Three Weeks & Nine Days 2022 - Aleph Beta

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An Honest Look at Baseless Hatred

It's time to start thinking about what we can do so that this Tisha B'Av will be our last.

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What Rachel Imeinu Teaches Us About Mourning

Mourning on Tisha B’Av may begin with the Temple, but it cannot end there. The familial conflict between Rachel and Leah offers a powerful lesson on how we can take the first steps towards fixing our national tragedy by addressing our personal relationships.

Video series • Part 1 of 5 • 8 min

Rabbi David Fohrman

What Rachel Imeinu Teaches Us About Mourning

Mourning on Tisha B’Av may begin with the Temple, but it cannot end there. The familial conflict between Rachel and Leah offers a powerful lesson on how we can take the first steps towards fixing our national tragedy by addressing our personal relationships.

Video series • Part 1 of 5 • 8 min

Rabbi David Fohrman

Editor's Pick

Why Does God Let Us Suffer?

If God loves us, why does God let bad things happen to us? This question may be impossible to answer, but on Tisha b’Av it’s just as impossible to ignore.

Video series • Part 1 of 6 • 11 min

Rabbi David Fohrman

Why Does God Let Us Suffer?

If God loves us, why does God let bad things happen to us? This question may be impossible to answer, but on Tisha b’Av it’s just as impossible to ignore.

Video series • Part 1 of 6 • 11 min

Rabbi David Fohrman

When Do The Three Weeks & Nine Days Start?

This year (2025), the Three Weeks begin with the Fast of the 17th of Tammuz on Sunday, July 13.

The Nine Days begin with Rosh Chodesh Av on Friday, July 25.

How Am I Supposed To Appreciate The Loss Of The Beit HaMikdash?

Video series • Part 1 of 7 • 9 min

It’s one thing to mourn the suffering of actual people, but how are we supposed to feel genuinely sad over the loss of a building?

How Israel Split And The Road To Tisha B’Av

Video series • Part 1 of 8 • 7 min

God gave King Solomon unprecedented wisdom, which Solomon used to build a glorious kingdom. But just a mere generation later, that kingdom splits and the road to Tisha B’Av begins. Why didn’t God give Solomon the wisdom he really needed… the wisdom to keep Israel united?

How The Sin Of The Spies Led To Tisha B’Av

Video series • Part 1 of 6 • 10 min

The first recorded tragedy of the 9th of Av occurred hundreds of years before the first Beit HaMikdash was even built. This surprising origin story sheds a whole new light on the meaning of the day.

Mourning: What Death Teaches Us About What It Means to Live

Video • 1 hour, 53 min

How are we supposed to make sense of loss? In this deep dive Premium course, Rabbi Fohrman shares how he has come to understand mourning and loss in the larger context of life, death and living a purposeful life.

Megillat Eicha And Its Secrets

Video series • Part 1 of 2 • 57 min

What does Eicha have to do with the garden of Eden? At first glance, not much. But if we look closer, it turns out that the Megillah is actually echoing language first used in the beginning of Genesis. Uncovering the deeper meaning of this connection can shift the way you think about Tisha B’Av. 

Tisha B'Av after the Iran War

Video series • Part 1 of 7 • 12 min

Israel's victory over Iran feels like a pivotal historical moment. But it's not the first time that the Jewish nation has faced a situation like this one.

Epic Tales of Tisha B’Av: Yavneh

Video series • Part 1 of 5 • 10 min

On the brink of the complete takeover of Jerusalem, the Roman general Vespasian gave a Jewish sage one wish to be granted. Instead of asking to spare Jerusalem, he asked for the protection of a tiny desert haven of Torah scholarship. This decision may have saved the entire Jewish people from extinction.

What Jacob And Joseph Teach Us About Returning Home

Video series • Part 1 of 6 • 8 min

Can mourning bring us closer to redemption? This series dives deep into a connection between Shir Hamaalot (Psalm 126) and the story of Jacob and Joseph to uncover the connection between the depths of grief and unassailable hope.

Acher: He Who Must Not Be Named

Video series • Part 1 of 5 • 25 min

Can we ever do something so bad there’s no coming back from it? In this series, Rabbi Fohrman grapples with the nature of atonement through a close reading of the story of Elisha ben Avuya, the famous apostate “Acher,” and his fiercely loyal student, Rabbi Meir.

Of Soldiers And Slaves: Divine Justice In The Face Of Great Human Evil

Video • 2 hours, 58 min

What can we expect of God, by way of justice, in the face of great human evil? That question was always pertinent, perhaps, throughout history -- but in the shadow of the Holocaust, it seems especially pertinent and troubling. Is justice on any level something we should be looking for, from the Almighty? Or: Are these divine secrets that humans really have no business asking about?

Kinot Live With Rabbi Fohrman

Video series • Part 1 of 4 • 3 hours, 42 min

Join Rabbi Fohrman and the Aleph Beta team for in-depth readings and discussions of select Kinot. These videos are live recordings from our annual Tisha B'Av morning "Kinot Unlocked" events. You can catch up on all past years here. We hope these beautiful texts will take on new meanings and allow you to experience a more connected Tisha B'Av.

The 3 Weeks & 9 Days Halacha & Dvar Torah

What Is Tisha B’Av? Explanations To Help You Connect

101 Guide

What is Tisha B'Av all about? Find everything you need to make it a meaningful day: a 101 explainer, review of laws and customs, inspiring videos, and more.

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Tisha B'Av for Kids

101 Guide

Tisha B’Av is hard enough – but when you’re fasting yourself AND trying to make this day meaningful for your kids, it’s even harder. That’s why we put together this page with plenty of resources to make Tisha B’Av meaningful for kids of all ages. Including a BRAND NEW Teacher/Parent Guide for you to use along with our “Sinat Chinam: Baseless Hatred” series, so you can discuss the concepts of Tisha B’Av together with your kids at their level.

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Is Tisha B'Av a Yom Tov?

101 Guide

. Tisha B’Av is the most solemn day on the Jewish calendar. We spend it fasting and mourning. But the Book of Lamentations (Eicha) refers to Tisha B’av as a moed – a holiday! With its lack of festive meals, Tisha B’Av certainly doesn’t feel like a holiday. How exactly do we categorize Tisha B’Av? Is Tisha B’Av a Yom Tov? And what can this classification teach us about the meaning of the day?

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Tisha B'Av & the Spies

101 Guide

. On Tisha B’Av we mourn the destruction of the First and Second Temples. But the Talmudic Sages trace our mourning even further back in history, to another catastrophe that they say happened on the 9th of Av: the sin of the spies. What in the world does the sin of the spies have to do with the destruction of the Temples, and how can understanding this connection help us unlock the transformative power of Tisha B’Av?

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Book of Iyov

101 Guide

. The book of Job is one of the most complex and bewildering books of Tanach. Why do we read this book on Tisha B’Av and what lessons can we learn from Job’s struggles with God?

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Kinot | Tisha B'Av 2025: What are Kinot? Explanations and Meaning

101 Guide

It's one thing to read kinot on Tisha B'Av. It's another thing to connect to kinot. Aleph Beta is here to help. Rabbi David Fohrman's approach to kinot will help you connect to their power and meaning.

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Tisha B’Av Torah & Haftarah Readings

101 Guide

. To set the tone of loss and lamentation for Tisha B'Av morning, we read Deuteronomy Chapter 4:25-40 as the Torah reading and Jeremiah Chapter 8:13-23 as the accompanying haftarah. Why are these the readings for this day and what can they add to our Tisha B’Av today? Keep reading to go deeper.

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The Book of Lamentations (Megillat Eicha)

101 Guide

The Book of Lamentations, written by Jeremiah the prophet, includes scenes that are vividly graphic, and themes that are distressingly clear. But in contrast to the direct - yet tragic - message, the writing is incredibly complex and confusing. What are we to make of this book traditionally read on Tisha B’Av?

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What Are The Three Weeks & Nine Days?

The fast of Tammuz begins the three-week period of mourning known as Bein HaMetzarim (“between the straits”), a phrase taken from the book of Eicha, or simply “the three weeks.” The Three Weeks start on 17th of Tammuz (or 18th of Tammuz if the 17th is on Shabbat), also known as the fast day Shiva Asar B’Tammuz. This period begins and ends with fasting, and throughout the three weeks, Jewish practice serves to reduce the joy and comfort experienced during this time. 

After the first of Av, on Rosh Chodesh, the nine days before Tisha B’Av are observed with particularly strict mourning and sadness. These days of intense mourning are often referred to as “The Nine Days”. The Mishnah says that “When the month of Av begins, we reduce our joy”, and therefore several additional restrictions and mourning practices are adopted during this time.

The three weeks and the nine days commemorate the loss of the First and Second Temples, and atone for the sins – like sinat chinam, baseless hatred – that led to the collapse of Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel. Exile and diaspora followed the destruction of the Holy Temples, and began the exile ("galut") that will one day be brought to an end in the days of Moshiach. Rabbi Fohrman inspects several interesting connections in the Torah that hint at a messianic era that almost happened.

In 2024 (5784), the Three Weeks will start at dawn on Tuesday, July 23, and end at sundown on Tuesday, August 12. The Nine Days will start on Sunday, August 4, at sundown.

Laws Of The Three Weeks & Nine Days

During the Three Weeks, many Jews adopt practices of mourning. These can include refraining from holding public celebrations, haircuts and shaving, and buying new clothes, similar to mourning practices observed during the Omer period.

The Three Weeks are considered a time of tragedy on the Jewish calendar. Therefore, many Jews refrain from potentially dangerous activities like swimming or adventure sports during this time.

Listening to music and attending performances such as theater or concerts is prohibited during Jewish times of mourning. Some Jews do listen to music that is performed a cappella, without instruments or percussion.

During the Three Weeks and Nine Days, it is traditional to recite “Al Naharot Bavel” (“By the Waters of Babylon”), a mournful song about the loss of the Temple and Jerusalem, before saying grace after meals.

It should be noted that many of these customs are held primarily by Jews of Ashkenazic descent. Sephardic Jews often observe these practices only during the week of Tisha B’Av itself.

There aren’t halachot during the three weeks like there are during the nine days or Tisha Ba’v itself.

Halachot of the Nine Days

The laws of the Nine Days, which begin on Rosh Chodesh Av, intensify the prohibitions of mourning.

During the Nine Days, many Jews do not eat meat or meat products (except on Shabbat) to deprive themselves of that pleasure. Laundry is not washed except in extreme need, and many Jews take short, cold showers to avoid the comfort of bathing.

Rabbi Fohrman | Our lead scholar

Rabbi David Fohrman is the founder and lead scholar at Aleph Beta. Over the last two decades, he’s pioneered a way of reading Biblical text that feels both rigorous and revelatory. Through Aleph Beta, he’s given expression to that, developing what is now a vast library of content, spanning all types of media: animated videos, podcasts and books. He’s also embarked on an effort to train a team of Torah scholars adept at the close-reading methodology he’s pioneered – and their work can be found at Aleph Beta, too.

Prior to his founding of Aleph Beta, Rabbi Fohrman served as a senior editor and writer for the ArtScroll Talmud Project. He also taught Biblical themes as adjunct faculty at Johns Hopkins University, where he had earlier received a Master’s degree in Western intellectual history. Rabbi Fohrman received his rabbinical and Talmudic training at the Ner Israel Rabbinical College, but some of his earliest and most profound exposure to Biblical text analysis came from his encounters with Rabbi Yosef Leibowitz, in his childhood years in Northern California.