Beware: The Dire Straits

The Three Weeks is an annual mourning period which happens during mid-summer. The event begins on the 17th day of the month Tammuz (or at sunset on Friday, July 19) and ends on the 9th day of the month of Av (or at sunset on Sunday, August 11). This event marks the day when both the first and second Temples were destroyed in Jerusalem alone with a host of other unfortunate events in Jewish history. Bein ha-Metzarim is the Hebrew phrase for this time of mourning. When it is translated into English, it means "between the straits" or "the dire straits". (The events is also often called "The Three Weeks" owing to the fact that the occasion lasts three weeks.)

17th of Tammuz
The 17th day of the month of Tammuz is a fast day, on which people refrain from eating and drinking from dawn until nightfall. The fast is known as Shivah Asar B'Tammuz.

The day commemorates five significant tragic events that occurred on this date:
1. Moses broke the stone tables when he saw the Israelites worshiping the Golden Calf.
2. During the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, the Israelites were forced to cease offering the daily sacrifices due to lack of sheep.
3. Apostomos burned the holy Torah.
4. An idol was placed in the Holy Temple.
5. The walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Romans in 69 AD, after a lengthy siege. (Three weeks later, after the Israelites put up a valiant struggle, the Romans destroyed the second Holy Temple on the 9th of Av.)
6. The Jerusalem Talmud also states this is the date when the Babylonians breached the walls of Jerusalem on their way to destroying the first Temple.

Observances
Fasting
Healthy Adults: People ages 13 and over are to abstain from eating or drinking between dawn and nightfall.
Pregnant and nursing women: They may not have to fast.
The elderly and ill: They should consult a Rabbi for instructions on how or if they should fast.

Even those exempt from fasting, such as those who are sick and children, should not indulge in delicacies or sweets.

It is permitted to wake up early before the fast begins to eat.

Abstaining from food and drink is the external element of a fast day. On a deeper level, a fast day is an auspicious day, a day when God is accessible, waiting for us to repent.

The sages explain: "Every generation for which the Temple is not rebuilt, it is as though the Temple was destroyed for that generation." A fast day is not only a sad day, but it is an opportune day. It is a day when we are empowered to fix the cause of that destruction, so that our long exile will be ended, and we will find ourselves living in Messianic times. May that time be very soon!

Synagogue
The Torah is read during the morning and afternoon prayers. The reading is the same for both sessions--Exodus 32:11-14 and 34:1-10. These passages discuss the aftermath of the Golden Calf incident, how Moses successfully interceded on the Israelites' behalf and how he attained forgiveness for their sin. After the afternoon Torah reading, Isaiah 55:6-56:8 is read.


17th of Tammuz-9th of Av Observances
For the entire three week time period there are a number of ordinances observed to commemorate this time of sorrow. These observances are meant to lessen one's joy and refrain from unnecessary danger during this time of mourning.

The following are not conducted unless absolutely necessary:
1. Weddings
2. Playing musical instruments or listening to music.
3. Wearing new clothing or eat fruit which has not been eaten yet this season. (Both of these events require the reciting of the Shehecheyanu blessing.)
4. Getting a haircut or shave.
5. Traveling on an airplane.


The Final Nine Days
Starting on the first of Av, the final nine days of the Three Weeks begins a time of intensified mourning. During this time, people refrain from eating meat and drinking wine and wearing freshly laundered clothes.


9th of Av
The ninth day of the month of Av is a more stringent fast that the 17th day of Tammuz. It begins at sunset when people gather in the synagogue to read the Book of Lamentations. Besides fasting, additional pleasures are abstained from such as washing, applying lotions or creams and wearing leather shoes. Until midday, people sit on the floor or on low stools.

Significant events which have happened on the 9th of Av
1. The report of the ten spies
In the year 1313 BC, the Israelites are in the desert, having recently experienced the miraculous Exodus from Egypt. They are now poised to enter the Promised Land. But first, they dispatch a reconnaissance mission consisting of 12 spies to assist in formulating a battle strategy. The spies return on the eighth day of the month of Av. Ten of the spies report that the land is unconquerable. That night (the 9th of Av) the people cry. They insist they would rather go back to Egypt than be slaughtered by the Canaanites. God is highly displeased by this public demonstration of distrust in His power. Consequently, that generation of Israelites never enters the Holy Land. Only their children have that privilege, after wandering in the desert for another 38 years.

2. Both Holy Temples are destroyed
The first Temple was destroyed on the 9th of Av (586 BC). Several centuries later in 70 AD, the second temple was destroyed by the Romans on the very same day the first Temple was destroyed (on the 9th of Av).

3. The Battle at Betar was lost
When the Israelites rebelled against Roman rule, they believed their leader, Simon bar Kochba, would fulfill their messianic longings. But, their hopes were dashed in 133 AD as the Israelites rebels were brutally butchered in the final battle at Betar. The date of the massacre was on the 9th of Av.

4. The Romans plowed the Ha-Mikdash
One year after their conquest of Betar, the Romans plowed over the Temple Mount, the nation's holiest site.

5. The Israelites were expelled from England
The Jews were expelled from England in 1290 AD on the 9th of Av.

6. The Israelites were banished from Spain
In 1492, the Golden Age of Spain came to a close when Queen Isabella and her husband Ferdinand ordered the Jews to be banished from the land. The edict of expulsion was signed on March 31, 1492. The Jews were given exactly four months to put their affairs in order and leave the country. The date on which no Jews were allowed to remain in Spain was the 9th of Av.

7. Both World Wars began
World War II and the Holocaust, most historians conclude, were the long drawn-out conclusion of World War I that began in 1914. Germany declared war on Russia, effectively catapulting the First World War into motion, on the 9th of Av.


Conclusion
There is more to the Three Weeks than fasting and lamentation. Hebrew sages tell us that those who mourn the destruction of Jerusalem will merit seeing it rebuilt with the coming of Messiah. May that day come soon. Then, all the mournful dates on the calendar will be transformed into days of tremendous joy and happiness!

"Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting." (Psalm 126:5)