Lamentations 5:11 -- "They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah."
Have you ever heard the idiom, "dire straits." It is used to describe a situation that is very difficult or bad?
For Jews, the 3-week time frame, from the 17th of Tammuz through the 9th of Av is called Bein ha-Metzarim (Hebrew: בין המצרים ) meaning "Between the Straits" or "In the Straits." The 9th of Av, Tisha B'Av (the 9th day of the month of Av) is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar.
The phrase "in the straits" appears in the Book of Lamentations 1:3, which describes the suffering and captivity of Judah.
"Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude; she dwelleth among the nations, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits"
This dreaded period is a time of mourning commemorating the destruction of the first and second Jewish Temples. For thousands of years, enormous tragedies have repeatedly befallen Israel and the Jewish people "between the straits."
Some of the awful historical events that have occurred at the beginning of "The Straits" culminated with an even greater tragedy and loss at the end of "The Straits." For example, it is said that on the 17th of Tammuz the Jerusalem Temple walls were breached twice, in 587 BC when the Babylonians destroyed the city and in 70 AD when the Romans destroyed it. Subsequently on the Ninth of Av, Tisha B'Av in Hebrew, the destruction of two temples in Jerusalem occurred.
"In the Straits" has come to be associated with the most horrible times in Jewish history and dark times for the world including the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition and the Nazi's Final Solution. The expulsion deadline for the Spanish Inquisition and the Nazi's Final Solution were dated on the 9th Av in their respective years.
Are we "In the Straits" Today?
This year the 17th of Tammuz was July 23, 2024 and the 9th of Av is August 13th. So technically, YES, we are between the straits.
Israel is at war. Between the Straits we've had the massacre of children with an Iranian made missile on Shabbat July 27th in Northern Israel. As the 9th of Av approaches, the world awaits Israel's response. We also know that Hezbollah and Iran still plot to kill Jews and destroy Israel.
Is history repeating itself, in the straits? If the infamous pattern is repeating itself, something even darker with major historical significance is about to occur.
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There is in another Jewish idiom pertaining to the Holocaust that most people have heard -- Never Again. With the rapid rise in Antisemitism around the world, that expression has turned into -- NEVER AGAIN IS NOW!
History has shown that Israel and Jews will be "Between the Straits" again.
THE TIME HAS COME!
The situation in Northern Israel is unsustainable!
The Hezbollah massacre on August 27th will be to Israel's action in Southern Lebanon what the Palestinian's massacre on Oct 7th is to Israel's action in Gaza.
Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houttis, the Ayatollah in Iran and their Shia Muslims followers around the world are cut from the same cloth of Amalek.
ARE YOU READY? LOOK UP FOR MESSIAH.
"IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A PLANE ... IT'S SUPERMAN!
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| Original cover from the 1930's |
