Lessons on The 17th of Tamuz
The Breaking of the Tablets on the Seventeenth of Tammuz
The Tree of Knowledge contained a mixture of elements - both good and evil. This, then, was Adam's sin: He ate from the tree, and this caused existence to fall to a level whereupon there existed a mixture of both good and evil.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5 Adar I 5763
Introspection on the Seventeenth of Tammuz
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?
Rabbi Yaakov Ariel | 24 Sivan 5764
Mourning the Destruction Today
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!”
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 20 Sivan 5768
Breaking the Tablets, Mending the Tablets
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.
Rabbi Gideon Weitzman | 4 Tamuz 5764
