A brief look at the history of the Ninth of Av will demonstrate that it is a paradoxical day:
Chazal tell us that the Ninth of Av was to be the day the Jews, after wandering for forty years in the desert, would finally enter the promised land, Eretz Yisroel. Tragically, it was also the day that the Jews cried of despair upon hearing the report of the spies. The spies said that the promised land was one of giants, and the land itself kills it's inhabitants (The Midrash relates that everywhere the spies went the inhabitants were burying their dead. God planned that they would be buried then to enable the spies to explore the land and see it's uniqueness undisturbed. The spies didn't see it that way.). The Jews cried, fearing they would be unable to capture the land. Upon "seeing" the Jews reaction, God acted, as he always does, measure for measure by saying, "You cry unnecessarily now, so I will make you cry necessarily on this day from now on." So that day it was decreed that none of the men of fighting age would enter the promised land, they would all die in the desert, for they were responsible. Ever since then, the Ninth of Av has been a day of tragedy for the Jewish people. BOTH Temples were destroyed, Betar was destroyed, the Jews were expelled from Spain, etc. And the list goes on even to World War I.
Yet, Chazal say that the Mashiach is/was/will be born on the Ninth of Av, and that in the days after Mashiach comes, the Ninth of Av will be a holiday of joy, as it was originally intended. This is reflected in the laws of the day, as we don't say Tachanun. It is not like the other fast days.
It is no coincidence that the Parsha of Shema is always read the Shabbos following the Ninth of Av, it is Davkah set up that way because it demonstrates our loyalty (Emunah) to God, as we will now attempt to explain.
Throughout history, whenever a Jew's life has been in danger, he has screamed, "Shema Yisroel!." There is a deep-rooted reason for this. We say in the Psalm of the Day for Shabbos, " LeHagid BaBoker Chasdecha, VeEmunascha BaLeilos." "To speak of your generosity in the morning, and your loyalty at night." This idea has many applications, but in general, in the morning when things are clear we speak of God's generosity. And at night, when things are dark and unclear we speak of his loyalty. When things are clear, i.e. the holy Temple is standing and the Jews are living confidently in their land, it's easy to recognize God and praise him. But when things are unclear, when the place of our holy Temple is occupied by others, and millions of our brothers and sisters are murdered, and Israel fears attack from every side, it's not so easy to praise God. It's not so easy to see his generosity. It's hard to see how this too is part of the ultimate divine plan. So we speak of God's loyalty to his people and how he will never abandon us.
We can say that there is a pattern of experience: First there is the initial excitement of something new. Then, the excitement is lost. Then, if one works hard enough, he can regain the initial excitement. The Jews were taken out of Egypt clearly seeing the hand of God. One can't even begin to imagine the excitement. The Jews mystically were raised to incredible levels spiritually in the Exodus; it was an unreal God-experience. But then, once they crossed the Red Sea, they faced a desert, and hard work for forty-nine days. Only then could they get the Torah, and really experience God. The best application of this idea is probably marriage. People first experience what's called "romance." Then, once they marry, the romance fades. But years later, after working out problem after problem, they experience what's called "love." The initial experience is a gift, it doesn't last. It's up to us to make the experience real and thereby lasting.
The initial experience is what is called "Boker", morning. It is clear that the love is there during "romance", but it is potential love, because it hasn't encountered any resistance. It is only at night, when things are unclear that the love is tested. When the Romance is gone, when you can't remember what you saw in your partner, is when your love is being tested. All you can remember of the morning is that it felt right, but you can't remember why. At night one has to have Emunah, loyalty to the original clarity, which for some reason, doesn't seem so clear anymore.
In the morning, when we can see things, they are very clear. Anything that can be seen, can be proved. This is why a proof is Hebrew is called a Raayah. When one sees something, he sees it in its totality, he sees it all at once. But at night, when things are dark and we can't see clearly, we have to rely on our other senses. We have to hear things, and hearing is not like seeing. When we hear, we only hear bits at a time. We hear in syllables. And sometimes the sentence doesn't make sense until the end. Sometimes the subject is at the end! This is why the world is called darkness. Because history doesn't make sense. Our world is a world of hearing, not seeing. We never know why a person acts the way he does, because we can never see him in his totality. We only see bits and pieces. We will never know fully what someone else is thinking. After we lost the Temples and we were sent into exile, things became dark for the Jews, and that is where our Emunah, our loyalty is tested.
All those times when Jews have been in danger, they have shouted "Shema Yisroel", because things aren't clear in our world, especially in a time of danger. But at that time is when our loyalty is tested. And if a person in a situation of utter despair can say "Shema Yisroel" and reaffirm his loyalty to God, even when he can't see him! I envy his share in the world to come.
All the tragedies that have happened on the Ninth of Av, occurred because at some level the Jews in the desert lacked Emunah. So what if there were giants in the land? It's exactly when there are giants in the land that ones loyalty is being tested. It's our holding strong, Davka when things are dark that we will merit to REALLY have the light, the light of the real world, the eternal world, where things can be SEEN and not just heard.
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