The Three Weeks: July 3-24, 2007
A full three weeks of our year-the three weeks "between
the strictures" of Tammuz 17 and Av 9-are designated
as a time of mourning over the destruction of the
Holy Temple and the resultant galut-physical exile
and spiritual displacement-in which we still find
ourselves. Click here for
the Laws and Customs of the Three Weeks
17th of Tammuz:
July 3, 2007
The Fast of the 17th of Tammuz, Shiva Assar B'Tammuz,
the day when Moses broke the tablets as he saw the
Jewish people worshipping the golden calf "coincidentally"
proved to be the same day when the Romans broke through
the walls of Jerusalem to begin their destruction
of the Second Temple in the year 69 CE.
The Nine Days:
July 16-25, 2007
"When the month
of Av begins, we reduce our joy..."
(Talmud, Ta'anit 26)
Beginning on the 1st of Av, we customarily refrain
from a number of activities which are associated with
joy. See: The Laws and Customs
of the Nine Days.
Tisha B'Av: July 23-24, 2007
The 9th of Av, Tisha B'Av, commemorates a list of
catastrophes so severe it's clearly a day specially
cursed by G-d. The First Temple was destroyed on this
day. Five centuries later, ,as the Romans drew closer
to the Second Temple, ready to torch it, the Jews
were shocked to realize that their Second Temple was
destroyed the same day as the first.
When the Jews rebelled against roman rule, they believed
that their leader. Simon bar Kochba, would fulfill
their messianic longings. But their hopes were cruelly
dashed in 135 CE as the Jewish rebels were brutally
butchered in the final battle at Betar. The date of
the massacre? Of course-the 9th of Av!
The Jews were expelled from England in 1290 CE on,
you guessed it, Tisha B'Av. In 1492, the Golden Age
of Spain came to a close when Queen Isabella and here
husband Ferdinand ordered that the Jews be banished
from the land. The edict of expulsion was signed on
March 31, 1492, and the Jews were given exactly four
months to put their affairs in order and leave the
country. The Hebrew date on which no Jew was allowed
any longer to remain in the land where he had enjoyed
welcome and prosperity? Oh by now you know it--the
9th of Av.
Ready for just one more? World War II and the Holocaust,
historians conclude, was actually the long drawn-out
conclusion of World War I that began in 1914. And
yes, amazingly enough, the First World War also began,
on the Hebrew calendar, on the 9th of Av, Tisha B'Av.
What do you make of all this? Jews see this as another
confirmation of the deeply held conviction that history
isn't haphazard; events-even terrible ones-are part
of a Divine plan and have spiritual meaning. The message
of time is that a rational purpose, even though we
don't understand it.
Don't forget to read The Laws and
Customs of Tisha B'Av.
Shabbat Nachamu, July 28, 2007
The Shabbat following the Ninth of Av is the Shabbat of joy over our anticipated consolation. It is called Shabbat Nachamu, for the prophetic portion that is read is taken from Chapter 40 of Isaiah which begins with the words "Nachamu, nachamu ami" - "Console, console my people, says your G-d." Click here for more on Shabbat Nachamu.
The Fifteenth of Av:
July 30, 2007
The 15th of Av is undoubtedly the most mysterious
day of the Jewish calendar. A search of the Shulchan
Aruch ("Code of Jewish Law") reveals no observances
or customs for this date, except for the instruction
that beginning on the 15th of Av, one should increase
one's study of Torah, since at this time of the year
the nights begin to grow longer and "the night was
created for study." And the Talmud tells us that many
years ago the "daughters of Jerusalem would go dance
in the vineyards" on the 15th of Av, and "whoever
did not have a wife would go there" to find himself
a bride.
And this is the day which the Talmud considers the
greatest festival of the year, with Yom Kippur(!)
a close second!
