The Three Weeks

By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER

We are currently in the midst of “The Three Weeks” – traditionally a time of national mourning, somber reflection, and social restraint – encompassing the period from the fast of Shivah Asar b’Tammuz through that of Tishah B’Av. 

These weeks, recalling the protracted process by which ancient Jerusalem fell and the Temple was destroyed, are referred to in Hebrew as “Bein Ha-Metzarim” – from Lamentations 1:3… “Judea’s pursuers overtook her Bein Ha-Metzarim.”  The Hebrew phrase is variously rendered “in the midst of her distress” or “in the narrow places” or “in narrow straits,” etc.  Bein Ha-Metzarim indicates a state of dire straits, a place or condition of constraint and constriction, an attitude or experience of narrowness.

Metzarim (dire straits, narrowness, constrictedness) is closely related to the Hebrew word for Egypt: Mitzrayim, also indicating a place of narrowness: moral and spiritual constriction.  On Pesach, we feast to celebrate our liberation from that place of confinement.  Through the Three Weeks, we taste (through fasting and mourning) the dire straits that resulted from our loss of national sovereignty, independence, and homeland.

Recalling both our freedom from Mitzrayim and our descent into Metzarim, we do well to embrace the wisdom of Booker T. Washington: “We should rise above the clouds of ignorance, narrowness, and selfishness.”

It may take more than three weeks.

Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey and the editor of “Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism.”