Concerning the period of Bein Hametzarim, which is known as the Three Weeks, it says in Tanach in Yirmiyahu קאפיטל א' פסוק י\"א and י\"ב, which is actually in the haftarah of the first Shabbos of the Bein Hametzarim, that Yirmiyahu saw a מקל שקד. And Hashem said to him, היטבת לראות, you saw correctly, כי שוקד אני על דברי לעשותו, because I am rushing to do my word. And Rashi brings from Midrash Aggadah, which is actually in Yerushalmi, Masechet Taanit, פרק ד' הלכה ה', also brought down in the Tur, Orach Chaim, סוף סימן תקנ\"א, and it also says in Kohelet Rabbah פרשה י\"ב, ז', and many other places, that the לשון שוקד comes from the word שקדים. שקדים are almonds. That just like almonds are finished in a very short while, it takes 21 days for them to ripen, so too did the חורבן בית המקדש take 21 days. Because שבעה עשר בתמוז הובקעה העיר, that's when they broke through the wall of the city, and on Tisha B'Av, which was 21 days later, that's when נשרף הבית, that's when the בית המקדש got burnt. So we see that this period is referred to as a period of 21 days. Nevertheless, this period is called, according to מנהג ישראל, the way Yidden call it, not the 21 days, but we call it the Three Weeks. In Yiddish it's called the drei vokhn, and in English we call it the Three Weeks. And even על פי הלכה it's called the Three Weeks, as brought down in the ט\"ז, אורח חיים, סימן תקנ\"א, סעיף קטן י\"ז. So lichorah we have to understand: since the remez in the פסוק for this period is מקל שקד, is a stick that שקדים grow on, that almonds grow on, and Torah shebe'al peh calls it with the name 21 days, so why is it that במנהג ישראל and also in halacha it's called the Three Weeks, not the 21 days? Now, in the Tur it says, and also brought down in the Shibolei HaLeket, Hashalem, סימן רס\"ג in the name of the Rasag, and it also says in the Taz, that ויש אומרים כנגד שלשה שבועות שהתענה דניאל. That these three weeks are כנגד the three weeks that Daniel fasted. So lichorah here we have a reason why we call it the Three Weeks. But still we have to understand: why should we call this time based on the fast days of Daniel, not based on the actual happenings that happened? Daniel fasted three weeks because of the churban. So why call it three weeks because of a תוצאה, an outcome of the churban, why not call it 21 days, which is the days of the churban itself? ובפרט that some hold that he did not fast three weeks, he fasted three shemitot, he fasted three years, different opinions. But in any event, the question is: why do we call it the Three Weeks, why don't we call it the 21 days?

Now, the explanation to this is: we know everything in the world is good. Since everything comes from Hashem, and Hashem is עצם הטוב, and טבע הטוב להיטיב, the nature of good is to do good, so we understand that even those things that seem to be bad, in truth they are good. And not only that the כוונה is that through these things something good will come out, but more than that, gam zu letovah, everything is for the good itself. But the good in some things are בהעלם, are hidden, and it takes a while till the good of these things comes out בגילוי, that you're able to see it. When you start thinking, even at a time when you don't see how good it is, but you start thinking about it, that also these things, because they come from Hashem, they're definitely good, so this emunah itself, that you believe that it's good, is the כלי, is the vessel to reveal the good that's in it. And then it'll actually become good in a form of tov hanir'eh vehanigleh, that you're able to see it. From that we understand that the same applies to the time of the Bein Hametzarim. Even though בגילוי it is a sad time, because of the bad things that happened at that time to the Jewish nation, especially the חורבן בית המקדש that started on שבעה עשר בתמוז and finished on תשעה באב, and that's when this terrible galut started, but being that this churban and galut comes from Hashem, and He is עצם הטוב, definitely that this is also good. But in the meantime, it is covered up, it is בתכלית ההעלם וההסתר, it is completely covered up, and it will become נגלה, revealed, le'atid lavo. But when it will become revealed, we will not only see that through the churban we came to something good, we came to the גאולה האמיתית והשלימה, the true geulah, which is a גאולה שאין אחריה גלות, a geulah which has no galut afterwards, but we'll see more than that, that the churban itself was good. Va'ad rabah, because it is so hidden now, because it looks so bad now, that shows how really good it is. As we know that the greater the thing is, the more covered up it has to be. And as the Tzemach Tzedek explains on the different pesukim in Eicha, he says that all the inyanim in Eicha could be למעליותא. And he explains pasuk after פסוק how every פסוק in איכה is לשבח, is for good. Including the פסוק כל רדפיה השיגוה בין המצרים, which is the source of the expression בין המצרים. So he says כל רדפיה, all its chasers, refers to the פסוק טוב וחסד ירדפוני. ירדפוני, and השיגוה בין המצרים refers to the ענין of מצר העליון and all the different explanations he gives that really the things which seem to be bad are really in essence good. And as it says in many places, that at the time of the חורבן itself, that's when all the different גילויים, the different spiritual revelations that are supposed to take place לעתיד לבוא already happened then, but they were covered up. And as we explained in a previous shiur, that this was the expression of the love of Hashem to the בני ישראל, that He cared so much about them that He brought the חורבן בית המקדש as a punishment for them. But as we said before, now we don't see it. And the Yidden through doing עבודת השם throughout all these years in גלות, they purify the world that the world should become a kli, that they should be able to eventually see the truth that's within this גלות and חורבן.

This explains the reason why this period is called the three weeks and not the 21 days. Because as soon as we say the number three, it reminds us right away of the third בית המקדש. So therefore right away in the word the three weeks, we have this ענין, the טוב, the good that is going to come out from the period of בין המצרים. And the truth is even more. When we know that the ענין of בין המצרים really is good, this itself rushes up that the good should come בגילוי even faster. And therefore by using the name the three weeks, which stresses the good of the בין המצרים, this itself rushes up that the גאולה העתידה should come faster. To explain this in more detail, the three weeks that starts בהשגחה פרטית from the fourth month, which is the צום הרביעי from שבעה עשר בתמוז, they come right after the third month, which is the חודש השלישי of סיון, the month of מתן תורה, which is connected to the number three, as the Gemara says in שבת דף פח עמוד א: בריך רחמנא דיהב אוריאן תליתאה, thank Hashem that gave us a triple Torah, made up of תורה, נביאים, וכתובים, לעם תליתאי to a triple nation, which is made up of כהנים, לויים, וישראלים, through על ידי תליתאי, through a third one, which is Moshe, the third one in the family, ביום תליתאי on the third day, because the preparation to מתן תורה lasted for three days, בירחא תליתאי in the third month. And Rav Nissim Gaon explains more things that are connected to מתן תורה with the number three. So we see that the number three has a very special significance concerning the inyan of מתן תורה. And even though, as we explained in a previous שיעור, מתן תורה was on one day of the month of the third month, but still, the whole month has a connection to מתן תורה. And as we explained in a previous shiur, the number three has a very great significance. The number three represents the idea that there is no contradiction. Because like this, it seems as if the world contradicts Hashem. We know אין עוד מלבדו, there is nothing but Hashem, but there is a metziut of a world, which seems to be saying that it's itself a metziut, and it's not batel to Hashem. The number three shows the יבוא הכתוב השלישי ויכריע ביניהם to show that really there is no contradiction, that the world is batel to Hashem, which means that the number three represents the fact that it reveals the truth that's within the world, the truth that the world really only exists because of Hashem. Which means that the number three shows that it reveals the truth that's hidden in the thing which seems to say something else. The world seems to be saying bechitzoniyut outwardly that it's a metziut, and the number three represents the idea that we reveal the truth that's hidden in the world. And the same is concerning the three weeks. The number three shows the idea that we understand and we feel the truth that's hidden in the period of the בין המצרים, and even though chitzoniyut it seems to be bad, but the penimiyut it really is a good thing. And that's why שבעה עשר בתמוז, which is the beginning of the three weeks, starts right after the third month. This is similar to the concept of הקדוש ברוך הוא מקדים רפואה למכה. We know Hashem first gives the refuah, the cure, and then He gives the makah, the punishment. The same here. Before the period of the three weeks, we have the concept of three, מתן תורה of the third month, which is the idea of seeing the truth that's hidden within the world, so by the time it comes to שבעה עשר בתמוז, which is the makah, we already have the refuah that we're able to see the truth. And that's why this period is called the three weeks, to remind us of the number three. Not only to remind us of the third בית המקדש, but to remind us of this inyan that we're able to see the truth that's hidden within the three weeks.

In simple words, what we're saying is as follows: If we would call this time the 21 days, then what we would feel is only the yeridah. The name itself would express the yeridah, the problems that we have, the tzarot that we have in these days, especially the five things that happened in the beginning of the three weeks, in the beginning of בין המצרים, on שבעה עשר בתמוז, and then on תשעה באב. So we would feel the tzarot, we would feel the מעשינו הרעים, as the Rambam says in the beginning of the fifth פרק of Hilchot Ta'aniyot that took place at this time. We would feel the מפני חטאינו גלינו מארצנו, the fact that because of our aveirot we went to galut, so we would see the problems of these days. Starting with the first problem that we have on שבעה עשר בתמוז, which is שבירת הלוחות, the fact that on this day the luchot were broken. And since the luchot were the לוחות הברית, the luchot of the covenant, so this shows that on this day the covenant between the Yidden and Hashem were broken. And Memeila, not only the connection between the Yidden and Hashem was hidden, but the connection between Hashem and the world was hid, because the connection between Hashem and the world is through Torah, because the whole world was created for the sake of the Torah. When the luchot were broken, so Memeila the inyan, the connection that the Yidden have to Hashem through Torah was covered up, was broken, uMemeila the connection between the world and Hashem was broken. Certainly through the other things that took place in the three weeks, which brought to the חורבן בית המקדש on Tisha B'Av, and the beginning of the galut, so this certainly brought out a big yeridah in Klal Yisrael. It brought out a big yeridah in everything that a Yid does, in all the Avodat Hashem that a Yid does, that instead, that before we had a Beit Hamikdash where אלוקות was בגילוי, Godliness was revealed, they were מקריב קרבנות, and all the Avodat Hashem was in the highest מדרגה. So what happened afterwards, it came to a point where אותותינו לא ראינו, as the pasuk says in Tehillim, קאפיטל ע\"ד, פסוק ט' says, that we do not that we do not see the אותות, the miracles of Hashem, and we can't be מקריב קרבנות, and we can't serve השם בתכלית השלימות. And then what happened? The fact that we are able to bring Godliness into the world was minimized. There was a yeridah in that, too. Because at the time of the Beis HaMikdash, Hashem, the Shechinah was in this world. Hashem said ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם, make for Me a Mikdash and I will dwell in it, in them. So through the Beis HaMikdash, the kedushah, the Shechinah was brought to the world. One of the reasons why the windows in the Beis HaMikdash were made different than the windows of a regular house, normally when you make windows, you make it so that outside the windows are narrow, inside it's wide, because you want the light to come in. In the Beis HaMikdash it was opposite: inside was narrow, outside was wide, because the windows there which were just the opposite. It was that a light should come from the Beis HaMikdash to the world. So at the time of the churban, this was lost, too. So this period of Bein HaMetzarim stresses the great yeridah that happened to Klal Yisrael through the galut and churban. So if we would call it 21 days, which would remind us of what the pasuk says מקל שקד אני רואה, that took 21 days for the חורבן בית המקדש to take place, so then it would just remind us of the חורבן בית המקדש, of the bad part of the Bein HaMetzarim. When we call it three weeks, and as we said before, it reminds us of the בית המקדש השלישי, it reminds us of the concept of three, to see the truth of what's hidden in the world, so then this reminds us also of the good part of the Bein HaMetzarim, that this eventually will lead to the time of the בית המקדש השלישי, and when we will look back we will see that really all the bad things that took place were really good.

When a yid knows all this, it strengthens his bitachon and emunah in the coming of Mashiach, and it strengthens his desire and waiting for Mashiach. As the Gemara says in שבת דף ל\"א עמוד א', that one of the questions that a person is asked after he comes למעלה after 120 years is צפית לישועה, did you wait for yeshuah, did you wait for Mashiach? And it says in many places in דברי חז\"ל, that waiting for the geulah and asking for the geulah, this itself makes the geulah come faster and faster. And as the Rambam says at the end of his sefer, at the end of Hilchot Melachim, he says that כל מי שאינו מאמין בו, anybody doesn't believe in him, או מי שאינו מחכה לביאתו, or someone who doesn't wait for his coming, לא בשאר נביאים בלבד הוא כופר, doesn't only deny the words of other נביאים, אלא בתורה ובמשה רבינו, he denies the Torah and denies משה רבינו, שהרי התורה העידה עליו, because the Torah is מעיד, testifies in the coming of Mashiach. So here we see two things. We see that believing in the coming of Mashiach is not only from the ענינים that were told to us through the נביאים, which have a דין of דברי קבלה, which is also part of Torah definitely, but more than that, it's something that מפורש in תורה שבכתב, in Torah of משה רבינו, and not only in one place, but in many places as the Rambam says. And that's why if a person doesn't believe in the coming of Mashiach, doesn't believe in the Torah. But then there's a second thing he says, that not only someone doesn't believe in his coming is כופר בתורה ובמשה רבינו, denies in תורה משה רבינו, but he says more than that, אפילו מי שאינו מחכה לביאתו, someone doesn't wait for his coming, which means could be he believes Mashiach is going to come, but he doesn't wait for his coming, he is a כופר בתורה ובמשה רבינו. But normally, it is very hard to really hope for something which is so abstract, something we have no idea about, something which seems so far-fetched, because if you look around, all we see is that we're still in galut and in a חושך כפול ומכופל, in a very dark galut, a bad galut, בגשמיות and ברוחניות. So it's very hard to really want and to really have this feeling to something that we don't have an idea about. Therefore, if lechat'chilah, while we have the three weeks which represents the galut and the churban, we are already look through it, and we see in this galut and churban that this is only a stepping stone to come to the time of the geulah, to the time of the בית המקדש השלישי, as we explained before, that's why we call it the Three Weeks to remind us of the concept of three and of the בית המקדש השלישי. So that makes it much easier to fulfill what the Rambam says that you have to be מחכה לביאתו, you have to wait for the Mashiach coming. And therefore, when we say every day in דאווענען כי לישועתך קוינו כל היום, that we hope for yeshuah every day, and we say every day in Shemoneh Esrei three times את צמח דוד עבדך מהרה תצמיח, we're able to say it with more feeling, we're able actually to mean what we're saying, that we really want Mashiach to come, and we don't want to wait for him, we want him to come right away. And as much as we have that feeling throughout the year, every time we say Shemoneh Esrei and we say these tefillot, even more during the time of Bein Hametzarim, the period of the Three Weeks, certainly that's the time when we have to think more about Mashiach and awaken within ourselves this hope for the coming of Mashiach, and this want for Mashiach to come. And when the Eibershter will see that all of the Bnei Yisrael really want Mashiach to come, the Eibershter will say, well, if they all really want him to come, how much longer can I wait in sending Mashiach? And the Eibershter, Hashem, will send Mashiach right away, that even before Tisha B'Av comes around, Mashiach will be here already, and Tisha B'Av will not be a fast day, but Tisha B'Av will be a day of ששון ושמחה and מועדים טובים.