At the beginning of one of the earliest books of Jewish mysticism, the Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Creation), there is a fascinating idea. It teaches that Hashem created and engraved the world through three elements: a book, a number, and a story — in Hebrew, sefer, sefar, and sippur . What is striking about Pesach is that one of its central mitzvot is sippur yetziat Mitzrayim — the telling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt - using the same word that the Sefer Yetizrah did. I

The 17th of Tammuz to the 9th of Av The period known as The Three Weeks , or in Hebrew, Bein Hametzarim , translates literally to...