Jewish Holidays

The corruption that had infected Uzziyah’s government would lead to a terrible crisis. Officers took advantage of their power, and judges rendered unfair judgment - “They judge not the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come unto them.”

The three weeks that begin on the night of the Seventeenth of Tammuz and continue until the Ninth of Av are days of national woefulness. The sages therefore advise being especially careful during this period, for it is a time designated for calamity.

The Seventeenth of Tammuz was supposed to be the day on which the Tablets of the Covenant were received and given to Israel, and the Ninth of Av was the day when the Spies would to return from the Land of Israel and proclaim, “The land is very good!”