we recall then the lowly state of Jerusalem and her mourners, and we pray for her consolation... During the evening and morning [of Tisha b'Av], it is like our dead lie before us, and there is no comfort to be had, so we ask for mercy. But at Mincha, we pray for "Comfort," as it is like our dead has been buried.

The following tale which we have from R. Yudan, son of R. Ayvu, proves it: One day, a Jew, while ploughing his field, heard his cow cry out. An Arab, who was passing by, also heard it. He cried, "Son of Judah, son of Judah! Quiet your cow, put down your plough, for the Temple is destroyed!" The cow bellowed a second time. "Son of Judah," said the Arab, "Son of Judah! Take back up your cow and your plough, for the King Messiah has just been born!"

What is his name? Menachem... The Jew sold his cow and plough and bought some baby's clothes. He went from town to town; when he arrived at the town mentioned, he saw that all the women were buying clothes, except for Menachem's mother. He heard the women say: Mother of Menachem, come and buy clothes for your baby. "Oh, she said, I should like to see the enemies of Israel strangled, for on my baby's birthday, the Temple was destroyed."

"We are certain," answered the traveller, "that because of his birth, while the Temple was destroyed, it will also be rebuilt (therefore, be comforted, and make thy purchases)."

"But," she said, "I don't have any money." "Never mind," he said, "Come, buy what you need... if to-day thou hast not the necessary money before thee, I will come to be paid another day." Two days later, he came back to town. ''And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse" (meaning, that the birth of a Messiah of the line of David will make up for the destruction of the Temple).