The Three Weeks

The Three Weeks between the 17th of Tamuz and the 9th of Av are a time of sadness and danger. Rav Kook shows that they are also a time during which we can rebuild the Temple if we learn the secret of Causeless Love.

The Mishnah teaches us that the tablets were broken on the 17th of Tamuz as a result of the building of the Golden Calf. Rav Kook explains that if we understand the essence of idolatry we can find a way to mend the broken tablets.

Did Jews fast over the destruction of the First Temple when the Second Temple stood? Must pregnant and nursing women abstain from eating and drinking on minor fasts? Rabbi Eliezer Melamed addresses these and other important questions.

Fast days are occasion for introspection and repentance. After all, we are not fasting over the distant, unrelated past; we are fasting in response to our own present situation. How is it that instead of mourning we remain complacent and indifferent?

For many generations we were unable to take practical steps toward hastening the redemption of Israel. We were in exile and simply could not change our plight. Today, God has removed foreign rule from the land and created a Jewish state in its stead.