Yesterday was the 17th of Tammuz, a fast day, but because it fell in Shabbat it was moved for today. So Jews all over the world are fasting today on the onset of the three weeks till Tisha B’Av, the saddest day in Jewish history when our two temples where destroyed. The first Temple, which was built by King Salomon, on the 9th of Av, 423BCE by the Babylonians and the Second Temple on the 9th of Av, 69 CE by the Romans.
During these three weeks it is customary to refrain from: conducting weddings, playing musical instruments or listening to music, we do not wear new clothes or eat a new fruit that we haven’t eaten in this season so we won’t recite the Shehecheyanu blessing and we should also abstain from getting hair cuts and men should not shave. Many Sepharadic communities permit haircuts and shaving till the week before the 9th of Av.
May these weeks of mourning turn into days of joy, when the world will be returned to its glory with the coming of Meshiach and the rebuilding of our Third and Final Temple
