Lessons on The 17th of Tamuz
Book Burning and the 17th of Tammuz
A hallmark of all repressive regimes is burning books. One of the tragedies that we mourn on the 17th of Tammuz is the burning of the Torah - the ultimate repression of the ultimate book.
Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair | Tammuz 15 5781
What Do We Lack With No Temple?
Translated by Hillel Fendel
Our prayers place a special emphasis on the Beit HaMikdash and our anticipation of its rebuilding. Why is it that only regarding the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash do we ask that it happen speedily?
Tammuz 10 5781
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 | Sivan 5768
Breaking the Tablets, Mending the Tablets
Shivah Asar B’Tammuz
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 | 5764
The Minor Fasts and Their Laws
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.
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed | tamoz 5761
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 | 5764
The Weak Point of the Seventeenth of Tammuz
There is a tendency, on fast days, for people to concentrate upon the calamities of the past and on the stages that led up to the destruction of the Temple. People reflect on the distant past when they aught - says the Rambam - consider the present.
Rabbi Eliyahu Brin | Tamuz 5758
