1. 0:01 Three Weeks Period and Shabbat Restrictions

Shabbos is the first Shabbos of the period known as the Three Weeks. This is a period when we mourn the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, because this is the time that the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed. And this is between שבעה עשר בתמוז, when we fast, and תשעה באב, when we fast again. But Shabbos is a day that you're not allowed to mourn. Shabbos is a day of joy, you're not allowed to mourn. So what do we do on Shabbos that's within the Three Weeks? So the Rebbe says that the שבתים of the Three Weeks, we have to think of it a little bit differently. During the week, we feel a lot how terrible it is that the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed. But Shabbos, we have to look at the other side. We have to be happy, knowing for sure that Mashiach is coming soon, and the Beit HaMikdash will be rebuilt. So we put the focus not on the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, which makes us sad, but we put the focus on the fact that the Beit HaMikdash will be rebuilt very, very soon. And it will not be just that the Beit HaMikdash will be rebuilt, the same Beit HaMikdash we had before will come back, but that it'll be a much better and bigger Beit HaMikdash. It'll be a Beit HaMikdash that will be eternal. The first and the second Beit HaMikdash only lasted a certain amount of time: the first Beit HaMikdash 410 years, the second 420 years. The third Beit HaMikdash is going to be forever. And that's why we should be happy on Shabbos, think about that soon, soon, very soon we're going to have the third Beit HaMikdash again, and that should make us very, very happy. Like somebody who knows that something good is coming, and he's already happy now even before he gets it, we should be happy on Shabbos of the Three Weeks, knowing that very soon we will get the third Beit HaMikdash, which is something that's so special, better than what we had before.