Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi on Parshat Pinchas: The Journey of a Single Tear

We are so accustomed to thinking of the Three Weeks as days of grief, a season when something magnificent was torn away from us. We picture the Holy Temple standing in all its glory, only to see it destroyed before our eyes. Perhaps there is also another way to understand these days.

I deeply cherish the explanation offered by the author of Divrei Shmuel. He teaches that during the Three Weeks, we are actually creating the masterpiece of our lives. Between the Seventeenth of Tammuz and the Ninth of Av, it is as though a vast canvas is spread before us and painted entirely black. The dark background is not the final picture. It is simply the backdrop that will allow every color added later to shine with far greater brilliance.

This is the essence of Tammuz and Av. Then comes Elul. Filled with inspiration, longing, and creative passion, we begin to sketch the picture we want for the coming year: "I am to my Beloved, and my Beloved is to me." We carefully place every element where we want it to be: our home, the rising sun, the flowers we hope will bloom around us, the life we long to build. Finally comes Tishrei, when the masterpiece itself begins to emerge.

Viewed this way, the days of Tammuz and Av are less about destruction than about preparing the background for something beautiful that has yet to appear.

The Chassidic masters teach that whoever truly mourns during these three weeks will rejoice with extraordinary joy during the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. These days are the preparation for those future celebrations. It is no coincidence that Parashat Pinchas concludes with the section describing the Three Festivals. The Three Weeks are therefore days of painting, but even more than that, they are days of labor pains, the contractions that give birth to future joy.

The Three Step Formula

How do these labor pains become a work of art? Parashat Pinchas teaches a threefold formula: we cry, we cut away, and we rejoice.

We Cry

Tears are an essential part of these days. We must allow ourselves to cry during the Three Weeks.

In Parashat Pinchas, after the shocking public sin of Zimri with the Midianite princess, the entire nation stands helplessly at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. "They were weeping." These are tears of confusion, helplessness, and heartbreak. Sometimes, the holiest response is simply to cry.

We Cut Away

The Torah continues: "And Pinchas took a spear in his hand."

Pinchas put an end to the terrible desecration. For us, this does not mean taking up weapons. It means having the courage to confront what does not belong in our lives. There are moments when we must declare, "This behavior can no longer remain in my home. This habit can no longer remain in my heart. This relationship with negativity must end."

Each of us must take up a symbolic spear and cut away whatever separates us from the home we long to build, whatever distances us from holiness, and whatever prevents peace from dwelling within our lives. These days are the time to do that work.

We Rejoice

And then, we rejoice.

The Sages teach that without hope, there can be no genuine tears. The Piaseczno Rebbe writes that Jeremiah composed the Book of Lamentations before the destruction itself because a work of such profound spiritual beauty could never have been created out of despair alone. It emerged from pain, certainly, but it also required hope. Every act of creation contains the expectation that something beautiful can still be built.

As long as you can still envision your redemption, you are already part of bringing it into reality. When it arrives, it will feel wonderfully familiar because you have already carried it within your heart.

The Pattern of Redemption

Cry. Cut away. Rejoice. Does that sequence sound familiar?

It is precisely what happens during a brit milah.

Indeed, the Sages teach that "Pinchas is Elijah," and Elijah is present at every circumcision. He reminds us that redemption itself is born in exactly this way. The prophet Isaiah describes the Messiah with the words, "A child is born to us."

When we learn to cry, when we cut away everything that separates us from our true home, and when we continue to rejoice with hope, redemption is born.

Learning the Science of Tears

Let us look more closely at the first element: tears.

When the Holy Temple was burning, God said to the prophet Jeremiah, "I am like a father who prepared his son's wedding, only for his son to die beneath the wedding canopy. And you are not crying? Go and call Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for they know how to weep."

This is astonishing. We often hear about Rachel's tears and Leah's tears, but where do we find Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob weeping? And what does it mean that they "know how to weep"? Is crying a skill that can be learned?

Yes. The Three Weeks are the academy where we learn the sacred science of tears.

The Power of One Tear

The patriarchs understood the power contained within a single tear.

During the Binding of Isaac, the Midrash teaches that one tear fell from Abraham's eye. That tear struck the edge of the knife, preventing it from completing its intended task. The same tear then fell into Isaac's eyes, eventually causing his blindness. Because Isaac could no longer see, Jacob received the blessings that had been intended for Esau.

The journey of that single tear is extraordinary: Abraham sheds one tear, Isaac is blinded by that tear, and Jacob receives the covenantal blessings because of that tear.

This is why Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob "knew how to weep." They understood that one tear can alter the course of history. They knew what deserved tears. Every movement they made, every smile, and every word helped build the kingdom that would become the Jewish people.

God says to every Jewish woman: "You have no idea how powerful a single one of your tears can be."

The Women Who Refused to Cry

The Torah tells us, "The daughters of Zelophehad approached."

As the Jewish people prepared to enter the Land of Israel after forty years in the wilderness, these women came forward to request their father's inheritance. Why were so many men no longer alive? Because of the sin of the spies. Yet the women remained because they had never participated in the despair of that tragic Ninth of Av.

The men wept, saying, "We have been deceived. The land devours its inhabitants." The women refused to cry tears of hopelessness. They declared, "We did not leave Egypt, endure the wilderness, and follow God all this way only to receive a bad land. That cannot be."

Regarding that generation, God said, "You cried without cause. Therefore I will establish for you weeping throughout the generations." From that point forward, the tears of Tisha B'Av would no longer be tears of despair but tears of repair, tears directed toward the future.

Tears That Build

Perhaps this is why baseless weeping is so foreign to the spiritual nature of Jewish women. The women were not participants in the sin of the spies.

Instead, God turns to them during the Three Weeks and says, "You will help rebuild My Temple. Bring Me the women who know how to cry." Not tears of despair, or tears of self pity, but tears that build.

"The daughters of Zelophehad approached." They approached out of love, out of closeness, and out of faith.

A single tear shed with sincerity during these days possesses immeasurable spiritual power. It has the ability to change destinies. It can weaken the forces of Esau and strengthen the blessings destined for Jacob.

Every Small Act Matters

To "know how to cry" means understanding that no sincere tear is ever insignificant. Every tear establishes something eternal.

During the Three Weeks, every action matters. Every smile. Every word. Every act of kindness. Every moment of restraint. Every effort to avoid gossip or hurtful speech. There are no small deeds.

Just as the Patriarchs understood that every action shapes future generations, so too every seemingly insignificant choice we make during these sacred days either helps rebuild the Temple or, God forbid, delays its rebuilding.

So during these days we cry. We cut away what separates us from holiness. And we rejoice, because no sincere tear is ever wasted.

With God's help, may the great House be rebuilt through the tears, faith, and hope of the daughters of Israel, speedily in our days.