Questions on the 17th of Tammuz to think about and discuss:

1. What five things happened on the 17th of Tammuz?
2. Why are five things listed as happening on this day when these things took place over many different years? Surely more things happened on this day. Why then pick only five to focus on?
3. Why did Moshe break the Luchos? Why not instead simply return the Luchos to Hashem?
4. We know that the egel happened on the 17th of Tammuz. But on what day of the week were the Luchos broken?
5. The Jews did the Egel and this resulted in the breaking of the Luchos. Why then the focus on the result (breaking of Luchos) and not on the cause (the sin of the Egel)?
6. The broken Luchos were not buried but were kept in the Aron. What lies behind this?
7. What is so terrible about the stopping of the korban tomid that it is singled out as a special tragedy?
8. The breaching of the walls of Yerushalayim was a sorrow in that the intruders entered and started pillaging the inhabitants. Is there a deeper spiritual significance here that we must mourn?
9. Throughout the ages Torah has been burnt by gentiles. Why then single this out as one of the reasons to mourn on the 17th of Tammuz?
10. What Torah did Apustimus burn?
11. Why is the burning of the Sefer Torah placed together with the other tragedies of the 17th of Tammuz – besides for the timing is there a deeper connection?
12. Who and when placed the idol in the Beis Hamikdosh?
13. There are three parts to the Beis Hamikdosh with ascending levels of kedusha, holiness. There is the azara, then the Heichal and then the Kodesh Hakodoshim. Why was the tzelem, idol, only placed in the Heichel, and not in the holiest place of the Kodesh Hakodoshim? What is the significance behind this?
14. What is the common theme behind these five catastrophes?
15. What are the sources for these five tragedies?
16. The Maharsha (to Gemora Bechorois 8) brings that the 22 bad days of the three weeks are paralleled by 22 good days from Rosh Hashana until Shemini Atzeres. This means that the first of these 22 days parallel each other – the 17th of Tammuz parallels Rosh Hashana. What is the connection?

Idea for answers on the 17th of Tammuz:

1. The Mishna Taanis (26a-b) brings the five tragedies that happened on the 17th of Tammuz. The first one historically, is that of the Cheit Hoegel, sin of the golden calf, that resulted in the breaking of the Luchos. The korban tomid was stopped. The walls of the city of Yerushalayim were breached. Apustimus burnt the Torah. A tzelem, idol, was placed in the Heichel, Beis Hamikdosh.
3. We must realise that what happened on the 17th of Tammuz with the breaking of the Luchos was two stages. The first stage was that Moshe had accepted the Luchos from Hashem and the second stage was the breaking of it. Had Moshe simply returned the Luchos it would have meant that the Jews did not receive it and therefore by not getting it meant that they were in a similar situation as before – nothing taken nothing lost. This would then not be a reason to mourn. However, by Moshe first accepting the Luchos and then instead of giving it over to the Jews he broke them, this meant that the present they were given was taken away and lost from them. This then would be a cause for sadness.
4. The Chizkuni (Eikev, 9:11) brings that Moshe came down at the end of the first forty days on an Erev Shabbos by Alois, dawn. How is this significant?
6. Burying the Luchos would show that the Jews connection to the first Luchos were totally severed. However, the keeping of them in the Aron, the centre point of the Mishkon, Tabernacle, shows that the Jews are still connected in some way to the first Luchos. What is this connection? …
7. Chazal tell us that there was something special about the korban tomid. There was one that was brought first thing in the morning and the other was brought before night (they usually were the first and last korbonous to be brought in the day). Like most sacrifices came to atone for sins, so too did the korban tomid. It was a sacrifice of the community as opposed to an individual. The morning one came to atone for the whole community for any sins done the previous night and the evening one came to forgive any transgressions done by day. This meant that the Jews were in a constant state of cleanliness from sin and this enabled them to connect and come close to Hashem. When the korban tomid was stopped on the 17th of Tammuz, this meant that the Jews’ sins no longer were wiped away and this resulted in the Shechina distancing itself from the Jews and enabled the enemy to attack. Perhaps another idea is that tomid represents something basic that is constantly needed. The other sacrifices were Nedorim, nedovous and mussofim, are “extra” sacrifices that are not essential to be brought every day. The stopping of the korban tomid expresses the fact that even the basic and essential sacrifices were no longer accepted. Korban is from the word korev, meaning close, and represents something that brings us close to Hashem. The cessation of the korban tomid, something that alludes to our constant closeness to Hashem coming to a halt is a reason to be sad and fast.
8. Yerushalayim is the place where all the Jews are united. There is an opinion that although the whole of Eretz Yisroel was divided amongst the different tribes, the city of Yerushalayim was not. It was to be shared by all and thus describes unity. This idea is also seen halachically in the Gemora (Eruvin 6b) that says Yerushalayim has the din of a private domain since it’s doors were closed by night. Private domain is where everything is oneness, while public domain expresses the idea of a mixture of different forces. The breaking of the walls of Yerushalayim expresses a breakdown in spirituality where the unity of the Jews is now broken in by external and foreign forces.
9. The answer is that he was the first one to do it. By doing something that was until then considered taboo, he made this act a possibility that others went on to continue. This is the great tragedy behind it. (Perhaps this is like after the splitting of the Red Sea after the Exodus, all the nations were scared to attack the Jews. It was only due to the daringness of Amolek to be the first ones to attack that they brought back the possibility to the other nations to also go ahead and attack the Jews.)
10. Apustimus was a Greek general. Some say he burnt the special Sefer Torah that was kept in the Azara that had been written by Ezra Hasofer. Alternatively, he collected every Sefer Torah that he could find and burnt them. Was is clear was his intention to try and remove any remembrance to the Torah. (Tiferes Yisroel on the Mishna in Taanis).
11. The Gemora (Shabbos 105b) brings that when a person is present when another Jew dies and his Neshama departs, it is like a Sefer Torah that is being burnt (and he is obligated to tear his garments as a sign of mourning). The Sefer Torah being burnt of the 17th of Tammuz perhaps reflects the leaving of the Neshama from the Jews in the form of the Shechina departing due to their sins.
12. There are two opinions: Either it took place during the first Beis Hamikdosh and was placed there by the King Menashe. Or it was placed by Apustimus during the second Beis Hamikdosh. (Meforshim on the Mishna in Taanis)
13. Perhaps the starting point is where we find this idea elsewhere by Chanuka. The Yevonim, greeks, were specifically against the Heichal and wanted to contaminate the menorah and oil. Again, why only go for the Heichal and not the Kodesh Hakodoshim? The Maharal (Ner Mitzva) addresses this…
14. The common theme behind these five tragedies that happened on the 17th of Tammuz is that they all bear the signs of the start of the churban. They are all events that put into action the wheel leading to the final destruction of the Beis Hamikdosh. To phrase it from a deeper angle, the Jews connection to Hashem that is epitomised in the Beis Hamikdosh is the closeness and unity as seen in the keruvim on top of the Aron in the Kodesh Hakodoshim. The start of the churban is where this closeness becomes instead distancing and separation from Hashem as reflected in the five tragedies on the 17th of Tammuz.
15. The Gemora (end of Taanis) go through these tragedies and brings sources from pesukim, verses. However, two of them are not sourced except for being termed “Gemora“, meaning that these catastrophes happening on the 17th of Tammuz is based on tradition. They are the stopping of the korban tomid and the burning of the Torah by Apustimus. What lies behind these two coming down by tradition and what is the significance of them coming in this form?

What could the 17th of Tammuz have been?

To appreciate the tragedy of this day, we must first realise what this day could have been. There was a pathway that was started at Shavuous, when the Torah was given. The Jews heard the ten commandments and then Moshe went up to the mountain for forty days to receive the Luchos and bring them down to the Jews. This would have been the second and final stage of receiving the Torah by tangibly having the Luchos.

What would have having the first Luchos have meant? The Gemora (Eruvin 54a) brings what would have been had we received the first Luchos. Torah would not have been forgotten and the Jews would have been supreme over the other nations. This means that the Jews would have remained constantly connected to Hashem without fear from negative influences of the gentiles. In a sense this would have been a return to the level of Odom Horishoin, Adam, before the sin of the Eitz Hadaas, eating from the tree. This would have meant that the world would have reached total rectification with the final redemption.

Alas, with the sin of the egel, gold calf, this reality was changed and the Jews returned to a situation comparable to Odom after the sin. Now the Jews were back to a set-up where good and bad were mixed together and this meant descent into golus, exile. This was brought about by the shattering of the Luchos.

It comes out that two bad things happened on the 17th of Tammuz. Firstly, we did not end up receiving the first Luchos that would have raised us spiritually to the levels mentioned. This itself would not have been cause for mourning, since it was simply an opportunity missed. However, by Moshe not simply returning the Luchos but actually breaking them meant that the Jews actually fell spiritually. This is because Moshe accepting them means that now the Jews had a spiritual ascent. Next, the breaking of them meant that this was lost. This loss, after receiving it and then losing it, is a cause for sorrow.

Other allusions to the 17th of Tammuz:

• The Zohar (I:170b) says that there are 365 sinews in a person paralleling the 365 days of the solar year. The Gid Hanoshe parallels the day of Tisha BiAv. There are four sinews included in the sinew of Gid Hanoshe. These parallel the four fasts commemorating the churban. Two of these in each thigh – the right and left leg. There is the sinew that is closest to the bone and is totally forbidden and punishable while the outer one is less severe being forbidden but not punishable. The two inner sinews represent the stricter of the four fasts, namely Tisha BiAv and The Fast of Gedalia. The outer two sinews represent the more lenient fasts of Asora BiTeves and the 17th of Tammuz. (‘יערות דבש ח”ב דרוש ז)