Top 5 Tisha B’Av Videos

Your Curated Guide To A Meaningful Tisha B’Av

By Ari Levensohn | 24 May 2024 | 5 Minute Read

What Should I do on Tisha B’Av This Year?

Tisha B’Av is probably the single hardest day in the Jewish year. We know we are supposed to spend the day engaged in meaningful mourning, but how? How long can we sit on the floor reading kinot (mournful prayers)? How many holocaust movies can we watch? And however we pass the time, are we really connecting on a deep emotional level to the meaning of the day?

Luckily, we have you covered!

Every year, thousands of people flock to AlephBeta.org, for our game-changing library of Tisha B’Av videos. Each of these videos comes along with beautifully, attention-capturing animation that will make learning easy, and is sure to transform your Tisha B’Av. 

Not sure where to begin? We curated our favorite Tisha B’Av videos for whatever mood you're in. 

Is There Such a Thing as Purposeful Mourning?

With hundreds of thousands of views, “Rachel’s Tears” continues to inspire year after year. Through the lens of Rachel, our matriarch, Rabbi David Fohrman explores how we can channel our pain and anguish towards personal growth and creating meaningful change in our closest relationships. And, as a bonus, this content has recently been completely reanimated, so the nuanced ideas come to life in a meaningful and accessible way.

Tisha B'Av in What Feels Like a Changed World

We are still living in the shadow of October 7th, and the painful ramifications that followed. When Tisha B'Av hits this close to home, the day can feel more real. But also more challenging. How do we bridge the gap between this fresh, raw pain, and the much diluted, distant pain of ancient tragedies? How do we face Tisha B'Av when we aren't performing mourning, but asking from the recesses of our own sorrow: Where is God when we need Him most? These are the difficult questions Rabbi Fohrman tackles in this beautiful and poignant film.

Why Do We Mourn a Building???

More than anything, Tisha B’Av mourns the destruction of the first and second temple, but it is really hard to mourn something that we lost 2000 years ago, that we have never even experienced. What is it that we are even missing? In this video, Rabbi Fohrman uncovers a connection that ties the temple all the way back to the creation of the universe. He shows how the temple was so much more than a building, and exactly what the universe is missing without it.

Why Does God Let Us Suffer?

Tisha B’Av has always been bigger than any one historical event. While it primarily mourns the destruction of the first and second temples, it also mourns the sin of the spies, the defeat of the Bar Kokhba revolt, the crusades, the holocaust, and pretty much every tragedy that has ever struck the Jewish people, personal or communal. Naturally, this mourning forces us to confront the question of why God lets bad things happen to good people. Drawing on the wisdom of Isaiah, Rabbi Fohrman offers a novel approach to theodicy and the very nature of evil.

Rabbi Fohrman's Classic Baseless Hatred Video... Special Kids Edition

It is hard enough to make Tisha B’Av meaningful for ourselves, how are we supposed to engage our children? Today isn’t only about mourning. It’s also an opportunity to grow as people, which provides the perfect educational opportunity. In this video, Rabbi David Fohrman opens up the section of Talmud which teaches that the temple was destroyed because of “baseless hatred.” But who hates for no reason? I don’t! Could it be that we are misunderstanding what baseless hatred really is? This video is sure to lead to fruitful discussions with your children about the history of Tisha B’Av and how to manage our emotions towards other people. You can find the original version here, or the edited version for kids linked below.