The Three Weeks

The Seventeenth of Tammuz begins a three week period of mourning that culminated with Tisha B’Av, the Ninth of Av.  The Mishnah states: Five things happened to our ancestors on the 17th of Tammuz — The First Tablets were broken, the daily offering ceased, the walls of Jerusalem were breached, the evil Apostomus burnt a Torah scroll, and an idol was set up in the Sanctuary. The first calamity to occur on ...

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Cause of the Destruction

We are in the middle of the three week period of mourning for the destruction of both the first and second Temples and, in general, for all the tragedies of the exile and dispersion of the Jewish people. What terrible sins led to the destruction of the Temple and the exile of the Jewish people?   If we understand the fundamental flaws that precipitated these events, we can begin to take ...

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Cause of the Destruction

Why did God allow the various tragedies of these three weeks and the fast days to befall the Jewish people?  What terrible deeds led to the destruction of the Temple and the exile of the Jewish people?   If we understand the fundamental flaws that precipitated these events, we can begin to take the first steps toward redemption.  The Talmud tells us: Any generation in whose days the Temple was not rebuilt, ...

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The Ninth of Av

The fast of the Ninth of Av, Tisha B’Av, is the most famous and the most stringent of all the fasts relating to the destruction of the Temple and the Exile.  The very first tragedy to occur on this day took place soon after the Exodus from Egypt.  The Jewish people sent spies to the Land of Israel, in preparation for its conquest.  When the spies returned with a discouraging ...

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The Three Weeks

The Seventeenth of Tammuz (in 2016 this falls on July 23) begins a three week period of mourning that culminated with Tisha B’Av, the Ninth of Av.  The Mishnah states: Five things happened to our ancestors on the 17th of Tammuz — The First Tablets were broken, the daily offering ceased, the walls of Jerusalem were breached, the evil Apostomus burnt a Torah scroll, and an idol was set up in ...

Read More