Tonight marks the start of Tisha b’Av, a day of fasting and mourning for the Jewish community. Traditionally, Tisha b’Av commemorates the destruction of the temples in Jerusalem, but for many Jews, it has a more universal purpose to mourn all kinds of physical and emotional destruction: global warming, pollution, war, illness, starvation, genocide, and violence. Eicha, the book of Lamentations, which is read on Tisha b’Av, likens the fall of Jerusalem to a woman violated and abandoned. In recent years, some women have used Tisha b’Av (and the entire month of Av) as a time to mourn violence against women.

Check out this ceremony for the month of Av created by WUJS (the World Union of Jewish Students).

Also, learn about the ways in which Jewish women—including Janet Yassen, Hanna Weinberg, and Rebecca Chernin—have played active roles in preventing violence against women.