Dear friends:

Today is 17 Tammus on the Jewish calendar, or July 13, 2006.  On this day, news headlines read: "It's war, says Israel as troops are kidnapped."

Historically, the 21 days between the 17th of Tammuz and Tisha B'Av (9th of Av), have been fraught with trials and tribulation for the Jews.  In 2006, 9 Av goes from sunset, August 2, to nightfall, August 3.

From a Jewish source:

In Jewish tradition, the 17th of the month of Tammuz is a fast day which commemorates the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (586 BC) and Titus (AD 70).

It should be recalled that these breaches in the walls of the Holy City came after many months of siege in which the city's residents suffered extreme hardships, sickness and hunger.

Four Reasons to Mourn:

In addition to the breaching of the City Walls, the Mishnah (Ta'anit 4:6) recounts four other tragedies that occurred on this day, 17th of Tammuz:

1. Ten Commandments Smashed
After Matan Torah, the giving of the Torah, Moses went back up Mount Sinai for forty days in order to learn both the general principles and details of the Law and to receive the 10 Commandments.
But Bnei Yisrael miscalculated the amount of time that Moses was meant to be on the mount, and on the 39th day of his absence (17th of Tammuz) fearing that he would not return, they built an idol - the golden calf.
When Moshe (Moses) saw that the nation, who had just made a covenant with God, had built an idol, he was overcome by anger and he threw the 10 commandments to the floor, smashing them to pieces.

2. Daily Offerings Ceased
During the days of the destruction of the first Temple, the walls of Jerusalem were breached on the 9th of Tammuz. Although the enemies entered the city and spread desolation, they were unable to enter the Sanctuary because the Cohanim (priests) had fortified themselves and continued to perform the daily offerings.
On the 13th of Tammuz, the Cohanim had no more sheep for the daily offering, so they bribed the besieging soldiers for gold and silver in return for sheep. On the 17th of Tammuz, the soldiers stopped sending up sheep and for the first time, the daily offerings ceased.

3. Burning of the Torah Scroll
On the 17th of Tammuz, a number of years before the destruction of the Second Temple, during the time of the Roman Procurator Comenus, there was great tension between the Romans and the Jews. Josephus Flavious tells of the burning of the Torah Scroll by Comenus and his forces: "On the royal road, near Beit Horon, robbers befell the cortege of Stephanus, a royal official, and they thoroughly plundered it. Comenus sent an armed force to the nearby villages and ordered the arrest of their inhabitants, who were then to be brought before him. One of the soldiers seized a scroll of the Holy Torah in one of the villages; he tore it and cast it into the fire...From all sides the Jews gathered in trembling, as if their entire land had been given over into the flames..."  It was their sin that they had failed to pursue and capture the robbers.

4. Idol Placed in Second Temple. Many are of the belief that Apustumus, a royal Roman official, placed an idol in the Second Temple on the 17th of Tammuz.

THE THREE WEEKS of Trial...

Historically, the 21 days between the 17th of Tammuz and Tisha B'Av (9th of Av), have been fraught with trials and tribulation for the Jews.

The Scroll of Lamentations (Megilat Eicha 1), composed after the destruction of the second temple, becries of the Jewish people that all her pursuers caught her "between the fences."

The sages tell us that "between the fences" or "Bein HaMeitzarim" represents the 21 days between the 17th of Tammuz and Tisha B'Av.

On these days much affliction and calamity has troubled the Jewish people throughout the generations.

From the fast of the 17th of Tammuz, various customs of mourning begin, intensifying on Rosh Chodesh Av, with the mourning reaching a peak on the fast of Tisha B'Av.

THE THREE WEEKS of Mourning...

During the Three Weeks from 17th Tammuz until the 9th Av, the Jewish nation undergoes a collective period of mourning.

Historically, the period between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th Av, has witnessed a series of calamities and disastrous events for the world's Jewish population.

During the mourning period, Jews focus on the the destruction of the First and Second Temples, signifying the cessation of the national, social and political life of the Jewish state.

The prophets have promised that there will be a future time when Zion will be comforted from all the troubles that have befallen her since the destruction of the Second Temple.

Until then, the Three Weeks is a period of mourning and reflection which intensifies in the 9 days that count down to a dramatic close with the fast of Tisha B'Av.
___________________________

This particular 21 days of tragedy and mourning truly began with tragedy and mourning.

Let us watch and pray as history and Bible prophecy unfold before our eyes.

"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORDS hand double for all her sins.  The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God" (Isaiah 40:1-3).

Jim