time between שבעה עשר בתמוז and תשעה באב. We start with a fast day, that's the day when הובקעה העיר, and we go on through תשעה באב, which is the day when the Beit Hamikdash was destroyed. And these 21 days, these three weeks, are three weeks of mourning, when we mourn the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash. And it says in Yerushalmi Taanit פרק ד' הלכה ה', and also brought down in the Pesikta to Eichah Rabbah, and in Kohelet Rabbah, and Rashi in Jeremiah in the beginning says that, that these three weeks are hinted in the נבואה of Jeremiah. In the first קאפיטל, פסוק י\"א, where it says that Hashem showed him מקל שקד אני רואה, I see a stick of almonds. And it says there that השקד הזה, the almond, משעת חניטתו עד גמר בישולו עשרים ואחד יום, from the beginning when it starts blossoming till it's ripe completely takes 21 days, and it's the same amount of days between שבעה עשר בתמוז when הובקעה העיר till תשעה באב when בו נשרף הבית, that's when the בית המקדש was burnt. Now, bifshitut it seems that the hint in this פסוק to the 21 days is based on the number. Being that they both are 21, so the hint that there's going to be a period of 21 days was hinted in the מקל שקד, in the stick of שקדים, of almonds, being that that also takes 21 days to grow. But since this is in Torah, and everything in the Torah is exact, there must be another reason why the שקד was picked as a סימן, why the שקדים, the almonds, were picked as a סימן to the Bein Hametzarim. So the explanation is, it says in Mishnayot, in Maasrot פרק א' משנה ד', also we have in Chulin דף כ\"ה עמוד ב', that there are two types of שקדים, two types of almonds. One type is שקדים מרים, bitter שקדים, and another one is sweet שקדים. The bitter שקדים, they are sweet when they're small, and become bitter when they become bigger. And the sweet שקדים are the opposite: when they're small, that's when they're bitter, and afterwards, when they are completely ripe, that's when they become sweet. That's the way Rabbeinu Gershom in Chulin explains it. And it says in sefarim that when we use the term שקדים סתם, without adding a title whether it's sweet or sour, usually we refer to the big ones, the sweet ones. Those that are sweet when they're small and they become sour, bitter when they are bigger, those are referred to usually as לוזים. But שקדים סתם refer to those that are bitter when they are small and they become sweet when they become bigger.

This is the reason why as a siman, as a hint to the Bein Hametzarim was given through the שקדים. Because since שקדים are bitter and they turn sweet, this is also the idea of the Bein Hametzarim. That even though it is bitter, it is a time of mourning, a time of destruction, nevertheless the purpose is that this bitterness should turn into sweet. Because the whole kavanah, the whole purpose of the חורבן בית המקדש and of the galut is in order for us to reach the time when Mashiach will come and we will have the בית המקדש השלישי. Not only will we have the same בית המקדש back, but also we will have a bigger and better בית המקדש. The first and second בתי מקדש, they were בתי מקדש that were limited. They only stood for a certain amount of time. But the בית המקדש השלישי, the third בית המקדש is going to be a בית המקדש נצחי, an eternal בית המקדש. Because as the Zohar says, the first and second בתי מקדש, they were בניינא דבר נש, they were the building of human beings. Even though it was through the commandment of Hashem, and it was על פי תורה, nevertheless physically it was done through human beings. But the third בית המקדש is going to be בניינא דקודשא בריך הוא, the binyan of Hashem. And when the pasuk says, מקדש השם כוננו ידיך, the מקדש of Hashem, your own hands establish, your own hands made, that refers to the בית המקדש השלישי. But in order to have that בית המקדש השלישי, there had to be the churban of the first and second בית המקדש, so then we are able to reach the level of the בית המקדש השלישי. So it comes out that even though outwardly the reason for the destruction of the בית המקדש was because מפני חטאינו גלינו מארצנו, the Yidden sinned and that's why they were chased out of the land and that's why the בית המקדש was destroyed, but at the same time there is something good that will come out. And that is that because we had the חורבן בית המקדש, that is why we will have even a greater בית המקדש, which will be the בית המקדש השלישי.

And this is similar to גלות מצרים. We find by גלות מצרים that one of the reasons why Hashem took the Yidden into galut was in order to prepare them to מתן תורה. If not for the galut, then they wouldn't be kelim, they wouldn't be vessels fit to receive the תורה בהר סיני. And that's why in Yechezkel he refers to גלות מצרים as the כור הברזל, the furnace that purifies metal. Just like when you chop metal out of the mountain, or you chop gold or silver, so it comes along with dirt, and in order to purify it, you have to put it into the furnace, and that separates the bad from the good and purifies it in such a way that now it becomes a proper metal, so too with the Bnei Yisrael. In order for them to be able to reach the high level that they should be kelim to receive the תורה בהר סיני, there had to be the גלות מצרים. And the same is with this galut. In order for us to reach the level of ימות המשיח, the time of Mashiach, when we will have the great spiritual revelation and we will have the בית המקדש השלישי, for that we had to go through the galut. So it comes out that the galut really, even though superficially it is a bad thing, nevertheless, from this bad and bitter thing we will be able to reach a sweet thing which we wouldn't have been able to reach if not for the bad thing.

And there is a mashal given in sefarim to this. The mashal is of a talmid who is sitting in front of his rebbi, and his rebbi is teaching him a lot of Torah, a lot of chochmah. And the more he teaches him, the more he gets involved, the greater he feels, and the more enjoyment he gets in the Torah that he's learning. But in middle, let's say, while the rebbi is teaching him the Torah, there is a new thought that falls into the rebbi's mind which will explain the subject that they're learning much better and deeper than he explained it before. But the rebbi has to develop it in his own mind, he just got the general idea, and he sees how through this idea all the questions will be answered and everything will be fine, but he has to sit down for a while to think it over and see how through this thought he will answer all the questions. So he tells his talmid, \"You have to wait a while. I will have to sit down by myself, you will have to sit by yourself, and I will have to think over the idea that fell into my mind, and then I will get back to you and I'll give you over this deep idea that I just had in my mind.\" And the rav goes away and sits by himself, and the talmid remains and sits by himself. Now the talmid will start thinking, he will feel very bad because till now he was learning with his rebbi, he enjoyed the chochmah that he was told, he enjoyed the wisdom that he was told, and he felt in a very, very high madregah. Now he feels as if he's in galut: he's all by himself, his rebbi is not teaching him, he is lonely, he feels bad. Then when the rebbi comes back and he gives him over the deep thought, and he tells him that the only way I was able to teach you this is because there was a time when I left you, then the talmid realizes that all this was worth it. So even though at the time while his rebbi is not with him he feels bad, he feels in galut, and he really feels bad and he should feel bad because he is not in the same level as he was before, nevertheless later on he will realize that really all this was worth it. And the same is with the galut. That while we are still in galut we have to mourn and we have to feel that we are in galut, we are chased away from our land, and we don't have the בית המקדש, and that's the reason for all the halachot of mourning and fasting, etc. But at the same time we have to realize that all this is worth it so that when the galut will be over, we will have the בית המקדש השלישי, we will have Mashiach, we will have the great spiritual revelation which will be much greater than it was before. It says that when Mashiach will come, ונגלה כבוד ה׳, the glory of Hashem will be revealed, וראו כל בשר יחדו כי פי ה׳ דבר, all flesh will see that the word of Hashem spoke. There will be the true revelation and recognition of Hashem. Something that would not have happened if not for the galut. If the בית המקדש would have continued, we would have had it the same way as it was before, and that's how it would have gone on. Now that we have the galut and the Yidden throughout these thousands of years do their עבודת השם, serve Hashem during galut, this will bring about this great revelation that will happen when Mashiach will come and when the third בית המקדש will be built. It is true that while we are in galut we don't feel it, but at least in our minds we have to have the proper bitachon and the proper emunah that the בית המקדש will be built, and then we will look back and we will see that this galut was worth it. Even though it was a negative thing, nevertheless this negative thing, this bitter thing brings us to a very sweet thing.

And then there is another point here. We could look at it from a different angle also and also come to an understanding that the galut really has a very, very positive thing in it. The mashal to it is from a parent that gets angry at a child, and because of that punishes the child, and the child is very upset. But when the child grows up and looks back, the child sees that really it is only thanks to that punishment that the child received from the parent, that's why the child turned out to be the way the child did. If not for that punishment, then the child would have continued the same way he did before, and he would have never changed, he would have never reached the level that he did reach after he grew up. So it comes out that after he grows up and he looks back at the day that he was punished, he says, this is the best day in my life. During the time that he is small, and he doesn't realize that all this is in order for him to change and it's for his benefit, he is upset. But when he grows up and he sees the truth, then he looks back and he says the best day of my life was the day when I was punished. And the same thing is with the חורבן בית המקדש. Even looking at it from the angle that the בית המקדש was destroyed because of our aveirot, and Hashem was angry at us, and that's why He punished us, but really this is for our benefit. And that is the reason why it says that when Mashiach will come, all the fast days, especially Tisha B'Av, is going to be turned into a Yom Tov. As the Rambam says in the end of הלכות תעניות, כל הצומות האלו עתידים ליבטל לימות המשיח, all these fast days will be בטל when משיח will come, ולא עוד, not only that, אלא שהם עתידים להיות ימים טובים וימי ששון ושמחה, they will be Yom Tov, they will be happy days, שנאמר, he quotes the פסוק, כה אמר השם צבאות צום הרביעי וצום החמישי וצום השביעי וצום העשירי יהיה לבית יהודה לששון ולשמחה ולמועדים טובים, they will all be days of happiness. Now the question that's asked, is meila if we say that when Mashiach will come we won't fast anymore, they won't be sad days, we understand, because we will have the בית המקדש. But why will those days be turned into happy days? Why will Tisha B'Av be a Yom Tov? Why should it be a Yom Tov? It won't be a sad day anymore because we will have the Beit Hamikdash, but why should it be a Yom Tov? But the peshat is, it'll be a Yom Tov because then, when we look back and see what happened on Tisha B'Av, we'll understand that this is the best thing that ever happened to us. Just like the child when he grows up and he looks back at the day he was punished, he says this is the best day in my life, so too at that time we will realize that this was the best day. In other words, this was the day that Hashem really expressed His true love to the Am Yisrael. When we celebrate a Yom Tov, for instance we celebrate Pesach, the meaning is that we celebrate a day Hashem performed miracles for us, which means that's the day Hashem showed His love to us. And since we know that every year when the same day comes around, the same thing spiritually repeats itself, so that's a day Hashem shows His great love to us. The same is concerning Tisha B'Av. The day Hashem destroyed the Beit Hamikdash was really the day Hashem showed His great love to us. And it's self-understood, just like by a parent, the reason a parent gets angry at a child and punishes the child is only because the parent loves the child. If the same thing would be done by a stranger, not by his own child, he wouldn't get angry, wouldn't punish him, even if he would have the ability to do it, because he doesn't really care as much concerning a stranger than like his own child. Because he loves his own child, that's why he cares. So when Hashem expressed His anger, that itself is an expression of Hashem's love to the Bnei Yisrael. And the truth is, it's even a stronger expression of love than the expression when He performs a miracle. Just like in the mashal of a parent and a child, there are two ways a parent expresses the love. When the child is good and the parent brings the child a present, that's an expression of love. When the child is chas v'shalom bad and the parent punishes the child, it's also an expression of love. Now, concerning the child, one he could see the love, the other one he can't. But concerning the parent, the love that's expressed in the punishment is a stronger one, because the love that's expressed there has to go against the nature of the parent. The nature of the parent is to be good to the child, not to chas v'shalom hurt the child. Nevertheless, because the parent loves the child so much, the love is so strong that it makes the father or the mother go against the nature and punish the child. When the parent gives the child a present because they love the child, that's not going against the nature. That's the nature of a parent. So we don't see how strong the love is, that it even breaks through the boundaries of the nature of the parent. But when the parent punishes the child because he loves the child, then the love is so strong it even breaks through the boundaries of the nature of the parent. The nature is only to do good to the child, and because of the love, in that case, the parent has to go against his own nature. And the same is with Hashem. When Hashem punished us and destroyed the Beit Hamikdash because He was angry at us, that is an expression of love. On one hand, at The time when this happens, we feel the pain, but on the other hand, we have to realize that afterwards we're going to see how this is really an expression of His love. Just like the child, while it hurts, he is angry and he feels the pain, but later on, when he grows up and he looks back and he wants to think, which was the day that my father really, really showed that he loves me, that was the day that he punished me. So when Mashiach will come and the Beit Hamikdash will be rebuilt, we will look back and we will see that really the best day of the year, when Hashem showed His greatest love, was on Tisha B'Av. So now, we still have halachot of mourning because now we still feel the pain, so now we can't see how this is really an expression of love. We understand it in our mind, but we can't feel it, and therefore we have to mourn the חורבן בית המקדש, we have to feel bad about it. But we have to at least in our mind feel, realize, that when Mashiach will come and we're going to look back, we'll say, \"Ah, this was the best day.\" And that's why Tisha B'Av will be a Yom Tov and it'll be the biggest Yom Tov, even bigger than יציאת מצרים, as we said before. And this explains an interesting thing. We find in sefarim, brought down in the Tur and the Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim סימן תכ\"ח, the remez in the letters of the אלף בית, א\"ת ב\"ש, like the first letter and the last letter have a connection: the א to the ת, the ב to the ש, the ג to the ר, etc. And it says if you want to know which day of the week certain things will happen, we could figure it out through this cheshbon. א, ב, ג, ד, etc. refer to the days of Pesach. א is the first day of Pesach. So when we know which day of the week the first day of Pesach was, then א\"ת, then we should know the ת, the ת is Tisha B'Av. Tisha B'Av will always be the same day as the first day of Pesach. ב\"ש, the ב is the second day of Pesach, so if we know that, we will know when the ש will be, ש is Shavuos. ג\"ר, the third day of Pesach, we will know when the ר is, which is Rosh Hashanah, etc. But it seems interesting that א and ת, the first day of Pesach, has a connection to the ת, to Tisha B'Av. What is the connection? They seem to be complete opposites. א, which is the first day of Pesach, represents גאולה, and the ת, which is Tisha B'Av, represents גלות. The truth is, the way it is now and the way we feel it, and the way the halacha is, that is true. But in essence, when we look deeper and when we will look what will happen לעתיד לבוא, we will see that Tisha B'Av really is the day that Hashem expressed His love to us like at the time of Yetziat Mitzrayim and even more. And that's why the remez is א\"ת, that the first day of Pesach is connected to ת, to Tisha B'Av, because when Mashiach will come, Tisha B'Av will be a Yom Tov, even a greater Yom Tov than Yetziat Mitzrayim. And the reason for that is because as much as Hashem showed His love to us on the first day of Pesach, on Tishah B'Av He showed even more. That's why