| Today is: Friday, Tammuz 9, 5772 · June 29, 2012
• Jerusalem Walls Breached (423 BCE)
The Babylonian armies of King Nebuchadnezzar breached the walls of Jerusalem on the 9th of Tammuz in the year 3338 from creation (423 BCE); King Ziddikiahu of Judah was captured and taken to Babylon (Jeremiah 39:5. A month later, the capture of Jerusalem was completed with the destruction of the Holy Temple and the exile of all but a small number of Jews to Babylon). Tammuz 9 was observed as a fast day until the second breaching of Jerusalem's walls (by the Romans) on the 17th of Tammuz, 3829 (69 CE), at which time the fast was moved to that date. (Talmud, Rosh Hashanah and Tur Orach Chaim 549) Links:
thethreeweeks.com
The Destruction
The ties between two people--and certainly those between a husband and wife, or between parents and children--are chiefly of a spiritual, not of a material, nature. That means that a bullet, a grenade, or a disease can affect the body, but not the spirit or the soul. The physical bond between two persons can be broken by a bullet, but not their spiritual relationship...
- The Rebbe
Chitas and Rambam for today: | 
Audio: 
