Tisha B’Av: Pardes Shaul: Lamentations 1:8

The 23rd of Tammuz is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Shaul Moshe Zilberman, the Viershaver Rav, and author of Pardes Shaul (1939): “Jerusalem has sinned greatly and so has become unclean as a menstruant woman. All who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns away (Lamentations 1:8).”

God does not collect the sins of Israel, but immediately responds. When God collects the sins of a nation, they pile up so high that eventually the nation will be destroyed. Therefore, when, “Jerusalem has sinned greatly,” God immediately responded, and because the response was before more sins were committed, she became, “unclean as a menstruant woman,” which is only a temporary separation, but is soon repaired (Pardes Shaul).