This Motzei Shabbos (Saturday evening) is Tisha B’Av – The Ninth of Av. It is the Jewish national day of mourning over the destruction of the Temples and Jerusalem that occurred 2000 years ago.
I am sure many or most of you are familiar with the Jewish Laws and customs pertaining to the mourning period for a relative. A mourner is not supposed to take a haircut and shave and does not bathe for pleasure, he cannot attend social events that include music; a mourner says the Kaddish, etc. and there are various other customs, each according to his community and background.
We are all mourners during the period beginning with the 17th of the Jewish month of Tammuz, we do not take haircuts, we do not listen to music. The last nine days of this period which begins on Rosh Chodesh Av have increased restrictions: we do not wash clothes, eat meat or bathe for pleasure. This mourning culminates with Tisha B’Av, in which we fast beginning on the evening before, we sit on the floor and recite Lamentations. This year the fast begins after Shabbos and continues through to Sunday evening.

What was the root of the destruction and our annual period of mourning?
The Talmud states that the root cause was baseless enmity among the Jews. An insensitivity towards each other that resulted in committing many sins until G-d had no choice but to destroy what was most important to us -- the Bas Hamikdosh (The Jewish Temple in Jerusalem).
The Talmud also states, “every generation that does not experience the rebuilding of the Temple and Jerusalem is in effect responsible for its destruction”. Because if the Temple isn’t being rebuilt it means that there is still a residue of the sins that caused the destruction in the first place.
Dear friends, I wish to call your attention to a letter that we received this week in our offices. Although we are not in the habit of “tooting our horn”, the fact that this letter reached us at this particular time of the year and carries a message appropriate for this season, we wish to quote it here, and we hope that the message will be as inspirational to our readers as it was to us.
Our Tehilim Hotline participant writes: “It is with great joy that my wife and I received your mailed confirmation of our phone call. Your work on behalf of your fellow Jews is remarkable – to put it mildly.
As I mentioned, my relative needs your services and Tehilim so much. He has such a sweet neshama (soul) and your Tehilim are sweet music to his soul. What is particularly special about your work is that you do it with zeal and sincerity. Moreover, you barely know me, and you are saying Tehilim for my relative. That is the type of attitude and actions which put Klal Yisroel on the fast track to geulah, redemption.
As we prepare to enter the Nine Days and Tisha B’Av itself, we mourn over the baseless hatred that destroyed the Bais Hamikdash. In your actions we are seeing the very serious “stuff” which forms the bricks and jewels of the Third Bais Hamikdash. In other words you are reversing and uprooting the Galut (exile) itself. Your actions bring the world from Galut to Geulah.
May Hashem bless your efforts and may Mashiach come in your zechus (merit).”