Three Weeks, The

This class begins with a history of the three-week period of mourning for the Destruction of the Holy Temple and continues with an analysis of a prophecy of Jeremiah that hints to the future transformation of "bitterness into sweetness."

During the three weeks between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av, we mourn the loss of both Holy Temples in Jerusalem. The Torah tells us, however, that when we study the laws of the Temple’s construction, we are already rebuilding it.

In the first of the “Trilogy of Tribulations,” Jeremiah describes his inauguration as prophet. Although his first prophecy is one of impending doom, it contains within it a hidden message about the power to transform mourning into joy.

In the second haftorah of the “Trilogy of Tribulations” we learn how the prophet Jeremiah’s rebuke of his contemporaries can teach us today how to turn criticism into a powerful catalyst for change.

Why it is illogical to say that the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, and the subsequent exile, came about as a punishment for the Jewish people.

The mystical secrets hinted to by the numbers in the dates associated with the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem -- the 17th day of Tammuz, the 9th day of Av and the three weeks or twenty-one days between them.

Why building a Temple on the Temple Mount is by necessity the first stage in making the world a G-dly place. (Based on the Rebbe's discourse Gadol Yihyeh K'vod Habayis Hazeh, 5722.)

Says the prophet Jeremiah in Lamentations, "For these things I weep." Where were the rest of the Jewish people when Jeremiah was mourning the destruction of the Hooly Temple?

The Third Temple to be built by Moshiach corresponds to the third phase in a relationship in which opposites are harmonized and ultimate peace is achieved.

The Talmud’s narrative of the unfortunate episodes that led to the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and our subsequent exile.