Concerning all the fast days, the Rambam writes at the end of Hilchot Ta'aniyot that כל הצומות האלו עתידים ליבטל לימות המשיח, that all these fast days are going to become batel in the time of Mashiach. And he continues, ולא עוד, and more than that, אלא שהם עתידים להיות ימים טובים וימי ששון ושמחה, they are going to be yamim tovim and days of happiness and joy, שנאמר, as the pasuk says, כה אמר השם צבאות, this is what Hashem said, צום הרביעי, the fast day of the fourth month, וגו' etc., יהיה לבית יהודה, will be for בית יהודה, לששון ולשמחה, for happiness and joy, ולמועדים טובים, and for good ימים טובים, והאמת והשלום אהבו, and emet and the shalom they love. So from here we see that when Mashiach will come, the fast days, including the fast day of שבעה עשר בתמוז and the rest, are going to turn into yamim tovim. And it says in sefarim that the reason for this is because all these things that happened on these days for which we fast, be'emet, in pnimiyut, are good things, even though bechitzoniyut, outwardly, superficially, they are bad things, and that's why we fast, but in essence, they reveal the love of Hashem to the Bnei Yisrael. As the pasuk says, רחץ השם את צואת בנות ציון, that Hashem washed the dirt of the children of Tziyon, which means the Bnei Yisrael. So it's a mashal, just like when a child gets dirty, so the parent has to wash the child, and sometimes the dirt is so strong that the parent has to use hot water to wash the dirt. And when the parent uses hot water, it hurts, it burns. But nevertheless, in essence, this is an expression of the love of the parent to the child, and therefore the parent wants the child to be clean. Now, sometimes in order to be clean, it hurts, but this hurting is not chas veshalom l'shem hurting, but it's l'shem cleaning the child, which is an expression of the love of the parent. If the parent would not love the child, then the parent wouldn't do it, but because the parent loves the child, that's why the parent cleans the child. And that's what the pasuk means, רחץ השם את צואת בנות ציון, השם by punishing the Bnei Yisrael and bringing the חורבן בית המקדש, and bringing the Yidden into galut, and doing all these different things that caused the fasts, really this is an expression of His love. As the pasuk says, חושך שבטו שונא בנו, if someone holds back the whip from his child, hates his child. Because in order to educate a child, or when the child does something wrong to punish a child, that's an expression of the love of the parent. And that's why, when Mashiach will come, these days will be turned into yamim tovim, which means that even though while the child is small, he doesn't see that this is an expression of the love of the parent, and therefore the child feels upset, etc., etc., but later when he grows up and he looks back, he sees that this, that the parent punished the child, this was the best thing that the parent could have done for the child, and therefore that day would be a special day for this child. And the same is with us: while we're still in galut, it still hurts, so we have to fast, and we have to mourn, and do all the dinim of aveilut and all the inyanim that are connected to the תעניתים, and all the inyanim which are connected to the Three Weeks, etc., etc. But when Moshiach will come, these days will be turned into yamim tovim because we will look back and we will see that these days were the days that Hashem expressed His true love to us. באמת, we must say that not only eventually will it be turned into good, but there must be רמזים in the different fast days, in the different inyanim which show already what their פנימיות is. Since we're saying that in פנימיות, in essence, they are good days, so even though now they are fast days, but there must be something which even now hints to their פנימיות, to what's inside of them, which is the good.

So concerning Shivah Asar B'Tammuz, we see it right away, because Shivah Asar B'Tammuz is the seventeenth day of the month, and we know that שבעה עשר, 17, is gematria טוב, gematria good. The word טוב, טית, ואו, בית, is gematria, the numerical value is 17. So 17 really is gematria tov. So it comes out that this, that they established this fast day on the seventeenth day of the month expresses the פנימיות of it, the truth, the inside, the essence of it, that this is really good, as it will be revealed לעתיד לבוא, that צום הרביעי, the fast day of the fourth month, which is שבעה עשר בתמוז, יהיה לבית יהודה לששון ולשמחה ולמועדים טובים. And it's interesting that this inyan of tov, of good, is only the gematria of שבעה עשר, is the gematria of 17 of Shivah Asar B'Tammuz, because we know that it says in sefarim that the concept of a gematria is that this refers to a מדרגה, an inyan, which is hidden in the thing itself. The word itself, the meaning of the word itself, that is the גילוי, the revealed part of whatever it is. The gematria of it, since it is not open, is just gematria, this refers to the inyan the way it's hidden inside, but not the way it's revealed, and that's exactly what's happening here. In the חיצוניות, outwardly, the way we see Shivah Asar B'Tammuz, it is not a good thing, and therefore it's a fast day, a day of עינוי, of suffering, etc., etc. But the פנימיות hidden in it is the good thing which is at this point בהעלם, covered up, and when Moshiach will come it will be revealed, and that's why it is only gematria tov, which means it's only the hidden part, the gematria of it is good. And we see a similar thing concerning the pasuk where it says יוסף בן שבע עשרה שנה, that Yosef was 17 years old, and is the same גימטריא טוב. And we know that what happened from then, after it says that Yosef was 17 years old, then started all the troubles of Yosef. That's when Yosef went to Mitzrayim, as the pasuk says, לעבד נמכר יוסף, יוסף was sold as a slave. But the penimiyut hidden in what happened at that time was good. And as if Yosef said later to his brothers: אתם חשבתם עלי רעה, you meant bad, which means bechitzoniyut it was bad, but אלוקים חשבה לטובה, Hashem had in mind the good, למען עשה כיום הזה להחיות עם רב. So we see there, too, that the inyan of tov, the way it was by the selling of Yosef, was that bechitzoniyut it wasn't good, but then later the good of it was revealed, and then when they looked back they saw that what happened till then was really good. And the same is concerning the שבעה עשר of שבעה עשר בתמוז. And the same we find concerning Yaakov Avinu. The pasuk says: ויחי יעקב בארץ מצרים שבע עשרה שנה, he was there 17 years, which is the גימטריא טוב, as we said before, as the Baal Haturim says on the beginning of פרשת ויחי. And here, too, outwardly, it was a yeridah, because that was the time when Yaakov Avinu went to galut, he went to Mitzrayim. But nevertheless, his best years that he had were those 17 years, which means this yeridah really turned into aliyah, as it says in the Zohar, חלק א׳ דף רט״ז עמוד ב׳: הלוך י״ז שנין אחרינין בעינוגין ותענוגין, that he had the greatest pleasure, even though it was on one hand a yeridah. So we see in these places that the inyan of 17 is בגימטריא טוב, in a way that begiluy it doesn't look so good, but bepenimiyut, which means the hidden part, and later on it turns out that this is the best thing.

And bichlal we shall find that the inyan of tov has a special connection to the geulah. As the pasuk says in Rut, קפיטל ג׳, פסוק י״ג: אם יגאלך טוב יגאל. So we see there that the word yig'al, the inyan of geulah, has a connection to the inyan of tov. And this is especially connected to the inyan of שבעה עשר בתמוז, the 17th day, which is the tov of the month of Tamuz. Because the inyan of tov has a special connection to the שם הוי׳. Because many times you find in the pesukim the לשון טוב ה׳, and Hashem's name there is שם הוי׳, so it says טוב הוי׳, including in Ashrei, in Kapitel Tehillah leDavid that we say three times a day. There it also says טוב הוי׳. The inyan of Tamuz, which is in the middle of the summer, and we know that Tamuz is the hottest month of the year, has a special connection to שם הוי׳, because the pasuk says: כי שמש ומגן הוי׳ אלוקים. That הוי׳ and אלוקים is similar to the שמש ומגן. Just like there is the shemesh, the sun, ומגן, there is the cover, the shield of the sun, so, too, is there שם הוי׳ and שם אלוקים, as it says in many sefarim. So when it's hot and the sun shines stronger, that means that ברוחניות the שם הוי׳ shines stronger. So since the month of Tamuz is the hottest month, and then the sun shines stronger, so then in רוחניות it means that the שם הוי׳ is me'ir, shines stronger then. And since the pasuk says טוב הוי׳, that in the שם הוי׳ itself we have the concept of טוב הוי׳, and הוי׳ has the inyan of tov in it, so שבעה עשר בתמוז, which is בגימטריא טוב, and Tamuz has a special connection to Havayah, so שבעה עשר בתמוז is the inyan of טוב הוי׳. And this is the connection between שבעה עשר בתמוז and the geulah.

Even though bachitzoniyus it seems that שבעה עשר בתמוז is a fast day because of the galus, starting from the inyan of שבירת הלוחות, that on שבעה עשר בתמוז the luchos were broken, going on through all five things that it says concerning שבעה עשר בתמוז, up to the inyan of הובקעה העיר, that's the day that the walls of Yerushalayim were broken through, but the pnimiyus, this is the inyan of טוב הוי׳, this is the high madreigah of Havayah, which is connected, as we said before, to the geulah. And the truth is, the pasuk says in ישעיה קפיטל ס׳, פסוק י״ט: לא יהיה לך עוד השמש לאור יומם, etc., and that Mashiach Not the sun will be anymore for the shine, for the light, כי הוי' יהיה לך לאור עולם, because Havayah' will be the shine. So there too, we see that there is a connection between the inyan of shemesh, the sun, and Havayah', but we're saying it'll be higher than that, it won't be the sun. Even bachitzoniyus we're going to see that the light does not come from the sun, but it comes from shem Havayah'. And this is the inyan, the פנימיות'דיקע ענין of שבעה עשר בתמוז, the concept of tov and טוב הוי'. So even though now בחיצוניות שבעה עשר בתמוז seems like an inyan of mourning and avelus, a fast day, but already now in the kevius of שבעה עשר בתמוז, we see the pnimiyus of what שבעה עשר בתמוז really stands for, this is that this is a day of tov and a day of טוב הוי', especially when שבעה עשר בתמוז comes out on a Shabbos and we push away the taanis from Shabbos to Sunday. So Shabbos is the day of שבעה עשר בתמוז, and nevertheless, we don't fast, we are docha it, which is even a stronger hint to this inyan that the day of שבעה עשר בתמוז will be נדחה, it will not be a fast day anymore. And even though b'foal we do fast, we fast on Sunday, but still the fact that on Shabbos, which is the real day of שבעה עשר בתמוז, we don't fast, that is a remez to the inyan that the שבעה עשר בתמוז will not be a fast day anymore. And the reason for that is, because we know Shabbos is me'ein olam haba, Shabbos is me'ein of the way it'll be le'olam haba, and since in עולם הבא, לימות המשיח, there will not be a fast day anymore, so now already, on Shabbos of שבעה עשר בתמוז it's not a fast day, because Shabbos is מגלה, Shabbos reveals what the pnimiyus of שבעה עשר בתמוז is, the way it's going to be לעתיד לבא. Because b'klal, this is the inyan of Shabbos, we know Shabbos reveals the truth of everything, Shabbos reveals the truth of the world. One of the reasons why we're not allowed to work on Shabbos is because b'emes, you should never be able to work. Since the klal is that you're not allowed to do any work in front of a king, as the Gemara says, that מאן דמחוי במחוגא קמי מלכא חייב מיתה, that if someone would even make any movement in front of the king, he deserves to die, that's called a revolt against the king. Certainly, you're not allowed to work in front of the king. So how can we work b'klal in front of Hashem, when we know מלא כל הארץ כבודו, השם is all over? The answer is we don't see the truth. The truth is Hashem is all over, but we don't see it. Shabbos is a day that reveals the truth, so Shabbos we're all supposed to see the truth that Hashem is right in front of us, and therefore we're not allowed to work on Shabbos. So Shabbos bichlal is a day that reveals the penimiyus, the inside of everything. As it says in sefarim concerning the פסוק ויכל אלוקים, which refers to Shabbos, that on Shabbos Hashem finished, which means He did not work, but it says in sefarim that it means ויכל אלוקים, the שם אלוקים is finished on Shabbos. Bichlal we know, as we said before, שמש ומגן הוי' Elokim, that the שם אלוקים is like the נרתיק, like the cover, like the shield on the sun. So it's the shield on the שם הוי', which means because of the שם אלוקים we do not see completely the inyan of שם הוי', that's why Elokim is בגימטריא הטבע. The שם אלוקים, the numerical value is like הטבע, which is nature, because Elokim refers to Hashem the way He is hidden in the nature. So Elokim hides on what the truth is, just like Hashem is the one that controls the nature, makes everything happen. Nevertheless, He is hidden, that's the teitch, the meaning of the word teva. Teva comes also from the word tove'a, sunken. Just like something is sunken in the water, it's there, but you can't see it. The water covers up on it, covers up on the truth. So the same thing, Elokim refers to Hashem the way He's sunk into the world, the nature, that you can't see Him. But on שבת, ויכל אלוקים, אלוקים is finished, which means on Shabbos a Yid is able to see the truth. So Shabbos reveals the penimiyus, the inner truth of everything. And that's why when שבעה עשר בתמוז comes out on a Shabbos, we don't fast, because the penimiyus of שבעה עשר בתמוז is not a fast day.

And the truth is, even more than that: just like we say לגבי the תעניתים, including שבעה עשר בתמוז, that not only will they not be fast days anymore, but they will change, as the Rambam says, that they will be ימים טובים וימי ששון ושמחה. So now too, שבעה עשר בתמוז comes out on a Shabbos, it turns into a יום שמחה. Not only don't we fast, but Shiva Asar B'Tammuz is a יום שמחה, because we know that Shabbos is also a יום שמחה, as it says in the Sifri, in פרשת בהעלותך קפיטל י' פסוק י', on the פסוק וביום שמחתכם, on the day of your simcha, it says אלו השבתות, this refers to the שבתות, because Shabbos is also a יום שמחה. And Shabbos is a day of ta'anug, as the פסוק says, וקראת לשבת עונג. As it says in Shulchan Aruch, it's a מצוה לענגו בעונג אכילה ושתיה, it's a mitzvah to have pleasure on Shabbos, the pleasure of eating and drinking, and you have to eat בשר שמן ויין ישן, fat meat and old wine, so you have to enjoy the Shabbos, even though this Shabbos is Shiva Asar B'Tammuz, and the same is concerning Tisha B'Av. And therefore the din is that on שבת תשעה באב, when we fast on Sunday, so the last meal that you eat on Shabbos in order to Start your fast, that says that you're allowed to eat כסעודת שלמה בשעתו, like the סעודה that שלמה המלך made in his time. Normally, when you have the סעודה המפסקת on ערב תשעה באב, the סעודה before you start the fast, there are many, many restrictions. But if it comes on a Shabbos, you're allowed to eat meat and drink wine at the סעודה המפסקת, because it's Shabbos. So we see that when the fast day comes out on Shabbos, not only don't we fast, but that same fast day turns into a יום שמחה, which is me'ein olam haba, me'ein the way it's going to be le'atid lavo, when כל הצומות עתידין ליבטל, and not only that, but שהם עתידין להיות ימים טובים וימי ששון ושמחה. And from all this, we understand that when we prepare ourselves to the three weeks, to start with the fast day of Shiva Asar B'Tammuz, so in a year when Shiva Asar B'Tammuz, and mimela also Tisha b'Av, come out on Shabbos, it's easier to see the pnimiyut, the inner meaning of these fast days, and the inner meaning of the בין המצרים בכלל, of the three weeks בכלל. It's easier to get the feeling that this is really only an introduction to the coming of Mashiach. It's a yeridah, but it's a yeridah letzorech aliyah. And we have to start feeling that even though בחיצוניות, it seems like this is only an inyan of גלות and חורבן, but we have an ability to feel that the time will come very, very soon when we will see how Shivah Asar b'Tammuz and Tisha b'Av really are ימים טובים and ימי ששון ושמחה.