Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Three Weeks Before Tisha B'Av: Breaking Down the Wall
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For the three weeks from 17 Tammuz to 9 Av, we remember that in Tammuz the Babylonians broke through the walls that protected Jerusaalem. After three weeks of uncertainty, that breakthrough turned into destruction.

May we create a 17th of Tammuz in which the walls between peoples and betweenpersons are broken down -- and then the breakdown is used not fordestruction, but for creating new loving connections between us.