- Beit Midrash
- Shabbat and Holidays
- Jewish Holidays
- The Three Weeks
Shabbat Chazon
articles on Shabbat Chazon
A Little Comfort
Rabbi Haggai Lundin
Customs of the Three Weeks
From wedding bans and silent playlists to the laws of shopping: Your complete guide to navigating the restrictions of the Three Weeks.
Can I Take a Haircut Now?
When during the three weeks can I shave and have a haircut? What are the laws of mourning with regard to shaving?
Engagement Parties During the Three Weeks
Is it halachically permitted to celebrate an engagement before Rosh Chodesh Av? A direct guide on meals, music, and when it's best to postpone.
Lessons on Shabbat Chazon
Three Related Eichas
Shabbat Chazon brings a palpable sadness which finds expression in the haftara: “Your Land is desolate, your cities burnt by fire, from your land strangers eat opposite you, and there is desolation, like that which was overturned by strangers” (Yeshaya 1:7). While there is no explicit parallel in the parasha, Chazal saw an implied one. Moshe criticized the people of his time with the famous word eicha (how?), which we also find in the haftara and, of course, on Tisha B’av: Moshe complained: “How can I bear alone your burden, your load, and your quarrels” (Devarim 1:12). Eicha Rabba (1:1) says that this is a sign of three stages of eicha pronouncements, like a noblewoman who had three attendants who saw her at different stages: one when she was in a calm state (corresponding to Moshe), one while in a dangerous state (Yeshaya), and one in utter disgrace (Yirmiya).
Lessons
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Various Events FOR WHOM NOT TO VOTE
Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook stressed that Israeli politics is G-dly, so I have no problem answering this common question on a Torani blog. Also, Free-Will is a G-d-given right and obligation, to "destine one's fate" (R. Soloveichik, Kol Dodi Dofek, 67), so I obviously don't tell others how to vote. But once not a few (especially young) have already asked, a couple of personal words from experience and thoughts from chazal & Rav Kook which may be of help to others, mainly for whom NOT to vote.
P'ninat Mishpat Fallout from Failure to Install Elevator – part II
based on ruling 85007 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
