A prayer that we should be worthy of seeing a revelation of Hashem, before our very eyes. That we should be worthy of receiving with love [for You] all the suffering that You send us. And that we should be firmly connected at all times to the angels Michael and Gavriel who are the ones that raise up the souls of all those who have truly repented and received with joy the judgments that have been decreed upon them. Finally that we should be worthy of experiencing the complete redemption which is revealed on 17th Tamuz.

The Fast of the 17th Tamuz

   Master of the Universe, for whom all is possible, on the 17th Tamuz, this is the day on which You revealed the Malchus of Atzilus through the rectification of the five incidents:

      1. That which is written, “It happened as he drew near the camp and saw the calf…He threw down the Tablets from his hands” (Exodus 32:19). And that which is written, “On the 9th day of the 4th month…the city was breached…and the king fled…between the walls…by way of the Aravah…they overtook him on the plains of Jericho …and they spoke words of judgment to him. They slaughtered his sons before his eyes, and then blinded Zedekiah himself” (Kings II, 25). And that which is written, “He proclaimed a set time against me” [to crush my young men.] (Lamentations 1:15). And that which is written, “And then Jehoiachin [the student kohanim] went up to the roof of the sanctuary and threw the keys towards Heaven and a form of a hand emerged from Heaven and received the keys” (Taanis 29a).

      2. The destruction of the Tribe of Binyamin, with only 600 men left alive, amongst them Shaul (Judges 20).

      3. The daily sacrificial offering ceased [in the first Temple ].

      4. Turnus Rufus [some say Apostumus] burned the Torah.

      5. Menashe placed an idol in the Sanctuary. This is the same Menashe that murdered 1,000 men every day for a period of 22 years.

   Now, on the 17th Tamuz, when the Kingship [Malchus] of Hashem, the Kingship of Atzilus is revealed, all the wicked people who caused the destruction of the Temple, are released through the openings of the 48,000,000 Gates of Hell, this being 21 days before 9th Av, and Hashem will cancel from these wicked people the harsh judgment of, “…for their decay will not cease and their fire will not be extinguished, [and they will lie in disgrace before all mankind.”]. (Isaiah 66:24), 21 days before 9th Av, and they will all immediately be bought before the face of the Shechina. And as for the Tzaddikim that have never ever done a single sin, despite all the myriad temptations they were faced with, on this very day they are given a thousand fold reward, as it says, “…for she has received a doubled portion” (Isaiah 40:2).

   The ba’alei teshuvas however, who have reached a level of being absolutely broken hearted before Hashem over each and every sin that they ever committed, they go up to a level where they could literally revive a dead person. As it is written, “If a wicked person turns back from his wickedness and behaves with justice and righteousness, he shall live for his acts [עליהם],” (Ezekiel 33:19). It doesn’t say בהם rather עליהם, meaning in the merit of his righteousness he will live an eternal life, similar to Serach bas Asher and Basya bas Pharaoh, who will live for ever. The ba’alei teshuvas will be living with tzaddikim, chassidim and pure and holy, righteous people who act with loving kindness, those who give much money to tzedaka, people of deep faith and knowledge of Torah. And even more, they will be raised up and placed in the Heavenly Yeshiva where they will be able to listen to lessons given by Hashem Himself.

   The reason for all this is that on 17th Tamuz, everyone who repents for all his sins with a truly broken heart has all his sins completely forgiven. Also all the infertile women will become pregnant, because on this day we go out from this world to a state of Above the World, and all the worlds rise up to the level of Kingship of Atzilus, to the place where the Tabernacle and also Korach flew in the air.

   This is why 17th Tamuz is immediately after the weekly portions of Korach, Chukkas and Balak. This is because precisely now the rectification of the “ק” [the letter ‘kuf’] is completed. It [the kuf] now descends to the nucleus of Gehinnom and extracts all the souls of all the sinners who have done teshuva over the fact that they themselves caused the Destruction of the Temple through their sins: in particular sins such as desecration of Shabbos, Forbidden Relations, Spilling of Blood [ranging from embarrassing another person to actual murder], and all the other sins.

   It is because these people who have done sins have accepted, with love [of Hashem], upon themselves the judgment of suffering in Gehinnom, all their sins are forgiven, and it is on 17th Tamuz that they have the privilege of being raised up and they get to listen to Torah lessons from Hashem Himself. These are the people regarding whom it is said, “…[he is a righteous man;] he shall surely live.” (Ezekiel 18:9), for everyone that repents on 17th Tamuz succeeds in raising up thousands of other souls from the judgments of Gehinnom, whether they are people that gave much tzedaka or those that had an abiding faith in Hashem or those that dedicated their lives to learning Torah, He raises them up so that they can be seated in the Heavenly Yeshiva and listen to Torah lessons from Hashem Himself, once they have rectified the three aspects of, “Her feet lead down to death” (Proverbs 5:5).

   The point being that at the time that a person accepts, with love, upon himself the judgments of Gehinnom, immediately he goes out from there, and is raised up to the Heavenly Yeshiva, and Gavriel and Michael go and open the 48,000,000 Gates of Gehinnom and take out from there the sinners who have truly repented, and annul their sentence.

   Because of the sin of Adam, the five different groups of - Nefilim, Giborim, Anakim, Refa’im and Amalekim were integrated amongst the Jews. And this is what we read in Parshas Chukkas regarding the king of Arod, that he was the king of the Arodim [wild asses], regarding whom it is written, “Woe to the man who encounters an Arod [wild ass], and woe to the Arod that encounters Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa,” (Brachos 33a), because from the bones of Bilaam were created all the Arodim in the world, through that which he intervened between Rachel and Leah and disturbed the Heels of Leah from the Keter of Rachel, because [the gematria of] Bilaam Balak [ 274 בלעם בלק] equals [the gematria of] Rachel Leah [רחל לאה 274] which equals [the gematria of] Arod [ערד 274], which is why only the Moshiach, who is called Migdal Eder, “…and they came from Migdal Eder” (Targum) is able to rectify all the Arodim, the Amalekim, the Nefilim, the Giborim, Refa’im and the Anakim, who are Sichon and Og and his companions, who ravaged the Daughters of Men and contaminated them with their impurity thereby causing the destruction of the Temple. Moshe failed to guard against them which is why they will have no rectification neither with the coming of the Moshiach and also not at the time of the Resurrection of the Dead. All the generations that descend from them will be cast into the Pits of Gehinnom known as She’ol and Avadon, from which they will never rise out. The option of teshuva is extended to all, apart from the Amalekim, the Nefilim, the Giborim, Refa’im and the Anakim, and also to those that injected their impurity into the Eretz HaChaim, like Yerovam and his entire group. Regarding them all it is written, “ Sulphur and salt, a conflagration of the entire Land,” (Deuteronomy 29:22). Hashem wanted to judge Yerovam to the side of mercy; he grabbed him by his coat and said, “Me, you and ben Yishai will stroll together in Gan Eden” (Sanhedrin 102a). But Yerovam rejected Hashem’s invitation because he was one of the Nefilim, whom not a single thing in the world can bring them back in teshuva, neither them nor all the generations that come from them, which explains why they are unable to connect themselves to Michael and Gavriel who are doing their best to bring them out of Gehinnom.

   The final Redemption is going to begin on 17th Tamuz, which is the aspect of, “…after a period, periods, and a half,” (Daniel 12:7), which is the aspect of the 9th Av and the 17th Tamuz regarding which Gavriel prophesied, “[I saw one man] clothed in linen” (Daniel 10:5). This is why, on Yom HaKippur, the Cohen Gadol enters the Holy of Holies wearing garments made only of linen. Precisely the fact that he is wearing such clothes enables him to raise up all the neshamos of all the sinners who are made of linen. This is the reason that Cain offered flax as his sacrifice. His mistake was in not mixing it with wool, which is the secret of the Ten Types of Tunes, [Rabbi Nachman’s Stories, The Seven Beggars, see here], because the final Resurrection of the Dead will only take place in the merit of these Ten Types of Tunes.