Days on the Jewish Calendar: Av
Why Comfort Always Comes Disguised as Hardship
A Tisha B'Av-themed chassidic class on the idea that the Temple's destruction itself contained hidden mercy, built around the Mitteler Rebbe's story of a curse that was really a blessing.
The Officer Who Sacrificed Himself to Cancel a Decree
Taanis aggada around Tisha B'Av -- Rabbi Yochanan's question on fast timing, and the story of a Roman officer whose suicide nullified a decree against the Jews, with a heavenly voice announcing his place in Olam Haba.
The Kohanim Who Chose the Flames Over Surrendering the Keys
The story of the kohanim throwing themselves into the fire as the Beis Hamikdash burned, halachos of Tisha B'Av eating restrictions, and the contrast between the day's mourning and Yom Kippur.
Why Tu B'Av and Yom Kippur Are Called the Best Days of the Year
Halachos of work and mourning restrictions before Tisha B'Av, and why the Gemara singles out the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur as the two best days, including the Rambam's personal oath about his own writings.
Why Wood-Chopping Stops After the 15th of Av
Explains the halacha of wood-collection for the Mizbeach ending on Tu B'Av, the four types of women in the famous dance, and touches on halachos of marking graves on Chol HaMoed.
Is a 'Curse' Really Just a Hidden Blessing?
Compares Targum Onkelos and Targum Yonasan on the meaning of a curse (klalah), arguing punishment can conceal a blessing, opening the seven weeks of comfort after Tisha B'Av.
How Disrespect Between Generations Destroyed Jerusalem
Aggada tracing the Churban to the breakdown of respect between young and old, the neglect of children's Torah study, and a leader's failure compared to a shepherd without pasture.
Why Humiliating a Torah Scholar Brought Down Jerusalem
Continues the aggada on causes of the Churban -- the danger of disgracing a talmid chacham, and the purity of children's Torah learning untouched by sin.
Hospitality Over Holiness: Avraham's Priority
Aggada on the causes of Jerusalem's destruction, continuing with the story of Aba bar Marta, and why Avraham chose to greet guests even before continuing to speak with Hashem.
Why the First Beis Hamikdash Really Fell
Aggada tracing the First Temple's destruction to immorality, disrespect for sacred things, and bloodshed -- contrasted with baseless hatred as the cause of the Second Temple's fall.
Why the First Beis Hamikdash Really Fell
Aggada tracing the First Temple's destruction to immorality, disrespect for sacred things, and bloodshed -- contrasted with baseless hatred, even among Torah scholars, as the cause of the Second Temple's fall.
Month of Av
Explores why this month is called Menachem Av rather than simply Av, and why, even though the names of the months are said to have come from Bavel, Chazal still derive meaning from them in lashon kodesh. Unpacks the Gemara's teaching that Hashem Himself suffers over having exiled His children, explains why the name speaks only of comforting the Father, and closes with the Maggid of Mezritch's teaching that even prayer for one's own material needs is, at its root, a plea on behalf of the Shechinah.
Shabbat Chazon
Shabbos Chazon takes its name from the yearly sight of the future Beis HaMikdash that every neshamah is shown, even though most people never consciously see it, a phenomenon compared to the Gemara's account of mazal perceiving Daniel's vision. A detailed comparison of the mashal's choice of a garment over a house shows why a garment's fit to the wearer's exact measurements better captures how each part of the Beis HaMikdash channels its own specific level of kedushah. Because the third Beis HaMikdash will be built by Hashem Himself rather than human hands, that inner structure will be revealed openly, extending to the whole world being revealed through the Asara Maamaros when Moshiach comes.
15 Av
The Gemara's ruling to add nighttime Torah study from Chamishah Asar B'Av onward seems, per the Rashbam, to be a simple calendar matter of longer nights, yet its placement right after the Gemara's praise of the day suggests a deeper connection. Tracing the day's status as kaima sihara be'ashlemuta, the fullest moon following the year's lowest point at Tisha B'Av, alongside the Rema's teaching that nighttime learning earns the keter of Torah through bitul, an apparent contradiction is resolved: the waning moon after the 15th is not a decline but a call to ever-increasing humility. Both halves of the day's avodah, night learning and the shrinking moon, express the same message of reaching greater heights specifically through greater self-nullification.
20 Av
A family's private Yom Tov for donating wood to the Beis HaMikdash mizbeach, at a time of year when no more wood could be cut, becomes an extended study in mesirat nefesh and ahavat Yisrael: giving away something precious and irreplaceable to help others, including those bringing korbanot for their own aveiros. The Gemara's machloket over whether this family descended from David HaMelech or Yoav ben Tzeruya unpacks into two models of self-sacrifice, David's devekus through Torah learning versus Yoav's battle to bring kedushah into a concealing world, mirrored in the contrasting meanings of Rabbi Meir's and Rabbi Yosei's own names. The closing lesson ties this mesirat nefesh directly to the ahavat Yisrael needed to rebuild the third Beis HaMikdash.
Understanding Tisha B’Av
An extended look at how Chassidus finds a bright side inside Tisha B'Av's destruction — starting with the halachic fact that Tachanun isn't said on this “moed,” moving through the idea that churban is itself the beginning of the third Beis Hamikdash's construction, and ending with the deeper point that the harshest punishment is the clearest proof of Hashem's love. A gematria device connects Tisha B'Av to the first day of Pesach, and the famous story of Rabbi Akiva laughing among the ruins ties it together.