תשעה באב always falls between the parshiyot of Devarim and V’etchanan. This is very appropriate, because in the parsha of Devarim we read of חטא המרגלים, and the gratuitous crying which prompted the Almighty to say that He would one day give us good reason to cry; while the parsha of V’etchanan which contains within it the passage of כי תוליד בנים ובני בנים, which we read on תשעה באב – speaks of exile, teshuvah, and redemption. And so תשעה באב falls between these two parshiyot which span the whole cycle of חורבן and גּאולה – beginning with the very root of חורבן, at the חטא המרגלים, through גלות and finally reconciliation and redemption.
תשעה באב is also situated between two sets of הפטרות: the 3 הפטרות of פרעניות, which tell of the threatening calamity, culminating in the הפטורה of חזון; followed by the 7 הפטרות of consolation, beginning with נחמו נחמו עמי.
These numbers – 3 and 7 – are very opposite. They are numbers, of course, that constantly come up in Judaism: The seven days of the week immediately come to mind, and the three festivals.
Generally it may be said that seven represents a full cycle. Thus seven days complete the cycle of the week, and the full course of a Yom Tov; seven days complete a cycle of טהרה, as in the פרה אדומה and the שבעה נקיים of a נדה; and seven times seven completes the cycle of the עומר. And there are many other examples.
The number three, on the other hand, represents rootedness. There are three אבות, who are the foundation of the Jewish People. A tree is deemed to take root in three days, as reflected in many halachot. And the Mishnah tells us that the world rests on the three pillars of Torah, Avodah and Gmilut Chasadim.
Likewise, the mekubalim teach that there are seven attributes which define how Hashem created and relates to the world; these seven, in turn, being rooted in the three attributes of Divine wisdom: חכמה בינה ודעת.
R’ Moshe Shapiro shlita, once pointed out a striking template for this pattern of three and seven in the Torah itself. The Torah describes the land of Israel as: ארץ נחלי מים עינות ותהומות יוצאים בבקעה ובהר, ארץ חיטה ושעורה וגפן תאנה ורימון ארץ זית שמן ודבש. Note that there are three sources of water (נחלי מים, עינות ותהומות; streams, wells and aquifers), which, in turn, produce seven kinds of fruit. And this is a paradigm: Three sources, out of which comes a fullness of seven.
Perhaps we are used to thinking that first we have 3 sad weeks, and then the sad part’s over, and we move on to the happy part. But if we understand the significance of the pattern of three and seven, we can gain a clearer perspective: The fullness of the comfort of the שּבעה דנחמתא is rooted in the אבילות of the three weeks that precede it. And, more generally – that the completeness of the נחמה to which we ultimately look forward, grows out of our אבילות today. As Chazal say – “כל המתאבל על ירושלים, זוכה ורואה בנחמתה.”
The three weeks of mourning are the font and origin of the subsequent consolation, because by participating in that mourning and sharing in our people’s collective suffering, we root ourselves in its history and join ourselves to its ultimately glorious destiny.
There is a very profound truth here, which needs to be amplified: Chazal speak with disdain of someone who is פורש מדרכי ציבור, a person who separates himself from the Jewish people. As the Rambam writes in הלכות תשובה:
“הפורש מדרכי צבור ואף על פי שלא עבר עבירות אלא נבדל מעדת ישראל ואינו עושה מצות בכללן ולא נכנס בצרתן ולא מתענה בתעניתן אלא הולך בדרכו כאחד מגויי הארץ וכאילו אינו מהן אין לו חלק לעולם הבא
One who separates himself from the community, even if he does not sin at all, but simply segregates himself from the community of Israel, and does not do mitzvos with them, participate in their troubles, or fast in their fast days, but goes his own way like one of the nations of the world, it is as if he is not one of them, and has no share in the world to come.”