@csr1
Forgive my long reply, but if you read it fully, you will see where I have directly addressed your posts.
Tisha B’av is indeed a day of sadness and mourning. We have a mesora of how to spend the time before chatzos, focused completely on the churban, and its devastating impact on our lives throughout galus. We do this by reciting kinos, painful, emotion laden dirges, written by our leaders referencing the details of the destruction of the Bais Hamikdosh, the dispersion of Klal Yisrael into galus, and the terrible tragedies we have experienced throughout this long galus.
At chatzos, the tone changes somewhat. Although we are not supposed to distract ourselves from the mourning that is the essence of the day, we are PERMITTED to do other things as needed. I don’t know the source, but there does come a time in the day, where we talk about the future, teshuva, and hope for a return of the shechina to Eretz Yisrael, with the coming of Moshiach.
Chazal tell us that in any generation that the Bais Hamikdosh is not rebuilt, it is as if that generation is equally responsible for its destruction as we were at the time of the churban. In other words, we need to make changes in OUR lives, in the areas that we have been told would have prevented the churban, and as it follows, can reverse it, and lead to the return of the Bais Hamikdosh, and the open manifestation of the Shechina, with the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu.
Some people are able to maintain the focus on the enormous tragedy of our continued exile by learning parts of Torah that refer to galus, and its causes, or reading intense, painful books and stories of the terrible things that have happened to our nation as a whole, even in recent times. An example of this would be books describing the violence of the crusades, the fires of the Spanish Inquisition, and most recently, the horrors of the Nazi holocaust.
For many, it is difficult to maintain that focus for an entire day. Others, due to the physical burden of the fast itself, find it difficult to learn, or even read. Being that some activities are permitted after chatzos, they become distracted from the meaning of the day altogether. It is these conditions that have prompted some organizations to create programs that focus on mussar, and self introspection, with the goal of encouraging us to make the changes necessary to bring geulah. It is a different, less intense way to stay connected to the severity of our remaining in galus.
This galus is said to have been caused by “sinas chinam”, which is translated as BASELESS hate or disregard for other observant Jews, because of perceived imperfection, or simply because of (non-halachic) cultural differences. Over the years, events have been organized, to provide excellent lectures on the topics that are appropriate for Tisha B’av, specifically improving our interpersonal standards as required by Torah. These live events feature talented speakers who educate, and remind us of our obligation to do teshuva, and thus hopefully precipitate the coming of Moshiach and the Geula. In addition, there are masterful video presentations available, geared to acknowledging such shortcomings, and hopefully inspiring us to change our attitudes, and behaviors, with the same intended goal, of making us worthy once again.
In more recent years, there has been movement to challenge us to recognize that the overwhelming loss of Jews to intermarriage, is equally as tragic and devastating as the murder of our brethren. This is a unique tragedy to our generation. Millions of Jews are either intentionally, or due to circumstance, ignorant of our heritage, and thus almost guaranteed to sever their ties to Judaism. This reality has been referred to as a Spiritual Holocaust. Each individual who cuts himself off, also cuts off untold numbers of potential descendants from Torah observance. Their right of passage to Eternity is being lost forever. This dire situation should disturb us as much as any physical threat to our brothers.
There are individuals who have been attempting to wake us up to this reality, recognize it for the tragedy that it is, and INSPIRE us to care about our brothers, and ACT before they are lost forever. In an effort to impress the seriousness of this message to us, video presentations have been created to be shown on Tisha B’av, highlighting the lives and activities of individuals who recognize[d] the severity of this threat, and did not sit idly by while other Jews are being lost. The intention is to sensitize us to this form of destruction within our nation, and inspire us to act accordingly. The loss of masses of Jews to assimilation, is also an example of epic destruction to our Nation, and should be no less disturbing than the holocaust.
The message is: if you could save just ONE Jew from a train headed to Auschwitz, would you? If you can prevent the termination of just ONE Jewis family’s ETERNITY, how can you not?
For those who can maintain their awareness throughout the day, continuously mourning, and feeling the profound tragedy of our continued exile, such videos may be considered somewhat of an entertaining distraction, and perhaps should be viewed at a different time. For many others, such videos assist in feeling appropriate distress of our current Galus, and hopefully inspire them to care, and make a difference. In this way, Tisha B’av afternoon changes from a time of mindless distraction to meaningful inspiration for change that will hopefully bring the Geula. Individuals ought to be honest with themselves about what is or is not going to keep their attention properly focused on the sadness of Tisha B’av.