What more appropriate way to spend Tisha B’Av than to get a real understanding of the story of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza and the churban.
ArtScroll has just released a new, convenient softcover volume, The Schottenstein Edition of Ein Yaakov Orlofsky Family Edition of Seder Nashim – Tishah B’Av Excerpts from Tractate Gittin, which includes a flowing translation of the aggadata on the churban, designed for maximum readability.
The best known “Tisha B’Av Talmud study” is the collection of narratives that begins with the story of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza, and goes on to discuss the history of the destruction of the Second Beis HaMikdash and the sorrow and spiritual heroism of that period, discussed in Maseches Gittin 55b-58a.
This new volume containing that portion of the Talmud – accompanied by notes based on the primary commentaries on Ein Yaakov and other sources, and “Insights” drawn from a vast range of commentaries – will bring welcome new understanding and meaning to its readers, hopefully inspiring us to long for the Final Redemption and elevate ourselves to be worthy of the coming of Moshiach.
