The Fast of the 9th of Av is meant to have us remember the Temple's destruction and feel the pain of its loss, awaken us to the importance of building the Land of Israel and our people today, and arouse us to do teshuva. The pain over the Temple's destruction is intermingled with the pain caused by our personal troubles, and we entreat Hashem to deliver us from sorrow, bring us from darkness to the great light "that will shine on Zion."
There are five things from which we abstain on the fast: food and drink, applying creams and ointments, washing, intimate relations, wearing leather shoes.
Food and drink:
A normally healthy person who feels not unusual weakness during the fast, continues to fast despite discomfort. A person who is certain to be endangering or might be endangering his health must not fast.
Someone who is ill but not in life threatening danger, such as someone who has a headache caused by illness, is dizzy, is running a fever, must lie down due to weakness or has an eye infection and desires to eat so as to gain strength (or has been instructed to eat by a doctor) – may eat and drink, without limiting it to halakhically prescribed amounts (called a shiur).
This year, since the fast has been put off to the next day because it falls on Shabbat (called a nidche fast), even a slightly ill person is permitted to break his fast without delay.
Pregnant and nursing women: When the fast is observed on its actual date, pregnant and nursing women fast as usual, but if they experience headaches, stomach pain, or weakness, are permitted to eat and drink. Since this year the fast has been put off to Sunday as it falls on Shabbat, pregnant and nursing women who are in good health fast until morning (Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach) or until midday (Rabbi Ovadia Yossef). However, if they feel the slightest weakness, they are permitted to eat and drink during the night of the fast.
A woman who has given birth within thirty days of the fast may eat (according to both Ashkenazi and Sephardi decisors) since our generation is considered to be weak physically.
This year, a woman who has given birth within 24 months of the fast and feels weak, may eat and drink on the fast.
A nursing mother who feels that breast milk quantity may be reduced is permitted to eat and drink as usual, even if she has neither headache nor weakness and even if the child can be fed substitutes.
If a doctor has instructed a pregnant woman not to fast for medical reasons, she must obey those instructions and refrain from fasting.
Those allowed to eat, both Ashkenazim and Sepharadim, must say the Havdalah prayer at the end of Shabbat on beer (not malt beer). Ashkenazim can also use real orange juice. If none of the above are available, they may use wine or grape juice.
A woman may not recite the blessing "meorei ha'esh" in the Havdalah prayer, but is permitted to recite the blessing over a flame once Havdalah is finished.
Applying creams:
Deodorant is permitted, while makeup is not. Anti-dryness creams are allowed as are anti-mosquito preparations.
Washing:
One is allowed to wash a dirty face, but washing to refresh oneself, even using a finger, is forbidden. A sick person who washes his hands before eating bread does so in the usual fashion but only up to the wrist.
Intimate relations:
Up until the end of the fast, a couple must behave as they do during the niddah period (however, negia, physical contact, is forbidden only at night). A woman whose immersion in the mikveh is supposed to be Saturday night may do the preparations for immersion before the fast and wash after the fast prior to immersion, or do everything after the fast is over.
Wearing leather shoes:
Wearing "shoresh" sandals and crocs are permitted, even though they are comfortable, but it is best to avoid wearing them as some of the greatest halakhic decisors said that plastic shoes that are comfortable should be avoided. Leather shoes are forbidden.
Sitting on the floor:
From halakhic midday one can be lenient and sit on a chair. Up until that time, sitting on a low stool or stair or the floor is allowed. It is preferable to stand when on a bus, unless one feels weak.
Torah Study
We do not study Torah, because of the verse "The laws of Hashem gladden hearts," excepting topics dealing with the day's mourning. Even those should not be delved into deeply (Daf Yomi is forbidden) Those who have questions regarding faith may study books dealing with faith, since the requirement "I am the Lord, thy G-d" applies every day, including fast days.
Work
Work is forbidden on the 9th of Av, and anyone who does so will not reap a blessing from this work. From halakhic midday the custom is to be lenient and allow work if there is a great need for it.
Regarding the Shabbat which is the real date of Tisha B'Av this year:
-Learning Torah all day is permitted
-Singing at the Shabbat meals is allowed as well.
-Sepharadim allow marital intimacy, but Ashkenazim do not unless Friday night was the night for ritual immersion.
-Ashkenazim say Av harachamim before the Mussaf service.
-Mincha is said omitting the paragraph beginning with Tzidkatcha.
-Rinsing one's mouth before the sun sets is not considered to be in the forbidden category of preparing for the weekdays on Shabbat.
-On Shabbat, one should not take pills to make fasting the next day easier
-Seuda Shlishit is the same as it is every week, and can include meat and wine if desired.
-The fast begins at sunset. About a half hour after that we say "Hamavdil bein kodesh lechol" remove leather shoes and change into weekday clothes.
Saturday night:
Maariv (Arvit) – Evening Service:
Ashkenazim remove the parochet (curtain) from the Ark and pray in low voices.
In the Silent Prayer they add the paragraph for Motsaei Shabbat, Ata chonantanu and then say Kaddish Titkabel.
Only the number of candles needed for reading are lit, and the blessing over light "Borei meorei ha'esh" from the Havdalah prayer is recited.
Congregants sit on the floor and read The Scroll of Lamentations (Eicha) in the customary tune Kinot (elegies) are then said, Ata Kadosh and the concluding prayer Aleinu Leshabeach.
Sepharadim remove the parochet (curtain) from the Ark, and there are some congregations who read the Torah portion of Ha'azinu. They say Anenu and Ata chonantanu in the Silent Prayer, followed by Viyehi Noam, then light a candle and recite "Borei meorei ha'esh" from the Havdalah prayer, read The Scroll of Lamentations (Eicha) without a blessing, Kinot, Ata Kadosh, and a special Kaddish prayer. The synagogue lights are turned off, and the number of years since the Temple's destruction is announced, then Shir lama'a lot and the concluding Aleinu Leshabeach prayer are said.
Shacharit – Morning service:
Hand washing: Only fingers and not the entire hand may be washed (the same is permitted after using bathroom facilities), after wiping hands until just moist, they may be passed over the eyes. Omit the Oseh li kol tsarki blessing (some do recite it) in the morning blessings. Tefillin and tallit are not worn (some Sephardim do don them), tzitzit (the fringed garment) is donned without a blessing. Later, when the tallit is put on and the blessing recited, one should also have the tzitzit in mind.
Ashkenazim omit the portions on the ketoret and tamid (incense and daily offerings) but recite A Psalm of Thanksgiving.
Sepharadim do not omit ketoret and tamid prayers.
In the morning's Silent Prayer omit Nachem. The person who leads the prayrers says Anenu between the Goel yisrael and Refaenu blessings. Sepharadim say Anenu silently as part of the Silent Prayer in the morning as well.
The Priestly Blessing:
In Ashkenazi synagogues kohanim do not bless the worshipers or recite the Barchenu payer that precedes it. In Sephardic synagogues the Priestly Blessing is as usual.
Avinu Malkenu and Tachanun are omitted.
After the repetition of the Silent Prayer the mourner's kaddish is said (Sepharadim say some kinot at this point) and three people are called up to the Torah reading in the parasha of Va'etchanan "Ki tolid banim" in the Book of Devarim. The third person is maftir. Then the short kaddish is said, the haftarah "Asof asifem" up to "Neum Hashem" is read to the tune of Lamentations. The haftarah blessings end at Magen David, the Torah is returned to the Holy Ark and kinot are recited.
After the recitation of Kinot:
Sepharadim continue as usual till the end of the service after the haftarah is read, but say the psalm By the Rivers of Babylon instead of Tefillah LeDavid, Kaddish with titkabel, remove their tefillin and say kinot and Eicha, and then the special Kaddish (atid leatchadeta)
Ashkenazim say Ashrei, veAta Kadosh, omit Lamenatzeach and the verse veani zot briti. in and then Kaddish is said omitting Titkabel, then Aleinu and the Mourner's Kaddish are said. Omit the psalm for the day and Pitum Haktoret.
During the day, we walk as if rebuked and do not greet each other. If someone says hello by mistake, he is responded to with a sign and not words.
Mincha – Afternoon service
Those who did not don tallit and tefillin for the morning service, do so now and recite the blessings for them.
Ashkenazim say the daily psalm and the other prayers omitted in the Morning Service. Then Ashrei, short Kaddish, the Torah is taken out of the Ark and three people are called up for t he Torah reading "Vayachel," the haftarah is "Dirshu Hashem" as on all public fasts. The half kaddish is said NDuring the Silent Prayer the Nachem paragraph is said in the Boneh Yerushalayim blessing, and Anenu is said in the Shomea Tefilla blessing. The prayer leader says Anenu between the Goel and Refaenu blessings and nachem in the boneh yerushalayim blessing).
The usual order of prayers is not altered, but one should think of the City of David and the Temple Mount when saying the words "shomema uvzuya" – desolate and shamed. Anyone who forgets to say Nachem in its proper place, says it after Anenu or beforehand without the shomea tefilla ending either after Anenu or before Vetechezenu, veal kulom or elokay netzor. If he has reached the end of the service and totally forgot to say these extra paragraphs, he does not repeat the prayers.
The Priestly Blessing is said by the kohanim when praying after plag hamincha (the last period of time mncha can be said) , but most decisors are against saying it during mincha gedola (although Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook did say it even before plag mincha).Avinu Malkenu is not said.
Arvit – Evening prayer
This year, the fast was put off a day as the 9th is on Shabbat, so we fast on the 10th of Av. Therefore one can be lenient and allow bathing, haircuts and laundry from right after the fast for both Ashkenaim and Sepharadim (during ordinary years those are permitted from the 10th in the afternoon). This year, we say Kiddush levana right after Arvit and do not say havdalah or break the fast in the synagogue so as not to cause sorrow to the women waiting at home to break their fasts.
"And if we and our world have been destroyed by baseless hatred, let us return to rebuild the world along with ourselves by baseless love." Rabbi Avraham HaCohen Kook, Orot Hakodesh.
Rabbi Baruch Efratistudied at Merkaz HaRav yeshiva in Jerusalem and serves as a rabbi in Efrat. He is a prolific and much-read writer on Torah issues and heads the "Derech Emunah" (Way of Torah) movement of young Israeli Orthodox rabbis.