For the first time, Tel Aviv cafes will not be required to close tomorrow evening, the night of Tisha B’Av [the day of fasting and mourning for the destruction of the Holy Temples]. Tel Aviv Municipality Attorney-General Achaz Ben-Ari, who made the decision, said that although city ordinances do indeed require the closure of “places of entertainment” on Tisha B’Av, it is doubtful if food establishments are included in this definition. Deputy Foreign Minister Rabbi Michael Melchior attacked the decision, saying that instead of using the day to encourage public discourse and strengthen our connections with Jewish history, the Tel Aviv municipality has decided to turn Tisha B\'Av into a \"religious/legal\" matter and another issue of conflict. \"The municipality apparently thinks that its residents don\'t have to know about the destruction of the Holy Temples, the Exile, and the return,\" he said, \"and with their closed-headedness, it is separating them from the rest of the country.\"
Tens of thousands of Jews from Israel and the world over are expected to observe the ancient Tisha B\'Av custom of walking around the Old City Walls tomorrow night. Women in Green has announced that following the traditional reading of the Book of Lamentations near the American Consulate on Agron Street at 9 PM, the walk will commence approximately an hour later, beginning its Old City walk at Jaffa Gate and continuing in a north-easterly direction towards Damascus Gate, Lions Gate, and Dung Gate (near the Western Wall). On the day of Tisha B\'Av, the Temple Mount Faithful will hold a symbolic cornerstone laying ceremony for the Third Temple outside the Southern Wall of the Temple Mount.
Tens of thousands of Jews from Israel and the world over are expected to observe the ancient Tisha B\'Av custom of walking around the Old City Walls tomorrow night. Women in Green has announced that following the traditional reading of the Book of Lamentations near the American Consulate on Agron Street at 9 PM, the walk will commence approximately an hour later, beginning its Old City walk at Jaffa Gate and continuing in a north-easterly direction towards Damascus Gate, Lions Gate, and Dung Gate (near the Western Wall). On the day of Tisha B\'Av, the Temple Mount Faithful will hold a symbolic cornerstone laying ceremony for the Third Temple outside the Southern Wall of the Temple Mount.