We have entered the twenty-two day period beginning with 17 Tammuz and culminating on Tisha B’Av. One of the five tragedies of 17 Tammuz was that the walls of Jerusalemwere breached leading to the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash three weeks later.
True the breach of the walls ofJerusalemset the stage for the subsequent Churban. But in what way was it a tragedy in its own right?
Once large gaps were created in the walls surrounding Jerusalem the city ceased to be a reshus hayachid (a private domain). Jerusalem no longer constituted a single domain uniting all those living within and became instead a reshus harabbim a domain open to one and all. It no longer united its inhabitants or served to divide between those who belonged and those who did not.
Each of the tragedies of 17 Tammuz has a parallel on the individual level. As individuals we too have lost our sense of internal unity of a coherent identity. Rather we perceive ourselves as buffeted from one direction and another by competing impulses and desires. Rather than give shape to these competing impulses and choosing which ones deserve our attention and which do not we follow each one — each in its turn.
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