Articles with the tag: three weeks

A Lost Temple a Lost Ark

A Lost Temple A Lost Ark

Why I Like Tisha B’av

I admit that Tisha b’Av is not everyone’s favorite holiday. Not even mine. Still, there is something about the ninth day of Av that I am grateful for; not because it is enjoyable, but because of what it says about the Jewish people. Tisha b’Av warns me that I must remember. And a nation which remembers and knows its past will not forget to hope for its future.
No one weeps for Rome. There are many more Italians in the world than there are Jews. Do they gather by the tens of thousands at the Roman Forum to lament and pray? There are many more Greeks than Jews. The Acropolis is a tourist attraction - but does anyone mourn its…

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Falling or Rising Tears

Jewish holidays are not mere memorials of ancient events. To follow the secular vogue and shift the date of a festival to create a conveniently long weekend would not only be distasteful and sacrilegious; it would miss the point entirely. Emanations of holiness reach the world on the Shabbat; streams of forgiveness on Yom Kippur, and heavenly drops of freedom revive us on Passover. These distinct forms of holiness however can only wend their way into our souls and our lives on those specific days. Just as there are times of joy, there are moments of sadness. Jewish mysticism explains that the forty days from the beginning of Tammuz until the ninth of Av are times of Jewish travail and…

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No Reason to Be Simple

Why do people tell stories? I’ll tell you a story.
It was a stormy, moonless night and two men - one foolish, the other wise - groped their way through the dark, gloomy forest. With no source of illumination whatsoever, they were hopelessly lost. Suddenly, there was a deafening crash of thunder and a brilliant flash of lightning.
The simpleton looked up to admire the spectacle. The wise man exploited the brief moment of light to get his bearings.
A good story is like a flash of lightning. For some, it is nothing more than a display, and as the glimmer of the spectacle fades, so does the memory of the story. For others it is a tool to be…

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Messianic Meals & Fast Days

Once upon a time, our people enjoyed in tranquility the Holy Land, the City of David, Mount Moriah, the Temple, and the Holy of Holies. Sadly enough, we did not fully appreciate what we had - and so we lost it.
Consequently, four fast days were instituted by the prophets and Sages to commemorate our bereavement. Days when we deprive our body of food and drink, stirring ourselves to repent the sins and shortcomings that twice caused the destruction of G-d’s home and our banishment into exile.
The strictest of these fast days is the 9th of Av: Whereas the other three fasts begin at dawn of that day, Tisha B’Av begins at sunset of the previous evening. However, when…

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All You Have to Do Is Listen

There is an old saying which praises the individual who can tell his neighbor, “Go to hell” and make him feel happy to be on his way. Of course, this talent of subtle diplomacy has always been a rarity as can be seen from Rabbi Akiva’s statement, “I swear that in this generation there is no one who knows how to rebuke.”
More difficult to find however is the person who can accept reproach and correction. Even the Israelites at the time of Moses, who are usually seen as spiritual role models, could not bear the brunt of a direct moral attack on their failings. Thus Moses was forced to disguise his reprimand in veiled, indirect references.
But is it…

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Three Weeks

“Judah has gone into exile…She dwelled among the nations but found no rest; all her pursuers overtook her in the narrow straits - bein hametzarim.” (Lamentations 1:3)
Rashi: Three weeks between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av.
The 21 days are really 21 days and 21 nights corresponding to the 42 journeys of the Jews in the desert before reaching Israel. These represent the major obstacles, pit-stops, and rectifications that Jews must accomplish.

All her pursuers overtook her:
All who pursue their G-dly service during Bein HaMetzarim will succeed. These days are particularly auspicious. These 21 days parallel the 21 holiday days: Shabbat (1), Rosh Chodesh (1),  Pesach (7), Shavuos (1),  Rosh Hashanah (2),  Yom Kippur (1),...

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G-d’s Exile

Not too long ago, most Jews were familiar with the phrase Sh’chinta B’Galusa. This Aramaic term first introduced in the Zohar and often referred to in Talmudic writings, is translated as, “The Divine presence is in exile.”  The inference being, that not only the children of Israel were dispersed and scattered among the nations, so was their Father in heaven.
On Tisha B’Av then, we not only abstain from food and mourn our sad state; we also shed a few tears for G-d. In fact, this knowledge that G-d Himself accompanies us and shares our tribulations makes our burden a little easier to bear.
Yet simply knowing that Hashem allows Himself to be exiled - and we surely appreciate His…

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The Three Weeks

Fun and Sun; Barbecue and Vacation. All of these are part of the usual summer images. Now think of fasting, no joyous celebrations, music banned and aestheticism.  What do these pictures remind you of?  If you answered “summer” you were still correct.
For three weeks every summer, from the 17th day of the Hebrew month Tammuz until after the 9th of Av, a host of Halachic restrictions, designed to curb our enjoyment of the physical world, are enjoined.  These days have been marked with national tragedies from the beginning of Jewish history. The breaching of Jerusalem’s walls, the first public burning of the Torah, idols being placed in the Temple, our capital and Holy House destroyed, Crusades,  the Inquisition, countless…

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