The Ninth of Av: Chronology and Ideology in Fixing the Dates of the First and the Second Destructions in Rabbinic Literature / תשעה באב: כרונולוגיה ואידאולוגיה בקביעת תאריכי החורבן הראשון והשני בספרות חז"ל

According to the Mishnah, the First and Second Temples were destroyed on the ninth of Av. Josephus, however, maintains that both Temples were destroyed on the tenth of Av. This article explores the various ways in which the affinity between the two destructions was constructed during the period between the destruction of the Second Temple and the redaction of the Mishnah. It demonstrates how myth and ritual theory can serve to elucidate the way the Mishnah fashioned the ninth of Av into a day of national calamity. Josephus' ideological incentive in highlighting the correspondence between the two destructions can be understood as part of his overarching ideological agenda in The Jewish War that assigns blame for the destruction to the rebels. Of particular interest are the various links that the sages propose between the two events. R. Akiva connects the two destructions through a Midrash on Zechariah's prophesy of the four fasts (Zach. 8:19), whose features recall the Pesher genre known from Qumran. R. Yose observes three points of commonality shared by the dates of the two destructions. Tracing the transformations of R. Yose's statement within rabbinic literature reveals a profound divergence in the interpretation of its implicit meaning.