Spiritual Eyes

This Tuesday, July 19th, is the Fast of Tammuz beloved and marks the beginning of the three weeks of mourning. The purpose of such fasts in the Jewish calendar according to Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov's book, OUR HERITAGE, is "to awaken hearts toward repentance through recalling the misdeeds of our forefathers, misdeeds that lead to calamities". It is also a time for introspection into our own lives to see the places where we have fallen short of the potential that G*D has for us. The fast is observed from the break of dawn till sunset. It is also customary to give to charity.

This three week period is called Bein Hametzarim "between the troubles" and it is customary to refrain from the following:

	do not wear new clothes
	do not listen to music
	do not bathe for pleasure
	do not shave
	do not cut hair
	no weddings
	no drinking of wine
	no eating meat
	no long journeys undertaken

There are other restrictions (and some of these prohibitions are void on Shabbat) but I just wanted to give a few so we could get a taste of what is entailed in keeping this mourning period.

The three weeks begin with the Fast of Tammuz 17. This day is a fast day to remember five tragedies that befell the Jews:

	1. Moses broke the first set of tablets of the law.
	2. The daily offering in the first Temple was discontinued for lack of sheep. [Daniel 11:31 "...and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate." Daniel 12:11,12 "And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days."]
	3. Right before the destruction of the second Temple, the walls of Jerusalem were breached.
	4. A wicked Roman ruler named Apostumus burned the Torah.
	5. An idol was erected in the Holy Temple.

At the end of the three weeks is Tisha B'Av, the 9th of Av. On this day five tragedies also occurred:

	1. The spies returned and gave an evil report which discouraged the Jewish people and ended with them wandering in the desert.
	2. The first Temple was destroyed.
	3. The second Temple was destroyed.
	4. The city of Betar was captured. Tens of thousands were killed. Apparently the Romans had been fighting against Betar for 3+ years before it fell. The Talmud (Ta'anit 68:4) says: "Eighty thousand war companies entered the city of Betar and the Romans were killing men, women and children until their blood was oozing out from the doors, windows and the pipes. The horse would drown in the blood to its nose and the blood would cause stones of 40 se'ah to roll away and would proceed 40 miles to the sea...There is a tradition that the Gentiles fertilized their fields with the blood of Israel for seven years, not using any other fertilizer.
	5. The Romans ploughed over the site of the Temple.

Other things that have happened on this date:

	1. First Crusade declared, 1095.
	2. King Edward I expels all Jews from England, 1290.
	3. Expulsion of the Jews from Spain, 1492.
	4. Pope Paul IV moves all the Jews into the ghetto, 1555.
	5. Start of WWI.

On August 6th we read Jeremiah 1:1-2:3, 2:4-3:4 and Isaiah 1:1-27, these verses are read because this is the Shabbat before Tisha B'Av, and it is called "Shabbat Chazon"-- "Shabbat of Vision."

For anyone who has been to Jerusalem and prayed at the Temple Mount you know what I mean when I say we mourn the loss of the Temple. Once you have been there you are never the same. You leave a piece of your heart there and you long to go back, knowing you will never be whole again until you do. May we all enter these next three weeks with our "spiritual eyes" open to all that HaShem has to show us beloved. In this world we say "shema" or hear, in the spiritual realms we see, just as the people saw the Word of G*D at Sinai.
May you all have an easy and meaningful fast.
Much emunah, Elisheva