For Massachusetts retailers and their customers, the summer sales tax holiday has become an annual tradition. But for Jews observing Tisha B’av, the opportunity to take advantage of this summer’s savings would have been lost without the keen eyes of a local legislator.

“For observant Jews, if there are goings on at synagogue or they want to use that day as a day of prayer, that’s the primary role of that day, and I would never recommend having something as significant as a sales tax holiday [then],” said Cynthia Creem, a Massachusetts state senator and the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Revenue.

Creem received the original proposal for this year’s tax holiday from the committee’s House Chair, Rep. John Binienda, which suggested the tax-free weekend be held on Aug. 9 and 10.

She immediately cross-checked the dates with her office’s Jewish calendar and realized they would conflict with Tisha B’av, which begins at sundown on Aug. 9 and lasts until sundown on Aug. 10.
“In the past we have had issues with regards to having the tax holiday or primary voting on a Jewish holiday, so we checked the dates to make sure,” said Creem. “We then got back to house members [of the committee] and they agreed to change the date.”

The new proposal, which was voted in on July 22, moved the tax break holiday to the weekend of Aug. 16 and 17. Governor Patrick has promised to approve the bill. Binienda said he was glad the oversight was detected.

“We would never want to do anything to disrespect any religion’s holiday,” he said. “[The original dates] would have completely eliminated the Orthodox Jewish community from participating in the tax free holiday. We did find out about it and we changed it.”

Tisha B’av is a day of mourning and marks several tragedies in Jewish history, including the expulsion of Jews from Spain in the 15th century, the end of the Bar Kochba revolt against the Romans in 135 C.E., and the destruction of the First and Second Temples. The structures were said to have fallen on the same day (the 9th day of Av in the Jewish calendar) more than 600 years apart. Observant Jews commemorate the date by attending synagogue and fasting.

“It is a national day of mourning, prayer and reflection,” said Rabbi Barry David Hartman of Ahavath Achim Synagogue, an Orthodox temple in New Bedford. “So it was very nice of state legislature [to change the tax holiday] and I commend them. It shows sensitivity to an ethnic group and that’s what America is about.”

(Source: Jewish Advocate)