The Three Weeks

(6) There were five events that happened to our ancestors on the seventeenth of Tammuz and five on the ninth of Av.On the seventeenth of Tammuz: The tablets were shattered; The tamid (daily) offering was cancelled; The [walls] of the city were breached; And Apostomos burned the Torah, and placed an idol in the Temple. On the ninth of Av It was decreed that our ancestors should not enter the land, The Temple was destroyed the first And the second time, Betar was captured, And the city was plowed up. When Av enters, they limit their rejoicing.

1. When one enters (the month of ) Av, we reduce in Joy. And a Jewish person that has to him a legal dispute with a Gentile, one should delay from (adjuring) it because there is bad mazel.

2. From Rosh Chodesh until the Fast we minimize business transactions and building of joy, example the wedding house for his son or the building of molding and decorating (i.e. of walls and ceilings). Or joyous planting, example a royal banqueting canopy that is planted for shade to stand in its shade or types of myrtle and other tents. If its wall is leaning to fall even though it is of joy, it is permitted to build. We do not wed women and we not make engagement meals, but engaging without a meal is allowed. Even on Tisha B'av itself, it is permitted to engage that one not precede him. Note (Rema): Our custom is to be strict that we do not wed from the 17th of Tammuz and on until after Tisha B'av [Minhagim].

3. The week that Tisha B'av falls in, it is forbidden to get a haircut or launder even if he does not want to wear now rather to place until after Tisha B'av or even if he only has one garment, it is forbidden.... Note (Rema): We are accustomed to be strict in all of this from the beginning of Rosh Chodesh until after the fast unless for the need of a mitzvah...