I’m generally not a superstitious person, but I have 2 rules:
- I will not have anything to do with the Hope diamond. (Like that would happen)
- I’ll avoid doing substantial on Tisha b’Av. (Literally the 9th of the Hebrew month Av) The history is just too bad:
- The reports of the spies, which led the Jews to spend 40 years in the desert.
- The destruction of the 1st temple.
- The destruction of the 2nd temple.
- The crushing of the Bar Kokhba rebellion.
- The first crusade, which set of an orgy of pogroms and murder.
- The expulsion of the Jews from Spain.
- The expulsion of the Jews from England.
- The start of WWI.
- Etc.
So, making a political trip to Israel on Tisha b’Av is not something I would do.
I’d move it a week one way or the other.
It is the saddest on the Jewish calendar, and it is observed by a day of fasting, and by listening by the chanting of Eicha (Lamentations).
One of the peculiarities of Tisha b’Av is that if it falls on a Shabbos, as it did this year, the observance is moved to the next day.
Whether you subscribe to my particular bit of superstitious silliness or not, it is self evident that if you decide to hold a $50,000 a plate fundraising banquet that starts while the fast is still ongoing, you don’t have a bad luck problem, you have a “Your an idiot problem”:
Presumed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will host a fund-raising event in Jerusalem this month at $60,000 or more per plate, The Jerusalem Post learned on Wednesday.
Delegates are set to fly in from the US for the event on July 29, which a Republican source said would be “a small meeting, but a big fund-raiser” as the Tisha Be’av fast ends. Immediately after the fund-raising meeting, Romney will host a conference in Jerusalem, where he will lay out his Middle East policy.
To be fair, the actual serving of food was not to start until after the fast was technically over, and once it blew up in Mitt’s face, they moved it to a breakfast get together the next morning.
But still, what sort of Rmorons does Mitt Rmoney have working for him?