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 Fast Begins 6.10 am Fast Ends 5.41am
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, Fast Begins 23/7/07 5.25 pm Fast Ends 24/7/07 5.54 pm
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!