(א) חייבים להתענות בתשעה באב ובי''ז בתמוז ובג' בתשרי ובעשרה בטבת מפני דברים הרעים שאירעו בהם:
(1) (1) We are obligated to fast on the ninth of Av (Tisha b'Av) and the seventeen of Tammuz (Shiva-Asar b'Tammuz), as well as on the third of Tisrei (Tzom Gedalia) and the tenth of Tevet (Asarah b'Tevet) (2) on account of the terrible things that occurred on these (3) days.
(ב) (ב) מפני דברים הרעים וכו' - כי בי"ז בתמוז ארעו בו ה' צרות בו נשתברו הלוחות כשירד משה מן ההר כמפורש בתורה ובוטל התמיד עוד מלהקריב בבית הראשון והובקעה העיר בחורבן בית שני ושרף אפוסטמוס הרשע את התורה והועמד צלם בהיכל. ובט"ב היה בו חורבן הגדול שנחרב בו הבית הראשון וגם השני ובזה היום נגזר על אבותינו שבמדבר שלא יכנסו לארץ ובזה היום נלכדה עיר גדולה וביתר שמה והיו בה אלפים ורבבות מישראל ונפלו כולם ביד העכו"מ ונהרגו כולם והיתה צרה גדולה כמו חורבן ביהמ"ק ובו ביום המוכן לפורענות חרש טורנוסרופוס הרשע את ההיכל ואת סביביו לקיים מה שנאמר ציון שדה תחרש. ויום ג' בתשרי בו נהרג גדליה בן אחיקם שמינוהו לראש לאחר החורבן על הפליטה הנשארה ונכבה גחלת ישראל הנשארה כי ע"י שנהרג גלו כולם ונהרגו מהם לאלפים. ועשרה בטבת שבו סמך מלך בבל נ"נ הרשע על ירושלים והביאה במצור ובמצוק ומזה נמשך החורבן:
(2) On account of the terrible things, etc. Because on 17 Tammuz five misfortunes occurred. On it, the tablets were broken as Moses descended from the mountain, as is explained in the Torah [Ex. 32:19]; the daily offering was cancelled and was no longer sacrificed in the First Temple; [the walls of] the city [of Jerusalem] were breached [in advance] of the destruction of the Second Temple; the evil Apostomos burnt the Torah; and an idol was placed in the Holy Temple. On on 9 Av, the great destruction occurred. The First Temple was destroyed on [that day], as was the Second; and on that very day it was decreed that our ancestors that were in the desert would not enter the land; and on that very day, [Romans] conquered a great town, called Beytar [during the Bar Kokhba revolt], which was home to thousands of Jews, all of whom fell into the hands of the idolaters and all of whom perished, which was a calamity as great as the destruction of the Temple; and on this very day, destined for calamity, the evil Turnusrufus plowed the Temple and its environs, thus fulfilling what was said: "Zion will be plowed as a field" (Jer. 26:18). And on the day of 3 Tishrei, Gedalia son of Ahikam was murdered. He had been appointed to lead the remaining survivors after the the [first] destruction [and his death led to] the extinguishing of the remaining embers of Israel, because [in the wake of it] all were exiled and thousands were killed. And on 10 Tevet, the evil king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar assaulted Jerusalem and laid it under the siege and distress that led to the destruction.
(כ) ... אשר נקרא שם שם ה' צבאות. אמר רבי יוחנן משום ר"ש בן יוחאי: מלמד שהשם וכל כינוייו מונחין בארון. רב הונא אמר: מלמד שהלוחות ושברי לוחות מונחין בארון.
"Whereupon is called the name, even the name of the Lord of Hosts (2 Sam. 6:2). Rabbi Johanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai: This [repetition of the word "name"] teaches that the Ineffable Name together with all its substitutes were deposited in the ark. Rav Huna said: It teaches that the tablets and the fragments of the Tablets were deposited in the ark.
Arthur Green (translation and commentary), The Language of Truth: The Torah Commentary of the Sefat Emet: Rabbi Yehudah Leib Alter of Ger (Philadelphia: JPS, 1998), pp. 261-2.
Balak 4 (from Sefat Emet 4:157-8; Bemidbar 5648/1888)
... It is taught that "the broken tablets lie in the Ark." Surely the gift God gave us was not for naught. If we were not yet ready to receive the gift, it was hidden away in the Ark. The breaking of the tablets took place on the seventeenth of Tammuz, [the date when the wall of Jerusalem was breached by the Romans]. All these breaks have to be healed. That is why Israel are dispersed and exiled throughout the lands, in order to gather those fragments. When all is restored, we will be able to receive those "first tablets."
Thus it is taught in the name of Rabbi Isaac Luria that [Aaron's words when erecting the Golden Calf], "A holiday unto the Lord tomorrow!" (Ex. 32:5), mean that one day the seventeenth of Tammuz will indeed be a festival. As the day when the tablets were given, it is properly a time for great celebration. It was only because we were unable to receive them that our dance was turned into mourning. When everything is restored, this date will be transformed into a time of gladness and joy. So, too, the prophet says: "The fast of the fourth month ... will be a time of gladness and joy" (Zech. 8:19)
This homily assumes the identity of the "broken tablets" of Sinai and the "broken vessels" of Lurianic Kabbalah, which are scattered through the universe and which Israel are dispersed in order to retrieve and uplift to God. Both of these are then identified also with the broken walls of Jerusalem. The healing of all these breaches is the same task, and its completion will be heralded by the transformation of all our mourning—on the three levels mentioned here and perhaps some others—into joy and thanksgiving.