After the constriction of Tammuz, the Jewish calendar descends into what appears to be its darkest point.

The walls have been breached. The siege has tightened. The shadow of destruction hangs over Jerusalem.

At first glance, Av seems to be the month of loss. It is the month in which both Temples were destroyed, generations were scattered into exile, and the Jewish people learned what it meant to mourn not only a building, but an entire way of life.

Yet Judaism rarely stops where the eye first looks.

Beneath the ashes of Av, the sages discerned something else entirely.

The Hebrew letter associated with the month is tet (ט), the letter that first appears in the Torah in the word tov—good.

“וירא אלוקים את האור כי טוב” “And G-d saw the light, that it was good.” Bereishit 1:4

How can the month most associated with destruction be linked to goodness?

The answer lies within the very shape of........

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