The Three Weeks - בין המצרים

THE THREE WEEKS (ending with Tisha B’Av – see separate section):

For eight hundred and thirty years the Holy Temple served as the point of contact between heaven and earth. So central was the Temple to the relationship between man and G-d that nearly two-thirds of the mitzvot are contingent upon its existence. Its destruction is regarded as the greatest tragedy of our history, and its rebuilding will mark the ultimate redemption - the restoration of harmony within
G-d's creation and between G-d and His creation.
The three weeks between 17 Tammuz and 9 Av (Tisha B’Av – see separate section for further information) are designated as a time of mourning over the destruction of and being without the Holy Temple.
On the date of 17 Tammuz, several tragic events have occurred: In the year 3829 from creation (69 CE), the walls of Jerusalem were breached by the armies of Rome; three weeks later, on 9 Av, the Holy Temple was set aflame. 9 Av is also the date of the first Temple's destruction by the Babylonians in 3339 (423 BCE), after the Temple service was disrupted on 17 Tammuz. (the breaching of Jerusalem's walls at the time of the first destruction was on 9 Tammuz). These dates had already been the scene of tragic events in the very first generation of our nationhood: 17 Tammuz was the day Moses smashed the Tablets of the Ten Commandments upon beholding the Hebrew people’s worship of the Golden Calf. In these events lay the seeds of a breakdown in the relationship between G-d and the Hebrew people - a breakdown which reached its height with the destruction of the Temple.

17 Tammuz is a fast day, on which we refrain from eating and drinking from dawn to nightfall. During the Three Weeks we read the "Three of Rebuke" - three weekly readings from the Prophets which prophesy the Destruction, describe the sins which caused it, and admonish us to repent our ways. During the Three Weeks, no weddings or other joyous events are held; like mourners, we do not cut our hair or purchase new clothes. Additional mourning practices are assumed during the "Nine Days" beginning on 1 Av, such as refraining from eating meat, drinking wine and enjoying music.

But there is more to the Three Weeks than fasting and lamentation. The prophet describes the fasts as "days of goodwill before G-d" – a chance to exploit the failings of the past as the impetus for a renewed and even deeper bond with G-d.
A sense of purification accompanies the fasting, a promise of redemption pervades the mourning, and a current of joy underlies the sadness. 9 Av (Tisha B’Av) is not only the day of the Temple's destruction, it is also the birthday of Moshiach (the Messiah) - the man who will build the third Temple in Jerusalem; an eternal edifice which will constantly reveal G-d's presence to the world and express His unique bond with Jewish people. The "Three of Rebuke" are thus followed by "Seven of Consolation" - seven weekly readings describing the future redemption and the rebuilding of the marriage of G-d and the Jewish people.

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