Devarim: 5782 - Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld explains the custom of throwing "bobkes" on Tisha B'Av. The story was told at the conclusion of Rabbi Betzalel Mizrachi's daily Daf Yomi class in Nachlah. Watch:

00:00 Speaker 1 Please. We’re on the eve of Tisha B’Av. There’s a custom in some shuls of throwing bobkes at one another. You know the story about Reb Shmuel Munkes. I think it was Rabbi Yisroel of Ruzhin who came to the beis midrash. Reb Shmuel threw bobkes at him, and he said, “It’s because of young men like this that the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed.” Later he saw him sitting in an anthill, suffering as he recited the kinnos. Then he said, “It’s because of young men like this that the Beis Hamikdash will be rebuilt.” It turned out to be the same person. But the question is: What is the source of this custom of throwing bobkes at one another? What’s the point of it? I once heard an explanation. There used to be Jews who mourned the destruction so deeply on Tisha B’Av, who became so absorbed in it, that their anguish brought them to the point where their souls were ready to expire. They became so immersed in it that it endangered their lives. Their souls were ready to expire. So when people in shul saw someone getting too caught up in it, to the point of danger, they would throw a bobke at him to rouse him and bring him out of that state. That’s where the custom of throwing bobkes comes from. Of course, as with anything, you can see how it developed: nowadays people start fooling around and just throw them. But yes, everything has some basis. Where did this come from? It came from the fact that there were once Jews who mourned so deeply that they put their lives in danger.

01:44 Speaker 2 But really, why is there any need for that at all?