Tisha B'av is the 24th of July

I received this email today from my sweet friend Dor in Boston:

Thought I'd let you know today was a fasting day and a special day when people commemorate the destruction of the first and the second temple in Jerusalem. Actually the three weeks prior to today are called (freely translated) between the limits of sorrows. During those days orthodox Jews mourn. No marriages, no dancing, avoiding music and no blessings on a new clothing or fruits. No haircuts or the allowed shaving, etc ...

The first temple was burned by the Babylonian soldiers. The second temple was destroyed by the Roman Titus. Amazingly enough those two events in history took place on the same day. Later in history this day was also the day Jews were cast away from Spain in 1492. Ferdinand the king of Spain decided that by the end of July that year the foot of no Jew will step on the land of Spain.

A lot happens on this day and I won't bore you with details .. just wanted to keep you in touch since you expressed your feelings about that distance between you and everything that is Jewish."

Little did Dor know that it was also a Mormon holiday today. The 24th of July is the day that Brigham Young and the first group of Mormon settlers arrived to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. Before I post the Wikipedia blurb, I'll just say that this bit of history is still being argued about between Mormons and the few non-Mormons who care enough to argue about it. The Wikipedia article is written from the Mormon view.

"Since its founding in 1830, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were often harshly treated and persecuted by their neighbors, primarily due to their inclination toward social and political unity and their unorthodox religious beliefs. There was violence directed against the Church, its members, and its leader, Joseph Smith. This among other reasons caused the body of the Church to move from one place to another- Ohio, Missouri, and then to Illinois where church members built the city of Nauvoo. Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs issued an extermination order against all Mormons living in the state. In 1844 Joseph Smith was killed by a mob while in custody in the city of Carthage, Illinois. In 1846, religious tension reached their peak, and in 1848 mobs burned the Latter-day Saint temple in Nauvoo."

After moving from place to place in the East, the Mormons moved out West to Utah, which was not part of the US at the time, in order to establish their own place- Deseret. Which, for those of you who had no idea what I was referring to in my blog's subtitle, now you do.

There, now everyone on both sides of my life learned something today. :)